All human beings are fundamentally creative. What prevents us from attaining our dreams can be as simple as just a thought.
As a composer, educator and researcher, I'm always curious to hear people's reactions when I suggest that the above statement could possibly be true. Many reflect on their own perceived lack of creative ability and skill because their definition of "creativity" aligns to the widely misunderstood image of someone involved in the business of the arts or creative media. In truth, creativity is a slippery creature to pin down in any concise manner but it is generally accepted to mean a process involving the generation of new ideas, concepts or associations - a process that we human beings carry out at almost every moment of our lives within our thinking process. Our creative thoughts can be powerful and life-changing if channelled correctly but more often than not, our mental stories keep us in denial and at arms length from the aspirations we really want and are capable of achieving in life.
Ask yourself about who you wanted to be as a child and you may recall a vague or indeed vivid recollection of wanting to be a fireman, dancer, spaceman, teacher, singer or bus driver. Whether you followed those childhood aspirations later in life or not, the very essence within every childhood fantasy provides us with vital clues to possible quests that are waiting to be acted out in reality. That's not to say that a childhood aspiration to be a spaceman demands a booking on the next NASA space voyage but probably that the underlying, imagined "quality" - perhaps adventure, fame or even the act of "dressing up" could signal a long forgotten yearning that's waiting to be fulfilled.
Consider the subjects you were naturally drawn to as a child and the chances are that behind the scenes was an environment or even a teacher that possessed some fundamental attributes or qualities that permitted a framework for you to play, explore and reach your full potential. With twenty years of teaching experience, I'd hedge a bet that the keywords that best describe the experience of your most fruitful lessons included, amongst others, play, fun, inspiration, energy, attentiveness, encouragement, creativity and ease.
The basic fact is this - we achieve our full potential when we are having fun, in the flow, happy without conflicting thought, self-judgement or censorship. If you don't believe me, go watch a young child on the nursery floor and see how focused they become when the learning is based around play. Yet at some point, somewhere in our childhood, we have the potential to forget about the importance of play. Learning that was once such a joy to us suddenly becomes a chore and we no longer reach our peak with ease.
Somewhere along this path, I too had forgotten the importance of play in my work. I had spent a couple of years pushing myself along a vertical incline of learning as a result of taking a doctoral course in music composition. Mentally, I was unprepared and had taken on the concept of creativity to a whole new level - the invention of stories about my abilities and the rejection from the world around me which were neither true nor helpful. Such was the strength of these beliefs that my brain could no longer differentiate between truth and story. It wasn't until I hit the well-documented "brick wall" with crippling bouts of anxiety and panic that I knew it was time for me to change my ways and to re-educate myself with the simple lessons my pupils were demonstrating to me daily - that creativity and play were inseparable components in the learning framework and that a single thought, once attached, can become our reality.
Models of creative innovation and learning are useful in helping us to understand how our minds make sense of the sensory information that our bodies and mind receive. The process of a child designing and creating a paper airplane is the same, in principle, as NASA creating the latest spacecraft or a choreographer scoring their next ballet. The manner in which we learn new skills and abilities adheres to an equally regular method. Learning to drive has no difference, in method, to learning the piano. "Oh? Is that really true?" I hear. Trust me, I'm a teacher. It's true! And you may well ask as everyone else asks - "so what about talent?" My reply is always the same - there is no such thing as talent - only passion, dedication and sheer hard work. Makes you wonder how many untruths you've told yourself doesn't it?
Dr Patrick Nunn