The Creative Mind

     Recently as I was driving my whole family to the store (whole family meaning my parents and sister and kids), I saw a beautiful spectacle of clouds engulfing mountainous peaks with crimson, blue, and yellow flourishes playing through the layers of air. To put it plainly, it was inspiring. I wanted to take a picture. I wanted to keep that moment to write about or paint later. When I shared my idea with my family, my father stated "Why would you want a picture of that? It is plain." I was shocked. Plain! Plain! That was amazing!
     He explained to me that how he saw it was there are many sunsets like that. There are always clouds covering mountains. There is always a blue sky and with the man-made buildings in the picture, this is nothing special.
     I couldn't believe it. This was an amazing beautiful landscape! Buildings and all. The rest of the week I was pointing out other awe inspiring scenes, attempting to convince my father that even in the most mundane, beauty lurks. He never managed to see it.
     My dad did give me a bunch of books on photography. He said he tried to become a good photographer, but he never had the creative eye it required. He told me that from what I was saying, referring to my week's endeavors, I had what he did not. So now I am instructed by him to complete his photography instructions. I suppose I asked for it.
     Now, back to my post. The creative mind. Some may say creativity is a gift and it is only given to a few individuals. I highly disagree. I believe everyone is creative. Or at least they start out that way. Imagine an infant. What sort of thoughts do you suppose they have? Perhaps thinking of a way to get our attention? Well, from what YouTube will show you, babies make some pretty interesting faces and sounds. Yeah there may be babies all over the world making that same sound. But, to one little baby, that sound was completely and utterly his own invention. And his Mommy and Daddy loved it!
     Fast forward. Have any of you watched a toddler playing with toys on the floor? They have their own rhyme and reason for everything they do. They come up with their own stories. They are creative. In fact, I think children stay creative up to the age of four or five. And this is my own opinion, but I believe they will stay that way if their creativity is encouraged and noticed.
     So what sort of things can we do to bring about our own creative mind? I suggest looking at things from a fresh perspective. Look closely at that stapler. What if you didn't know what that stapler was? What could it be? What are it's functions? How can they be used? What are those little things inside it, and why are they bent the way they are when they come out? Could it be a device of torcher? Maybe it was once used as a Tracking mechanism. Someone would have one of those placed in their skin to show they belonged to some group of secret, pain loving, people. What do you think?
     Think of other objects, items, or places.  Tell me your story in the comments below, or send me an e-mail. I would love to hear from you.