The Creative Eye

People who know me, know me to be a rather creative individual, but it can sometimes be difficult to explain to others just what that means, how deeply creativity runs. Those who do not fancy themselves to be creative live in a slightly different world than those who do. Of course, I don't mean that to say that we live on different planets, that creative individuals are somehow a different species, merely that our realities differ in the world as we know it.

You see, creativity is so much more than the ability to make something pretty. Being creative is part of how a person perceives the world around them, interprets it, draws inspiration from it. Someone who is not creative may look at something and see it only on a technical level, whilst someone who is creative sees the very same thing as a detailed work of art, or an in depth metaphor for something else.

For example; a non-creative person might see a bird feeder and think “That's nice.” They can appreciate that it's pretty, they appreciate that the birds who come and eat at it are also pretty, and they may see how someone might want a bird feeder around their house.

Alternatively, a creative person might sit there watching as light bounces off the glass of a bird feeder while birds land on it causing it to spin in the sun. They might watch the rainbows that flicker on the walls as the sunlight bounces through the glass and into their home. Personally, I've sometimes gone so far as to see the sunlight shifting a grackles feathers from black, to a beautiful florescent blue-green colour, and been inspired as a writer to create a whole new fairy realm where all things shine in such beautifully brilliant hues. Later, I've also gone so far as to hear the beautiful sound of a Veery thrush and imagine that in that very fairy realm, even blades of grass in the wind sing like a wet finger around the rim of a crystal glass.


To one person, it's just a bird feeder. To people like me, it's a whole new world waiting to be discovered if you only just sit and watch for a while. If you only take the time to truly see what is in front of you.

This is just one example of something two people can observe in this world only to see very different things.

A scene about a creaky front gate comes to mind, from an old show I use to love watching called Sliders. For those who haven't seen it, consider this an overdue Rambler Recommendation, it may be a little tricky to get your hands on but definitely worth while.

Sliders followed a group of people who travelled through a portal from one parallel universe to another, the premise being how one small thing, were it different, had the ability to change everything as they knew it. I think this show is a prime example of creativity seeing something simple and viewing it in an entirely different way from someone who may not be as creatively inclined. It is a perfect example of one thing opening a creative persons mind to a realm of possibilities.

So what do I mean about a creaky fence gate? Well, a non creative person may hear a creaky gate and think it needs to be oiled, but at one point in some writer's life they heard a creaky gate opening and closing and had the idea for that very scene in the show where true value was placed on that very gate needing to be oiled.

I do hope you wonderful Ramblers don't find this particular blog too difficult to follow. I realize now as I write it, that my mind can be rather dizzying when it goes into tangents on creative thinking.

So, now comes the fun part where I throw out a little challenge to further open your beautiful minds to their creative potential.

Look around you. What do you see? Pick one thing, anything, and allow yourself to imagine it as though you were once more a child in a vast sea of possibilities just waiting to be discovered with the help of nothing more than a cardboard box.

See that pen? What would it be like to be that pen? To have someone need you when thoughts come to mind and they have to rush to write them down lest they be forgotten forever.

That couch cushion? Remember how you use to use couch cushions just like that one to make your very own fortresses?

That water bottle? It's a rocket now.

That thing you forgot to put away in the kitchen? It's now your only weapon against a zombie attack.

Where will you let your imagination take you?

Cheers!
The Bra Street Rambler.


Like what you read? Like, comment, and follow/subscribe! Show the Bra some love!