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Remember when you were a kid? You did finger paintings and made crayon drawings. Your parents put them up on the refrigerator. You made sand castles and built model airplanes. You played make believe with stuffed animals or cardboard boxes and sticks. You made a Mother's Day card out of construction paper and glitter. It was thrilling. Kids have an innate desire to make things and to use their imagination.

How about now? Who does not enjoy singing out loud at a club, in the car with the radio blasting or in the shower (when we think no one can hear.) We still want to create – but we’re afraid to have anyone to notice in fear of their judgment. Our pictures are no longer on the refrigerator. Glitter is no longer sufficient.

Somewhere our creative urge was stifled.

We probably felt early discouragement from our parents, teachers or peers. They couldn’t guess what it was that we had drawn. Other kids were given more praise or were deemed “better” for their creations. And we slowly we lost our imagination and sense of wonder, our belief that anything really was possible, that what we created would be accepted.

Detail from Judgment in Bloom

And we believed what others said. And we bailed.

Our society seems to love to condemn. Instead of building, we tear things down. It takes the same effort to appreciate as it does to criticize. One lifts people up and the other lets them down. Where does your energy go? Let’s transition from Complaining to Sustaining.

Everyone is creative

Even if you don’t aspire to be an “Artist”, everyone is inventive. There are so many ways to create: Cooking meals, growing flowers, sewing, doodling, decorating cakes, dancing.

Most jobs contain some element of problem solving - getting done on time when resources are limited, dealing with customers or coworkers. I maintain problem solving is a primary component of being creative. So yeah, you too are creative.

Make time to make. It is not frivolous. We need to rank joy and enjoyment higher on our priority lists.

Create for its own sake. Appreciate the joy of the creative process. Make a mess and see what happens. It does not matter if your meals, flower arrangement or pipe cleaner animals win any awards. Don’t judge yourself but say "Wow, I made that."

Time to make something new!