How creativity is important

Hi, my name is Jackie Norman and I live in Slough with my husband, Dave.  We have two grown-up girls who have now left the nest.  I am a Visual Artist of many years.  Is creativity important?

Everyone is creative to some extent.  Does creativity make you happy?  Does creativity reduce stress?  Drawing and painting is creative that is true, but so is pottery, making things, needlework, knitting, crochet, building bricks, gardening or cooking a meal.  Creativity has certainly helped me in this Coronavirus to have something to do, is calming and soothing and is developing a way to cope during these times when we are at home.  It helps focus the mind on something instead of the endless TV programmes, social media and other things that are negative.  It can drive you mad after a while!

Scientists have discovered over the years how creativity comes about through play and how creativity helps mental health.  When we look at children in the early years, the play with paints/paper, sand and water play, learning to write, playdough and sing, learn to play musical instruments and dance.  They all may be different but they are all learning to create in their learning.  Can creativity be taught?  Where did creativity come from?  Everyone has creativity in them so it is nurtured and it does improve over the years from practice and cultivating it, as drawing and painting can improve over time.  In schools there is a link to mathematics and art, as measuring and calculating are in the art process.  Also in cooking and needlework, in fact a lot of creative arts.

Do animals have creativity and imagination?  It has been discovered that elephants have been known to be able to paint and in animal watching, we discover that cats and dogs are creative, birds sing and dance and we see it across nature.  

Does creativity decrease with age?  I think it is so important that we keep nurturing our creativity as long as it takes.  It slows down the ageing process so we should all nurture our creativity in the many ways we can do so.  Where did creativity come from?  I think God wired us in the first place with creativity in the many gifts and abilities he has given us.  We are all different, all unique, all extraordinary in many ways.  So in this crisis time it would be interesting to find out what people are doing to cope with this time?