MAKE IT UP UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT

“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen”

            - Robert Bresson

When my editor sent me a message that my article could not be used, I knew I had to make something up and fast too. But for three hours I sat in front of my computer staring at a blank screen. Make something up? How does that sound?

In our world, the expression “I made it up” or “to make something up” has a kind of negative connotation. But in real sense, it is the best thing that can happen to us as individuals.

Making things is up is another way of expressing creativity or putting your creative mind to work.

Creativity involves breaking ranks with established patterns in order to look at things in a different light. Simply put, it is thinking outside the box.

What does a writer, a painter, and a composer have in common? Creativity. They are creative and they make things up. A writer comes up with a page turner that holds the reader’s spellbound while a painter or an artist paints a picture that is worth tens of thousands of dollars. A composer may come up with a piece of music that tickles the listener’s ears each time he hears it.

When a writer sits and stares at a blank paper or when an artist stands staring at a blank canvas, he is not trying to repeat what has been created before. Instead, he is trying to create what no one has ever created. In some cases, he doesn’t know what he is going to create.

Most often times, a creative person goes where his creative mind takes him. A creative mind roams. It roams the largest nation in the world which according to my friend, Craig Valentine is – “Image Nation” or “Imagination” and conjures up something that does not exist.

The intriguing part of a creative person is that he loves what is created even before it exists.

Creativity involves breaking away from established point of view in order to see things in a different light. Creativity is a lonely art and largely a lonely struggle. To some, creativity is a blessing. To others it is a curse. Imagine the struggle of a writer as he or she sits staring at a blank computer screen or an artist who stares at a blank canvas. The reality however, is that, creativity is the ability to reach inside of yourself and pull out from your very soul an idea which you did not know you have.

Creative people are courageous and fearless. And because of their courage, they are willing to make mistakes. They are the ones who can think up crazy ideas knowing full well that their ideas may be worthless. They don’t mind.  Creative people are flexible – they are able to change as the situation changes without breaking a sweat. They are not threatened by the unexpected.

            For example, creative people do not mind starting out with little or no idea of where they are going. In fact, if a creative person arrives at an expected result, it only shows that he has not fully used his creative abilities. Creative mind takes you beyond your limitation.

Most creative people rid themselves of all self-imposed limitations. They are as free as the bird in the air. They can soar while allowing the wind to take them wherever it pleases because they know full well that when they arrive, they will discover something new.

Being creative is like driving a car at night on a long, dark, and an unfamiliar road. You never see further than your headlights and you never know what awaits you beyond your headlights, but you’re willing to explore because you suspect you will love what you find.

Creative activity could be likened to a learning process where the mentor and “mentee” are located in the same the body.

As Henry Miller once pointed out, “there is the happiness which comes from creative effort. The joy of dreaming, creating, building, whether in painting a picture, writing an epic, singing a song, composing a symphony, devising new invention, creating a vast industry.”

            When next you find yourself staring at a blank screen or blank canvas, don’t get mad, just allow your creative mind to roam and “make something up.” As you can see, I just made this article up.

            Till I come your way again, keep making things up.