This site is not about me. It’s about all of us, our joy and struggles with expression, and bringing something new into the world. The inspiration for this site is a course called Visual Thinking which I created 18 years. I hope I’ve been more of a coach, a person with a certain knowledge who sets up provocative experiments, rather than a teacher.
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On CreatiVgrowth.com you will find posts about the highs and lows of creativity, dozens of techniques for breaking thru blocks, inspiration from a diverse mix of people interested in making something new in the world, and most of all encouragement.
There will be links to inspiring meditations and visualizations, that can bring us up when we are stuck. And excerpts and reviews of books with new ideas about the what and how of being an innovator.
Up until I read the inspiring book, Creative Confidence, by Tom & David Kelly, I thought I was exposing people to a string of techniques or tactics that would help them to be more creative. In part, I guess that is true, but the books great truth is that we all already know how to be creative. We just need to awaken our confidence. The class and this site are focused on experiential, project-based learning. If you are confident about creative skill in making a cake, you know what creativity feels like. That will help you in making a painting, writing that long dreamt of book, or leaving a job that is stale, to start something new.
This is similar to the ease of learning a third language if you already know two. (Sadly, as a monolingual, I can’t speak from experience).
Love is love. And creativity is creativity. The love for a son is not fundamentally better than the love for a friend. And while I believe our creative activity climbs to different levels, (Light, Medium, and Deep creativity), I no longer have this hierarchy that something I’ve designed is somehow less than a painting I’ve made.
Are you willing to contribute you own ideas to this site. The first theme, is sharing stories about overcoming creative setbacks. You can add a comment to that post, leave an audio comment on the related VoiceThread, or send me your own post on that topic. Please include a resonant image.
Want some inspiration? Check out Eric Maisel’s book, Secrets of a Creativity Coach. It is full of case studies of people Eric coached, many of whom were trying to get through a low point in their life.