"Creativity is a way of living"

My favorite thing about our textbook is that Davis paraphrased the main ideas of each section to the side of each paragraph. One of his earliest paraphrases is "creative thinking is a way of living" (p. 6). In my mind I have always believed that there are different levels and different types of creativity. Previously I would have identified the most creative people as those who have received recognition and made contributions to areas of art, science, or other domain; however, I also always believed that the average Joe could be creative, but not necessarily to the same level of expertise as more famous individuals. Now my definition of creativity goes beyond the recognizable because I do think that creative thinking can be a forced process. I would have said that creativeness was a way of being as opposed to a way of thinking. Now I think it's both. Instead of having to be an innate and natural thing, sometimes creativity has to be an expectation and requirement in order for people to actually think or act creatively.

I continue to distinguish between the two types of creativity that I previously held: cognitively creative and artistically creative. To me, the most creative people are both cognitively creative and artistically creative. Both of these can be fostered through continuous application, but in most people creativeness lays dormant until required. I believe opportunity and personality are extremely influential in the manifestation of creative thinking and action. People with special talents or cognitive gifts are more apt to find other forms of motivation; however, most people respond creatively as a reaction to a problem or proposal.

I've always seen myself as more of a cognitively creative person, so I didn't like having to make things. I wouldn't say that the activities were challenging, but I didn't like the feeling of not being finished. When thinking about a solution to a problem, I can brainstorm and try different options; however, when creating an object, it's more difficult to be satisfied with the end product. There is always something more to be done. Ideas are malleable and progress from one to another; it's their nature. I want products to be like ideas and continue to evolve, but then nothing would ever be finished. I just had to decide to stop and be happy with it.