“I’m not creative” – It’s what most people profess they are.

While it can make some people take notice of your little humility, its really a poor assessment of who you are. Our definition of creativity maybe wrong when we think solely Picasso, Einstein or Steve Jobs as standard of creativity to reach.

I believe all of us are creative. It’s not a question if we are but a question of how do we live it. Today, I just want to share some simple ways we can live a creative life just by doing it.

So how do you live a creative life? Consider these 7 things

1. Rest

Our body is made to rest. Muscles are created not when in stressed but when in rest. When our body rest, we reset ourselves to ZERO. A state of our natural being where we can express creativity easily. In our modern world that honours work, work and more work, giving your body a good night rest is one of the greatest gifts you can give it. Rest as a foundation of living a creative life.

2. Have Fun

Having fun releases chemicals in your brain to restore the body to a state where creativity is abundant. When we are having fun, we are more engaged in what we do. The attention given to the task makes us more creative. The next time there’s a thing to do and its naturally a dull task, think about how to make it fun. Maybe turn it into game? Compete against someone else or even yourself. Do something, anything to make it just a bit more fun.

3. Beat Your Stress

Stress does appear to be a normal experience that we have to go through. While there’s nothing wrong with having stress, having prolong stress can lead to something serious like depression. Having some techniques or regularly way to beat your stress is vital. When you are stress, what do you do? Do you have at least one way you deal with it? If you do, good … think of more. If you don’t, well find out. Here are a list of things that may work for you? 1) Listen to Music 2) Go Outdoor 3) Talk to a Friend 4) Get a Massage 5) Listen to a Comedy Clip 6) Breath Deeply 7) Exercise 8)  Have a Cup of Coffee 9) Hug a tree 10) Eat something you like …. Seriously, the list is endless. Everyone has a different way of dealing with their stress, you need to know what’s yours.

4. Give

It is a surprise that giving actually makes us feel good and hence releases the chemical in our system to promote creativity. While excess giving where one gives beyond their mean or giving what they don’t have, giving within our means is a good thing. Exercise giving to others and seeing a smile or pleasure on their face. It’s actually a great tip to live a more creative life. I’ve made it a point to work to give, since I left my day job to venture into running a social enterprise to earn a living not just for me and my family but to give to empower orphans all over the world. Join me, GIVE

5. Exercise Creativity

Yes you can do that. How? If you like to write, WRITE. If you like music, PLAY MUSIC. If you like dancing, DANCE. If you like to make things, MAKE and CREATE. Whatever that requires different ways of expressing yourself, do it. It’s an exercise of creativity. It’s as simple as that.

6. Travel

I’m a strong believer that travelling is always sacred. There’s something in who we are that makes us travel and reach out to people outside our normal sphere of connection. When we travel, we are going where we are meant to go. Travelling is not only a spiritual activity as described, it also helps us open our minds when we share different cultures, systems, process and way of doing things. When we travel, we are forced to think outside the box.

7. Be Yourself

“Be Yourself Because Everyone Else Is Taken” ~ Oscar Wilde.

The strongest way we can live more creatively is to be ourselves. There’s a big reason why God made us all different. No one ever have the same fingerprint. No one with identical personalities, not even identical twins.

We may just have lost ourselves in the process of living. When growing up, we have encountered events that made us scared. As a result, we feel safer acting, thinking and living like someone else. So much so, we lost the art of being ourselves.

One of the best way to change that is to restore ourselves back to our child state, what I call ZERO. ZERO? You asked. Well if +1 (plus ONE) is thinking too highly of ourselves and -1 (minus ONE) thinking too lowly, O or ZERO is being who we are; our original creative self. While what we have attained in knowledge and wisdom will always stay with us, our memories that makes us fearful can be minimised. When we return back to ZERO, we develop childlike creativity that helps us balance with all the good knowledge and wisdom we have stored up inside.

Living a creative life where you are just your best creative self is possible. The way God made you to be is to be fearless and doing some simple exercises get you there so you can live your best creative life faster. The enemy is not in not knowing, it is in not doing. So I hope this post has helped you do it!

If you wish for someone to journey with you and help you in the process step by step.  Get in touch with me to work out a discovery session. It may be the best thing you can do for your creative self.