Cultural Creativity

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The cult of ‘creativity’.

I’ve had an issue with the word ‘creativity’ for a long time now. It intimidates me.

I feel like ‘creativity’ is put up on a pedestal. You’ve either ‘got it’ or you don’t.

I take issue with the message that some of us are truly creative, but that most of us aren’t.

‘Creativity’ kinda has an attitude.

The stigma around ‘creativity’ leads many of us to feel like we never create anything, for we feel we don’t emulate the high ideals of what ‘creativity’ is. We don’t see our creations as tour de forces, and we don’t think our talent is otherworldly, so we end up seeing ourselves as somehow less than creative.

I know I did for most of my life.

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[tweetmeme] It’s fitting that the day my inner critic (aka The Vile Bitch Upstairs) is screaming I would mention an article I wrote about trusting my Self above all else. That’s easier said than done on days when She won’t shut up. I can barely hear my Self through Her noise.

Authenticity & Cultural Creativity

Laura Cococcia over at the Journal of Cultural Conversation asked me to reflect on the Cultural Creative values of:

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My old dentist was very clear on her bottom line. She didn’t hide it well. Each time she saw me she focused on what she could get from me not on what I needed. Mouth guards, teeth whitening and gum graphs were the name of her game. It was always what was wrong with my teeth, not what was right.

I decided to switch dentists.

Being treated like a walking dollar sign got old. Being treated without her full attention got old. Being kept in the dark on my health got old. She kept her knowledge tight to her chest, never daring to share what she knew with her patients. She did not believe in empowering her patients by fostering their learning about their own dental health. She wanted to maintain the chasm of expert and ignorant client for she saw it as a means to influence opinion and encourage uneducated decisions, often based upon fear.

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I often find that my choices are met with hostility from others.

The resistance is not a result of my choice affecting or hurting the other person, as the decision often has nothing to do with them… the hostility is more about how the decision makes them feel about their Self.

So what if I’m different from you?

To me, the difference between a person committed to a Cultural Creative, Modern or Traditional lifestyle is the values that they choose to actively pursue as goals.

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Sometimes a lack of confidence can help.

Hope is a great quality and it is no doubt that your optimism towards what is possible has led you to where you are today. But pessimism about the future has a necessary place in your life and business too.

Optimism rules when anticipating (predicting) and enjoying outcomes — but there’s also great value in being pessimistic when preparing (considering) outcomes. After all, things don’t always go ‘our way’.

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