The Oxford English Dictionary defines talent in the following way: “A thing for which one has a natural ability.”
So simple – we all have natural abilities in some form or other. Maybe you make a wonderful chocolate cake, the person next door has a garden from heaven, and still someone else has a natural way with children or the elderly.
Very often we make the mistake of confusing creativity with being artistic. When people use the word ‘creative’ they are frequently referring to an artistic act. They are really saying that someone has a talent for the arts, for painting, dancing, acting or playing a musical instrument.
But people also have talents in many, many other areas. Their inborn creativity, if given a chance, can be used to develop and enhance these talents. Gymnasts and footballers are often singled out when very young because they have the right body shape or size and then they are trained and become skilled but they don’t necessarily use their creativity. By contrast, an engineer, with an ability for figures, can use this talent, combine it with the skills of his training and then go on to create amazing machines or buildings which help solve many of everyday difficulties and problems.
Returning to the chocolate cake. Perhaps for a special occasion you have wandered away from your tried and tested recipe and added extra ingredients or decorated in a special way. Make no mistake, this is creativity.
So with that cleared up, we can start to look at ways of being creative about our lives, safe in the knowledge that we do have creativity inside us and we have an obligation to reclaim it.
What are your natural skills and talents? What activities do you most enjoy? Put them together and you become natural creator.
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