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When Did You Last Create Like a Drunken Monkey on Rollerblades?

By Dan Goodwin

In our creative lifetimes, most of us will hope to create a body of work, and leave an artistic or creative legacy of some kind, to be appreciated during our lifetime and far beyond.

Whether this is a collection of novels, albums, paintings, or any other gathered fragments of our creative expression, we each in some way seek to have this physical record of our creative life, in essence our autobiography through our art.

As we follow this aim, at various points in our creative journey we have clear and vivid visions of what we must create next, and follow these first thoughts and ideas through to their natural conclusions.

As we go along, we build our creative life body, piece after piece, each one moving us closer in some way towards understanding, defining and communicating what our creative life, and what we ourselves, are all about.

When we look at the life works of artists we admire, we can trace their development, realise they all began somewhere, usually very far from where they ended up, and practiced, developed, evolved, created their way through their lives, leaving a succession of wonderful landmarks along the way, that we now so enjoy and appreciate.

But creating is not always simply about the final outcome, or the finished article.

Sometimes the most important aim or goal for our creative expression is not an easily definable product or object like a gripping psychological thriller set in Paris in the 1930s, a beautiful piano concerto based on rain patterns on a window, or a series of photographs conveying the vast wilderness of the Australian Outback.

Because sometimes, creativity is not about writing perfectly formed pop songs. Sometimes, it’s about blowing a little free jazz.

Sometimes creating is not about painting a beautiful portrait. It’s about mixing the most gorgeous shades of colour between blue and green you’ve ever seen.

Sometimes it’s not about gliding across the dancefloor in a graceful waltz. It’s about dancing like a hyperactive monkey on rollerblades. After a little too much “jungle juice”!

The point is, sometimes the most valuable and enjoyable thing we can do with our creativity is just cut loose from all restrictions, permissions, complications and expectations and have fun, express our creativity with passion and abandon, how ever that may spill out into the world.

As a bonus, yes maybe you’ll discover some fantastic new creative style, technique or approach or add your own unique twist on an existing one.

Or maybe at the end of it, you’ll just collapse exhausted, sweating and giggling stupidly. A bit like that monkey.

But without doubt, the next time you resume work on one of your more clearly defined creative projects, your outlook will be a little different, and hopefully for the better.

So think about your creative life right now. What are some of the ways you can bring in a bit of “monkey dancing” and enjoy your creativity as much as possible? •

© Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin

About the Author | More by Dan Goodwin
Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at www.CoachCreative.com.

10/12/06