How To Be More Creative and Make Yourself Happy
By Dan Goodwin
For any of us who create, happiness and creativity are so closely connected they're almost inseparable. When you're more creative, it makes you happy, and when you're happier in your creativity, it makes it much easier to create more. And so the positive cycle continues to feed and sustain itself.
The struggle comes when trying to get into this happy and creative loop in the first place. It can often seem like an exclusive club that promises the world, but then doesn't seem to offer you any way to become a member!
So here are 7 tips to help YOU be more creative and make yourself happy:
1. Create what you enjoy creating. Too often we can be highly creative but still feel unfulfilled with both the process, and the result. The reason is we're not creating what we want to create. Instead we're trying to live up to someone else's version of what creative success is, and making the art that someone else will approve of. Get back to creating what YOU enjoy creating, in the way you enjoy creating it. It's the only way you'll find real creative happiness.
2. Acknowledge the wider effects of being happy. Many of us feel that being happy is a selfish, insular state, and that leads to guilt and doubt. Realise though that when you're happy, it makes you more fun and more positive to be around, and your relationships become easier. Happiness spreads, so simply by finding it for yourself, you automatically share it around.
3. Accept that creativity is not just making art. Do you feel you're not a "real artist" unless you write and publish dozens of novels, or have a new painting exhibition every month? Creativity is a way of being, seeing, acting and doing, not just making art. Think of the many ways you're creative in every moment of your life, and accept that your creativity is far greater and more diverse than you've been giving yourself credit for.
4. Set small goals, and take tiny manageable steps. It's easy to say you want to be more creative, set huge, virtually unobtainable goals, then when you get only halfway, write yourself off as a complete failure. Instead, take one step at a time, build up to being more creative with just 15 minutes each day. Find your rhythm, form creative habits and build on them steadily at your own pace.
5. Share in the creative lives of others. Creating in isolation means you lose out in two ways. First, no-one gets to enjoy, appreciate and be inspired by your work. Second, you miss out on the incomparable feeling of knowing that just a few words of encouragement or a sharing of struggles has lead to someone else having a breakthrough in their own creativity and happiness. Find both of these benefits by joining a creative community.
6. Treat yourself like your best friend. As artists, we tend to be highly critical of our own work, and say destructive things to ourselves we wouldn't dream of saying to anyone else. Imagine yourself as your best friend, and think next time you start to criticise yourself, is this something a best friend would do? Support yourself in the same way you'd support a close friend--be kind, compassionate and empathetic.
7. Give yourself permission to be creative. And happy! Permission is a huge concept in both creativity and happiness. You can follow all the creativity tips and exercises in the world, but deep down you must ALLOW yourself the chance to be creative and happy, to accept it's something that you deserve, and something that will not only enhance your own life, but the lives of those around you, too. Say it out loud: "Today and every day forth, I give myself full permission to be creative and happy!"
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________*التــَّـوْقـْـيـعُ*_________
لا أحد يظن أن العظماء تعساء إلا العظماء أنفسهم. إدوارد ينج: شاعر إنجليزي
أمس في 2:16 am من طرف freeman
