The Top 10 Benefits to Creativity
(Creativity: Why Bother)

Creativity may seem like a good idea, but why spend your valuable time and resources to develop it. Creativity: Why Bother shows you the value of living a creative life.

1. Expanded sense of time

Countless artists have discussed the experience of timelessness that one encounters in the creative zone. Time is limitless when you are in the creative 'zone.' Strangely enough, when you give time to creative pursuits, you gain time. Who couldn't use the feeling of more time.

2. Freedom

Creativity invites messiness and exploration. Here's an opportunity to return to that feeling of being a child, to not know, to not be 'good,' smart, the expert.

3. Enhanced relationships

Many people fear that if they begin living their creativity, then their relationships and other priorities will suffer. They won't want to drag themselves away from the creative zone. However, when we are actively creating, we feel better about our relationships. We tend to be more generous to others. We have more to give because we have answered our urge to create.

4. Living integrity

When we are actively working on our projects, we honor our innate creativity. We live the belief that creativity does matter. This feels better than wishing we were writing, or talking about writing, but not doing it.

5. Save money

Expressing yourself can control the urge to impulse buy. Do you ever find yourself shopping just for something to do. Expressing yourself creatively can often fill the need to shop for the heck of it. Save money and do something creative instead of buying something you don't really need or want.

6. Energetic, lighter quality to life

Call it a good mood. Call it a natural high. When we've done our creative work, we gain energy for our other responsibilities.

7. Connection with other creative people

When we are creating, we are connected to all of those who have gone before us and those who work now in the challenging but rewarding field of artistic creativity. What a gift in a world where we feel more and more isolated from each other.

8. Faith and confidence in our impulses

When we create, we recognize that our work does matter even if it is not published, displayed or presented to the public. We trust our instincts and gain confidence from expressing them. This confidence carries over into decisions we make in other areas of life.

9. Honoring the source of creative ideas

Where does creative inspiration come from. Some think it is God, or other divine source. We honor the gift of creative inspiration when we listen and act on our ideas, and by doing so, we are connecting to a deeper wisdom than our own.

10. Self-knowledge and discovery

Creativity is the route to authenticity. As we create, we plumb the depths of our being, accessing what we think and believe. You may be surprised at the resources, thoughts and impulses that you discover there.

About the Submitter
This piece was originally submitted by Cynthia Morris, CPCC, author of Create Your Writer's Life, Writer's Coach, who can be reached at cynthia@originalimpulse.com, or visited on the web. Cynthia Morris wants you to know: I guide writers, artists and visionaries to more confidence and creative expression. I work with groups and individuals through coaching, workshops and teleclasses.
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