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Lesson on Creativity Learned
The pattern for this beaded knit shawl 
is found in Knitsimple: 33 Knit Shawls 

One of my visions for this blog was that it could be a forum for sharing ideas and encouraging each other to be creative. Since I’m most familiar with applying creativity to artistic pursuits, I’ve come to realize that maybe I had been unconsciously identifying creativity solely with the arts. It was as if I was saying to anybody who wasn’t involved in the arts, “Hey look over here! You need to bring this into your life!”

This was brought home to me when my husband, who has a science background, reacted with surprise to one of my comments in my recent interview with Joyce. (See a portion of this interview at this link:  https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2018/09/creativity-in-classroom-2-of-3-how-do.html) He was taken aback that I said one might not think of creativity in the realms of math and science. It struck me that of course there is creativity in the STEM fields; if there wasn’t, we would never see advances in those areas! This expanded the whole concept of creativity for me. Instantly a bridge was built, there was a new appreciation for his work and it seemed we had even more common ground for discussion and exchanging ideas.

Finding common ground… that’s the key to connecting with people in order to support and encourage them to be creative in whatever realm they are working. Creativity should not be, in fact cannot be, compartmentalized. It is not reserved for certain professions, or pursuits, to the exclusion of others. And it certainly is not given to some people and not to others.

In talking with people from all walks of life about this blog, I’ve seen that the theme of creativity unites us, even when the only thing we might have in common is that we are in the same spot at the same time. There is lots to be learned about generating ideas and solving problems from the scientist, the lawyer, the musician, the artist, … the knitter. A good friend (blog supporter and knitter) caught the spirit of sharing ideas when she sent me a link to the article entitled "Why I Teach Math Through Knitting" by Sara Jenson, a math professor at Carthage College. It points to how disciplines are interconnected and how seemingly unrelated subjects can complement and enhance each other. (Check out this interesting post on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/why-i-teach-math-through-knitting-95896 )

Creativity can, should, and does touch all areas of our lives when we are open to expressing it.


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