By: Doris Hager, Principal of Hager Design International Inc.
Have you ever noticed that creativity is everywhere? Whether its in our professional or in our personal lives creativity plays a role in everything we do. I recently was asked the question on what is the dominant element in everything that I do, and it dawned on me that it is creativity. Whether in my garden, my job or with people my life always is about creativity. What if all of our lives revolve around creativity and we didn’t know it. What if creativity is in everything we do?
I bet some people would say – ‘me creative, not a chance, I’m an accountant, or I’m a lawyer, or I’m a garbage collector”. How could there possibly be creativity in numbers or legal documents or repetitive tasks. It’s all in how we look at things. What if we truly looked a little closer could we possibly see the creativity that is everywhere.
What would our world look like without creativity. Would we be living in an unorganized mess or tightly controlled straight lines without curves and undulations. A world without creativity makes me think of a jail. Bars on windows, a controlled and fenced off environment, scheduled waking and sleeping times, regulated food and eating times, bare walls and minimal décor. For a designer that is hell!
Well, thank goodness that we live in a world where creation thrives, and we can express ourselves naturally. What is creativity anyway and how does it show up in every day life? Dictionary.com describes creativity as “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.”
Creativity can be seen in a beautifully arranged and organized garden. Can one compare it equally to a messy but flowering natural wilderness? Who is to say that either one is more creative than the other? The messy, flowering garden may have been created to appeal to the insects and pollinators versus the people and was purposefully created and carefully planned by the gardener. The beautifully organized garden is appealing to the human eye but maybe missing the critical insects that every garden needs.
Creativity also shows up in how we shape our people and children. The parent that cleverly comes up with distractions to occupy a child in a temper tantrum is using their creative mind. The manager that understands and fuels the strength of his/her team through creative guidance is breaking traditional protocol to get the job done. Or what about the salesperson that instinctively knows how to share the best aspects of what they are selling to the benefit of the customer, they are drawing on their creative mind to build that relationship for a positive outcome.
Creativity can show up in mysterious ways that cannot be anticipated. In a recent interview for our new bookkeeper I watched her eyes light up as she was explaining that she solved a problem through creatively digging in old files to find the numbers that would match up to what she was seeking. It gave her a charge to find the solution where no one else was looking.
Let’s open our eyes as we approach the day to the underlying creativity that is everywhere. In the salesperson making a pitch, in the creative financial solution provided by the accountant, in the 40 page document from the lawyer or the flowering garden that is just not as organized as the meticulous hedges and ornamentals. Let's look at how we shape the meaning in our lives through creativity.
Doris Hager is the founder of Hager Design International Inc. an international interior design firm with hospitality projects throughout North America. Doris can be reached at www.hagerinc.com