Layers of Creativity, Part II

Here's what I wrote about creativity for the April 2008 journal page shown in my last post:

"I'm creative when I develop a journal page, write a poem, or craft a piece of jewelry. But I've also been creative when I've figured out how to entertain a fussy baby; calm a husband in a rare bad mood; subtly offer a suggestion to a grown son; or completely restructure my life in retirement. I'm creative when my father asks me to help him with a financial or medical issue that's unfamiliar to me; when a sibling or close friend asks for my help in solving a problem; or when I plan what to make for dinner yet again, after 35 years of cooking dinners. I'm creative when I explain the meaning of an English word or grammar concept to the woman I tutor; and I was certainly creative in my job when the bosses would tell us to "just find a way" to do what they wanted, against all logic and reason.

"What I've realized is that creativity often refills itself, renews itself, replenishes itself. When I feel like I've exhausted all of my options and will never resolve a particular problem or complete a project, I usually find that there's still one more layer of creativity to be peeled back--and a solution to be revealed. Maya Angelou said it well: "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."