Nature of Creativity

Everything that we see around has come out of creativity. Although there are some phenomena that man cannot describe effectively due to the complicated nature, all manmade creations are results of creativity. Therefore, creativity is defined as the art of turning newly imagined things or ideas into reality. This implies that creativity is subject to the mind, with all the prelude picks starting by the engagement of the mind before the practical aspect. Although Runco (2007, p. 3) admits that creativity cannot be defined distinctively, it can be associated close to intelligence. In other words, creativity is triggered by presence of a problem and the need to solve it. It is also true to say that creativity is the intrinsic intelligence possessed by an individual and only nurtured by the mind and implemented by doing it practically. However, research has shown that creativity is not subject to intelligence given the fact that anyone can be creative in different ways regardless of their intelligence. Therefore, one of the most sucking definitions of creativity is that it is the process of coming up with something new using the mind and bringing the idea into reality or into being.

For one to be creative there is a number of characteristics that he or she ought to posses. For instance, one should be different from the rest. This is basically derived from the fact that creativity involves formulation of new things. Psychologists refer this to loose associative thinking. This means that a creative individual should maintain uncertainty tendencies in order to think of new connections. Another important factor that promotes creativity is the presence of constraints. It is common knowledge that human beings will always tend to think harder when faced by challenging situations. However, human beings need to study a constraint and come up with comprehensible solutions. Such constraints are referred to as cognitive constraints (Kaufman, 2012). Some innovations made are in ignored just because the real problem they are supposed to solve is not understood. Therefore, an innovator needs to make it clear about the problem they intend to solve.

Talent is also a key feature in innovation. One needs to be equipped with a certain talent in order to be efficiently innovative. Lack of such special talents and abilities may be a hindering factor to innovation. In addition, passion is also critical in innovation. A good innovator should love what he or she does in order to do it in the best manner (Kotelnikov, 2010). This also brings satisfaction to individuals on whatever they are thinking of and trying to innovate. By loving what one does, it means that they practice it in day-to-day life experiences. For instance, one needs to practice frequently in order to come up with new and better ways of playing a certain game. This is also known to sharpen the brain and enhance its uniqueness as far as thinking differently in concerned. In addition, a conducive environment is essential for one to be creative. This means that an individual ought to be predisposed to different things in order to set the mind towards what is seen from besiege.

Studies have shown that the major obstacle to teaching creativity is the Mozart myth. According to this myth, some individuals are born with certain intrinsic talents that enable them come up with ideas that are new and utilizable as if they were magic. Prominent people such as Arthur Koestler, who made many people believe that creative people are naturally creative, popularized this myth. Although this is true, creativity can be taught since it is a continuous, lengthy, or progressive. According to Michele & Root-Bernstein (2008), teaching creativity is not a hard nut to crack. People have been taught different skills especially in writing music, something that they would have done in young days. Because such abilities were not naturally in individual’s genetic or natural predisposition, ability to earn new ways of thinking is evident enough that creativity can be taught.

The need to create cannot be overemphasized given the fact that the world faces many new challenges that call for new solutions. A good example of why we create is the need to break language barriers. This means that people need to come up with new ways of communication especially with special group of people. For example, the language used by the deaf is purely an innovation that helps them communicate effectively. Life is also ambiguous, meaning that it requires a multivariate approach to various issues (Von Oech, 1983). This means that most if not all problems have no right answer, but will always have several potential answers, which should come out of creativity. Thinking about various problems in different manners implies that people will always seek to utilize as many options as possible. This will transit into establishing a culture of thinking widely all the time. Therefore, creativity is valuable majorly because it makes people think widely and intensely thus coming up with the most amicable solutions to deferent problems.

Apart from solving a problem, creativity also embraces innovativeness. In conclusion, creativity is a multifaceted psychological phenomenon that is not clearly definable using simple terms. This is because it manifests itself in a unique ways that cannot be traced back to a specific essence. Almost everybody is creative in a different capacity and different innovations come from different people. However, despite the fact that creativity is not intelligence, the most creative people are intelligent.