A lot of people protest to me that they are not at all artistic or inventive, so how can they possibly age creatively?
"Pish tush!" I say to them and give them a hug, real or virtual. Because creativity is not limited to artistic production. It's not even related to IQ.
Rather, it is a way of living your life that can be learned and practiced, even if it's not your natural bent or a big part of your history on earth so far.
Character Strengths and Virtues, by Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman, describes the strength of Creativity in a number of ways. All combine two basic components: the ability to generate new, sometimes surprising, ideas that are also adaptive--that is, which contribute to illuminating and perhaps solving life problems.
Everyday creativity (That Good Old Yankee Ingenuity) is extremely important to cultivate as we grow older. Why? One reason, according to Elkhonen Goldberg, who wrote The Wisdom Paradox, is that as we age we naturally rely more on the left side of our brain. This side thinks in long- established patterns that continue to help us navigate through our world and function well in general. Unfortunately, its patterns can become rigid and impoverished. On the other hand, the right side of our brain tends to atrophy with age. That's the side that adds spice to life, that helps us adapt to new information and learn new ways of doing things.
Professor Goldberg, who is interested in the neuroplasticity of the brain (its ability to develop throughout the lifespan), has created cognitive enhancement exercises to help people continue to use and grow crucial whole-brain abilities. Without them we can lose sharpness of insight and the sense of wonder that enriches daily experience.
My own personal passions in life are many of the Arts, including music, fine arts, crafts, and books. I have a lot to say about the role they can play in adding richness and meaning to life at every stage and especially as we grow older. Professor Goldberg also has interesting things to say about their value to our ongoing cognitive development.
But I know people who don't respond much to the Arts, yet I would consider them creative. They like to come up with different ways of doing daily tasks, for example, so as not to fall into a deadening routine. They push themselves to see the other side of an issue on which they hold a fixed opinion. They keep their focus on finding the hidden meaning and purpose in life. In The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt expresses this beautifully: people are like plants--the need to bloom is intrinsic to our nature; we ignore it at our peril.
One final note: everyone who researches this subject seems to agree that physical activity is a key factor in maintaining our mental and emotional as well as bodily integrity. It supports our ability to be creative and to enjoy the fruits of creativity.
So I strongly encourage anybody reading this post to stop and consider where in your life you are doing The Same Old Same Old, and make a conscious decision to think yourself out of that box. I would love to hear about some of the routines you want to break out of so you can feel more alive.
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