Get Back

We are told that childhood is the peak of creativity. In the Beatles documentary "Get Back" they often resorted to using songs from ten years back that they wrote as the Quarrymen. They were young teenagers performing at clubs for eight hours or more a night. It seems that they should be drained of creative energy but that is when most of their songs came out. They were literally farting songs.

Creative solutions seldom come on demand so we need to know what sparks creative energy inside us. For some it is the time between awakeness and dream that creativity flows. For others it is the quiet time in the night when all others are asleep.

The right time and right place in here and now

For some the place is most important. Some are more creative in small dark places. Other are more creative in a large echoing room and some are more creative outside in the fresh air.

For me creativity happens in the course of avoiding what I am supposed to be doing at the moment. It is an escape into an imaginary world. It is not planned and I usually don't have the best resources to work with at that moment but I start to draw or write or make whatever my mind is wandering off too.

Kimchi Energy

This happens to me mostly at school. It was lunch time and a student saw my plate. He was surprised to see how much kimchi I had piled on. Later he told his friends. They started calling me "Kimchi Sam" meaning "Kimchi Teacher".

They got me thinking about how I could use kimchi to teach English. I was supposed to be preparing for class, but I couldn't resist the idea of making a kimchi puppet. Little by little I would leave my office and cut up some material and glue some pieces together until I could get a kimchi puppet. It was the kids that inspired me but I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't so bored.

A lot of my creative energy comes when I am completely bored. It comes when I am given data entry work or lesson plans to write up. It's those moments the most creative works come out.

Catch it before its gone

The most important thing is to put no limits on creativity and catch it when it comes. Honestly walking to the train, sitting through a boring lecture or even visiting the restroom may spark a whole new world of creativity. The problem is that if you can't catch it those ideas will be gone a few moments later. The practice of remembering creative ideas and acting on them is something that I have been working on.

I send messages to myself or draw a quick picture or make a picsart sketch. These "creative ideas" are not blog entries but my desk is filled with them. I sometimes take pictures later but usually throw them away in a couple days.

Here's a few of my random sketches I made just because I was procrastinating and wanted to do something else than the assigned task.

Some sketches are worth keeping around

Sometimes I like a sketch and make something out of it like these. I get a little carried away with some edits and then I find a totally new creation.

Some of them develop a life of their own

I made my little kimchi character into a puppet. It's not because I have time to do these things or even because I want to do these things. It's because the creative energy is there and if I don't I feel like I missed out and the chance is gone.

A Christmas NFT on Proofofbrain

https://www.proofofbrain.io/@mineopoly/gallery/mineopoly_kimchi_kimchi-christmas

Make Love

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Beecreate