NaBloPoMo: Make Me Creative?

Me rapping my poem at my EXA grad*

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt is, "Would you describe yourself as creative?"

I notice there is no "make" as the NaBloPoMo theme word in the prompt; however, like I have said on the 1st day of this month, I equate the word "make" with "create" anyway as they share similar characteristics in meaning.

My belief is that all human beings are creative. We all have an inborn expression of creativity within us. It is natural and a given for humans.

Why do I say that you may wonder? The law of attraction is why. We create our reality, even our life, starting with our thoughts. The book title "As a Man Thinketh" by John Allen says it all.

Regardless, whether you believe that or not, I do consider myself creative. I AM creative! I believe my creative genius comes in the form of ideas primarily in the creative and expressive arts or rather expressive arts therapy (EXA) which I studied a number of years ago.

For myself, this includes but is not limited to creative dance/movement, creative writing, theatre, designing (as of greeting cards which I started to do at about age 18 or 19 as well as business cards, programs, presentations, costumes, and the like.

One of my paintings

In the expressive arts classes I attended, my creativity did not come through as I would have liked in paintings or through words of poetry. Instead, it came mainly through performances, not necessarily only dramatic, but also comedic in nature as well.

I have to laugh as one just came to mine that I did very spontaneously, literally on the spot! Talk about pressure! This is what I did:

I put out two chairs and took turns sitting on each of them while imitating being a psychiatrist like Freud for example and a client. This was to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of counselling theories. Needless to say, I had a blast performing it.

Though boring a subject to me at the time, I entertained the class with this amusing and enlightened presentation. And yes, if I had a video, I definitely would have posted it here!

Another performance comes to mind, again during my expressive arts therapy training, where I did an enactment and partial spoof of one of my favourite songs, "The Logical Song" by the rock band Supertramp.

On a side note here: I found it synchronistic to discover that I, like the females in the video below (which I saw for the first time tonight), also used signs with most of the main words to the song, similar to what they hold up! I knew I was inspired! ;)



Yet another presentation or rather performance I did for an expressive arts therapy class was one where I became three different characters changing costumes and artistic modalities. Initially I was clothed in a silk kimono reading a powerful poem that I had written, then uncovered with a butterfly patterned babydoll top - I think I may have sung or danced then, and the last segment wearing a red feathered boa around my neck.

I also love creating costumes for Halloween. Since I don't sew, I use my imagination once I have an idea in mind and I usually go the nth degree in terms of details from head to toe. Due to the technological revolution, I am not up to speed on how to post them here. A couple of photos have made it online though.

Speaking of costumes, at my EXA graduation*, I wore a skirt and top. I was able to change to my jeans and other top from that in public view! Oh yeah, did I mention that I can sometimes get ideas and expressions of clothing? ;)

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have also created some inspired dances. And I have also penned words to not only poetry, but also to at least two songs.

Another form of creativity comes through in my cooking. I do not consider myself a great cook; however, what I usually do is check to see which food(s) need to be eaten first (in terms of freshness/expiry date) and then concoct a meal out of it. Sometimes it's a novelty, other times not, sometimes delicious, other times not.

What are your creative outlets? What is your best form of creative expression?