Inspired by Creativity

Hi, Cal here, when my Mom asked me to write this 10 seconds ago I was pretty apprehensive, still am (I’m a math type). But I’ll have to get over that and just write anyway.

Well, it started out pretty normal, my Mom asked me to help her with the stuff she needed to bring for an art class she was co-teaching. So like a good son I went along, we got there, saw the end of one of the other classes, talked to some people, brought the stuff in, set it up, and as I was about to leave and wander around the conference  she grabbed my arm, “Oh no you don’t, you’re staying here to take pictures since I can’t”. There were not really any good reasons for me not to do it so I took the camera and went up to the balcony overlooking the room.

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As they set up  I took some more pictures. I had some lunch. I got a drink, normal stuff. And then the people started to arrive, there were lots, about 60+ people. So I took some more pictures, left side of the balcony, right side, middle. Then when I went to take pictures from ground level middle there was a guy with a big mohawk right in front of me. It was VERY annoying, I just could not get the camera to focus on anything but the guy’s mohawk. So after about 1 minute of un-focusing and re-focusing (which felt like forever) I heard Jes saying something about “Do it differently then your, or the world’s, norm”. So I just let  it focus on the guy’s mohawk and let it go at that. The class progressed, people doodled, one was told to show his doodles, he and his girlfriend were impacted. And I took more photos.

By the end I had taken around 100 photos, quite a lot for me. As I helped clean up, my Mom flipped through the photos,”there’s one I really liked……Aha! Here it is!” she said showing me the camera. It was the mohawk picture. I told her the reason I took it, “Well we know someone was impacted!”. We all laugh, more cleaning up, some friends come over, I eat a bunch of leftovers, and I OCD over the pencils and oranges.

I don’t really know how to express the real meaning in all of this. I could say it in a really cheesy way like:

“Everyone is creative in some way”

or

“We’re all creative on the inside”

or even

“All you have to do to be creative is be you”

But that would sound stupid and advice like that rarely impacts people in my opinion. And because I prefer truth to cheesy sayings I’m gonna say it like this:

1. We were Created by a Creator in his image.

2. Therefore if we are Created in his image then we too are Creators.

3. And if we are Creators then we MUST be Creative in one way or another

4. And if we are Creative in one way or another, well, we are Creative!

So, never forget, if someone, something, or some thought is telling you that you are a non-creative failure, you don’t need to submit, you CAN rise above it, and that, is when we are in our most Creative state.

Never Give up, Never Surrender

-Cal