Honoring Creativity: A Special “Giving” Ad

I love to honor those who create and it is exactly because the process of creating is ordinary  and we are all creators on a daily basis (we just don’t give ourselves credit for it) that I find it so worthy of celebration.  Of course that doesn’t mean the process of creativity or individual creators can’t be special.  But for me, at least, the measure of special is based on the amount of positive energy imagined and created and whether the creativity values people or not.

We Are All Creators

Too often we associate creators and “creativity” in terms of artists and inventors who produce something new and never seen before.  And by implication we consider the process of creating as requiring special people with special mental or physical skills and special materials. But that is not true.  We are all creators.

Creativity is the act of imagining and accepting the possibility of something measurably different from what currently exists.  Whether that something is a purple sun, worldwide veganism or a better vacuum cleaner.

Creating is taking action to bring something measurably different — be it an idea, object or behavior — into existence.  We are investing in a creative endeavor by expending time, skills and/or materials to make something imagined real or to shape and change future outcomes.

We become creators when the chain reactive process we set in motion with our actions results in making something new, reinventing something old or setting in motion a course of action or behavior.   It also applies whether our creation came about through the deliberate pursuit of our creative imaginations or as an unintended consequence of an action we took.

What We Create Matters

If we are all creators and we create daily, what makes any of us or our creations special?

For me, at least, it’s all about the what.

When we imagine and expend our resource to create something, we are signaling to others that this is of value and this is what we value in this world.  Of course, we all have different ideas of what adds value.  And it can and does change over time and in different circumstances.  But what we creates matters.  It is our investment in the future.

So what creators and creativity do I value?  Ones that seek knowledge and understanding, create positive energy and value people.

Watch this ad.  The positive energy creators aren’t just the ones who made this ad.  It is the whole story of this ad about understanding and valuing people.

Do you think of yourself as creative and/or a creator?  Do you think creativity should have value?  What creativity do you find worthy of celebration?