Photo by Andrew Ruiz on Unsplash

Harnessing your ingenuity will make your life more meaningful and enjoyable. Discover
here why creativity is so important and welcome more innovation and inspiration into your
daily activities.

How Creativity Enriches Your Life

1. Experience more joy. Creativity flourishes when you think positively. Find
your passions and cultivate them. Embrace challenges with curiosity. Observe the
conditions that help you get "in the zone."

2. Improve your physical health. Studies show that creativity exercises are an
effective way to relieve stress and boost our immune system. Those who think
resourcefully also cope better with aging and experience fewer declines in their
cognitive functions.

3. Strengthen your relationships. A sense of imagination can even enhance your
personal relationships. Break out of the same old conflicts by searching for common
ground. Look at challenging situations from the other person's perspective and try out
a different response.

4. Perform better at work. Collaboration is integral to the creative process. Help create
a more cooperative atmosphere where colleagues complement each other's strengths
rather than competing.

5. Be all you can be. We all have some form of creative genius. Enjoy the
pleasure of developing your own gifts. With persistence and an open mind, you'll
expand your skills for responding to all kinds of challenges.

Techniques for Sparking Your Creativity

1. Brainstorm. Generating ideas is usually the first step in the creative process. Put aside
any judgments and just let the options flow. Now's your chance to get zany and
experimental.

2. Incubate. Before inspiration hits, there's usually a quiet time while we digest our
ideas.  Help your unconscious mind along by taking a quiet walk or a relaxing shower.
Routine tasks like washing dishes can also trigger insights. Think about a dilemma
right before bed, and you may wake up with a solution.

3. Take action. Make a plan for how to implement your ideas. Regard every attempt as a
learning experience even if the immediate results fail to pan out. Remember that
successful people succeed because they take more risks.

4. Lighten up. Free up your fertile mind.

• Some gentle aerobics and stretches will relax your body.
• Meditation or soft music can dispel anxieties or boredom.
• Humor is a very powerful tool for lowering inhibitions and seeing things more vividly.

5. Change your routine. Any adjustment to your usual way of doing things can help
you take a fresh look at life. Take an alternate route to work or visit a coffee shop on
the other side of town. Expand your horizons by looking for ways to
experience novelty on a regular basis.

6. Observe the details. On the other hand, you can re-invent the most familiar aspects
of your life by viewing them from a fresh angle. Think about how your kitchen would
appear to an alien from space.

7. Ignore the clock. Get up early so you can savor the luxury of open-ended time.
Forget about deadlines. Focus on the present moment instead of thinking about the
next task you have scheduled. Feel what it's like to be free from hurrying. Try to
remember that sensation as you start your day.

8. Get a hobby. Make the most of your leisure time with creative outlets that
incorporate your passions. You may delight in watercolors. Or maybe you really get a
kick out of working on cars.

9. Seek inspiration. Surround yourself with whatever you find invigorating.
Visit art museums or go camping. Spend more time playing with your kids and
getting caught up in their excitement each time they see something new.
Transform your life into a work of art by tapping into your creative side. Once
you discover and develop your passions, you'll be on your way to feeling more motivated and accomplished 

You maiy be at a point of life where you are receiving a call to create.  You might be emptying the nest of children, divorce, or on the edge of retirement and you are interested in pursuing a creative life.  As you observe the landscape of friends and family, you may notice that younger generations are meeting up and creating.  Or you may feel uncomfortable about attending creative classes in painting, music, etc. and being the oldest person in the room.  Or the fact that you may just feel that it's too late in life to pursue something like a creative practice. 

If you are over 40,  know that you are not alone for feeling this way.  In a world that appears to be a celebration and support of the endeavors of those younger can create a feeling that launching a new part of life may not be valued or supported.  

As a mature adult, you have a wide range of life experience and inspiration to pour into creative practice or hobby..  You also have the choice to decdie whether your engagement will be a money making venture or purely as a way of self-expression.  Time is no longer a big factor since you have more of it to purse your creative dreams.  And, as a working adult in other professions, you may have more money to spend on art materials, etc. 

Still not convinced?  Consider these famous people who found their creative groove later in life:

• Martha Stwart found real success at the age of 41 with the publicationof her first book, Entertaining, and launch of Martha Stewart Living, seven years later.
• Vera Wang decided at 40 that she wanted to be a fashion designer.  She commissoned her own wedding dress that same year for $10,000 and opened her first bridal boutique the following year.
• Samuel Jackson, the famous actor was 46 (and in recovery from drug addiction) before he starred alongside John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.
• Julia Child published her first cookbook at 39 and made her television debut in The French Chef at 51.
• Bill Traylor, the legendary visual artist, was homeless at 85 when he began drawing and displaying his works on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama before being discovered and his work is now featured in many major museums across the country. 
• Laura Ingalls Wilder did not publish her first "Little House on the Prairie" book until she was 65. 
• Toni Morrison did not publish her first book until she was 39.

There are many others I could be listed.  But the main take away is that you are never too old to launch a second career in the arts or to just start engaging in a new creative life that you either abandoned earlier in life or never had the chance to launch.  

Sometimes we need a little help moving forward with our creative dreams, where ever we are in life.  Why not consider working with someone who can support you in moving forward to make those dreams a reality.  Feel free to contact me for a discovery session to talk about how your next steps and how I can support you. 

I am excited to announce that I am now a "published" author!  I had the honor to be among 40 creativity coaches from around the globe to contribute to a book focusing on the first-ever case study examination of the art and practice of creativity coaching.
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Inside Creativity Coaching, published by Routlege Books this week, was curated by one of America's foremost creativity coaches, Eric Masiel which includes rich narratives that examine how creativity coaches work with writers, painters, musicians, craftspeople, and other creatives on issues such as motivation, procrastination, blockage, and performance and career anxiety. Packed with concrete tools and techniques, the book draws on inspirational success stories to help coaches better understand and serve their creative clients. It will be a valuable resource to creativity coaches, coaches interested in developing a specialty, and creatives and performing artists looking to overcome their challenges.

Covering a diverse range of disciplines, Inside Creativity Coaching is a must-have book for both aspiring and experienced creativity coaches, and anyone interested in helping creatives. 

I am proud to be able to participate in this book project and provide a chapter based on my own experiences as a creativity coach. 

Inside Creativity Coaching is available on Amazon.com, Vital Source, Book Depository, and other book sellers by request.