One Sentence I'd Give Anything To Read

Creativity Is Who We Are

​​I’ve always been fascinated with creativity.

If you think about it, we’re all a part of the creative process that is this life.

You were created by a Creator, you are living in a beautiful creation, and your primary purpose is to love, serve, and create too.

Creativity is at the core of who we are.

Fingerprints

When we create, we not only bring something unique into the world, but we also leave behind our own unique (creative) fingerprints for those who come after us.

Each one is like a puzzle piece that begins to form new ideas for those who collect them.

The more ideas from others that I discover and collect, the more my own inner world changes.

I begin to notice new things, have new thoughts, hear new melodies, etc.

Start With Simple

Creativity doesn’t always equal award-winning art or Grammy-nominated songs.

Creativity in its simplest form is just to bring something into the world that didn’t exist before.

Something that others can find and relive through you.

It can be as simple as writing down a thought, a prayer, or a few words about your day; saved in a journal for your great-grandchildren to read and experience as brand new.

What I would give to read one sentence from my grandmother.

To experience her thoughts.

To know her for the first time.

She probably would have thought that no one cared what she had to say.

She would have been wrong.

How To Be More Creative

Creativity doesn’t need to be anything more than sharing a few thoughts for others to find.

But if you want to go deeper, here is a simple method I use to be more creative.

Capture & Collect

Taking your creativity one step further is about connecting ideas together in a new way.

The problem is, we’re really bad at remembering our ideas.

If you don’t save the cool things you discover right when you discover them, chances are, you will lose them forever.

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The poet, Ruth Stone, once said that she could feel a poem coming from across the landscape toward her. When this would happen, she would run back to her house to get a pencil and paper so she could collect the poem before it moved past her and on to the next poet.

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The most creative people in the world develop a system and make it a habit to capture and save all the thoughts, ideas, and interesting things that come their way.

A Peek Inside My Phone 👀

My iPhone is set up to capture first, and scroll second.

I want to make capturing ideas as fast and easy as possible, so my Home screen only has four apps at the top.

• Notion - An app for all of my notes, thoughts, goals, and more.
• Instant Notion - An app that is connected to my Notion app. It allows me to enter quick notes without clicking through multiple screens to find the right place.
• Camera - For quick image capture.
• Voice Notes - I use this mainly for song ideas and melody ideas that I don’t want to forget.

Another bonus of organizing my home screen this way is that I find myself spending less time mindlessly scrolling because the apps that used to live there are no longer the first thing I see when I pick up my phone.

Final Thoughts

Studies show that we’re highly creative when we’re young and then slowly become less creative as we get older.

This is only because we stop exploring, imagining, and trying new things as we move through life.

When we’re young, we share like we're invincible.

When we’re older, we often try to be invisible.

But just because you’ve gotten older doesn’t mean you don’t have anything valuable to say. It’s just the opposite. You have more life experience. You’ve read more. You’ve written more. You’ve had more conversations.

You know what it’s like to love more than you thought was possible. You understand what it’s like to hurt, heal, and hope for brighter days.

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“Whatever pain you can’t get rid of, whatever joy you can’t contain: make it your creative offering.”  -Susan Cain

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Creativity will look a little different for all of us, but I hope you’ll take a courageous step out in faith and share something in your heart with the world.

Writing, art, photography, music, cooking, gardening, decorating—anything that allows you to arrange something in a new way and create something that didn’t exist before.

It’s in there. I promise.

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