Where do creative ideas come from?

I began asking this question in college while reading the English poets. Traherne, Blake, and Wordsworth found their inspiration looking back on childhood. Donne was inspired by love, Milton by a passionate commitment to his ideals. Shakespeare’s characters danced out of his imagination to grace the London stage.

But where did their creative ideas come from? As Shakespeare wrote in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
(V.i. 12-17)
Over the years, from my own experience and that of others, I’ve found that creativity requires a clear channel, a sense of openness, and faith in the larger process.

Creativity can be blocked by ego. Whether we become too full of ourselves or surrender to incessant worry, inferiority and self-doubt, either way we focus solely on ourselves, leaving no room for creative insight.

Creativity can also be thwarted by distractions. As Coleridge was writing “Kubla Khan,” he was interrupted by a knock on the door from a person from Porlock. When he returned to his desk, his inspiration had fled. The poem remains unfinished, leaving only mysterious glimmers of “caverns measureless to man.”

Creativity can be cultivated by meditating, by reflecting on the patterns of nature, by taking time to embrace whatever brings you joy.

Creativity brings vision and the courage to pursue new possibilities. I grew up hearing John and Robert Kennedy say, “Most people look at things the way they are and ask ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’”

Now, more than ever, our world needs creativity—yours and mine. To transcend today’s monumental challenges, we must each cultivate our creativity to offer new visions of possibility to this beautiful, troubled planet we call home.

What is one thing you can do to cultivate your creativity today?

Diane

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