Our ability to be creative can make a tremendous difference in our lives. Many years ago, Earl Nightingale suggested the opposite of courage is not cowardliness but rather conformity. The road taking us away from cowardliness is the road less traveled, the same one where we must be creative because it is usually laden with uncertainty and the unknown. While most of us know that creativity can set us apart from the masses, it can be elusive and difficult to ascertain.
We can talk about four steps used:
- Define the objective
- Analyze the problem
- Generate solutions
- Take action
While these elements are important, there is another element perhaps even more important than all the others. Our belief in our creative power is fundamental if we want to achieve more creativity in our surroundings. The power of our mind has no equal. Some of the wisest men in the world have written about our ability to change our lives by changing our thoughts.
Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve.
~ Napoleon Hill
A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
~ Henry Ford
Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be a creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the rightful master of himself.
~ James Allen
We can learn techniques to generate ideas, buy software to facilitate the creation of mind maps and we can even meditate about our deepest desires, but until we establish a firm belief in our creative power, we will come up short with any tool that we choose to use. When we sow seeds which confirm that we can be creative, the land becomes fertile to achieve our objectives.
How can we empower creative thought? The answer is different for everybody and there is no magic answer but we can focus on the following:
Read accounts of creative people
Recall creative ideas we have generated
Take time to be alone and to reflect on what we most desire
Recognize all that exists in our world today started with an idea
Realize the creative power our mind possesses through our dreams
Consider the fears, uncertainties, and doubts creating obstacles in our mind
One of the surest ways to empower creative thought is to take the road less traveled, break routine and utilize our mind to create and not conform. Robert Frost eloquently expressed this thought in a famous poem indicating one of the paths towards creativity.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost
Creative power lies within each of us!
∞ Rob McBride ∞
LL I 6
Our ability to be creative is one element that can make a tremendous difference in our lives. Many years ago, Earl Nightingale suggested that the opposite of courage was not cowardliness but rather conformity. The road that takes us
away from cowardliness is the road less traveled. The creative road, e road which is laden with uncertainty and the unknown. While most of us know that creativity can set us apart from the masses, it can be elusive and difficult to ascertain.
We can talk about the steps which have been proposed to lead us down the creative path. For example:
- Define the objective
- Analyze the problem
- Generate solutions
- Take action
While these elements are important, there is another element which is perhaps even more important than all others. Our belief in our creative power is fundamental if we want to achieve more creativity in our surroundings. The power of our mind has no equal. Some of the wisest men in the world have written about our ability to change our lives by changing our thoughts.
Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve.
~ Napoleon Hill
A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
~ Henry Ford
Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be a creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the rightful master of himself.
~ James Allen
When we sow seeds which confirm that we can be creative, the land is fertile to achieve our objectives. We can learn techniques to generate ideas, buy software which facilitate the creation of mind maps and we can meditate about our desires but until we establish a firm belief in our creative power we will come up short with any tool that we choose to use.
How can we empower creative thought? The answer is different for everybody and there is no magic answer but we can focus on the following:
Read accounts of creative people
Recall creative ideas that we have generated
Take time to be alone and to reflect on that which we most desire
Realize the creative power our mind possesses through our dreams
Recognize that all that exists in our world today started with an idea
Consider the fears, uncertainties and doubts that create obstacles in our mind
One of the surest ways to empower creative thought is to take the road less traveled, break routine and utilize our mind to create and not conform. Robert Frost eloquently expressed this attitude in a famous poem which indicates one of the paths towards creativity.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost
Creative power lies within each of us!
∞ Rob McBride ∞
LL I 6