Collage by J. Outram

Lesson #9

How do you differentiate imagination from creativity? Ken Robinson reminded me that imagination takes place in the mind. We can spend hours imagining a place that only has the colour green or imagining ourselves flying by the tiny flickers of our body hairs or imagining the perspective of a hot pink post-it-note pad. We can imagine and imagine and imagine. In the end we will have nothing to show for it.

Creativity involves a product. We create a story, a painting, a song, a delicious meal. We can imagine a double hot fudge brownie with a hint of cinnamon for days and it will not produce the brownie. Likewise, we can imagine a story for years and it will not produce our novel. The brownie and the novel will appear when we create them.

Creativity is about bringing something into being. To be creative is to do something. To create is to make something. To increase the creative energy in your life you need “to do” and “to make.” At its core creativity is about action. Continue reading →