Part of being creative is experiencing the little things in life.
Creativity is the ability to take seemingly disparate elements (ideas, concepts, theories, etc.) that exist in one or more domains, and combine to form a concept, thought, etc. in a separate domain. Creativity can also include the act of asking new questions, or phrasing things in a way that makes the concepts new and approachable.
Of the many things I am passionate about in life, being a mother sits comfortably and unchallenged at the top of the list. I love it. I love all of it. Seriously – Claire once threw up IN MY HAIR and I laughed and brought her into the shower to rinse her off and calm her down. Only when she was calm and feeling better did I realize that hey, vomit in my hair? Not cute. Sort of gross. Should probably fix that…
…but I also love my work, and sometimes the two sort of compete for my attention in a very real way. Take this past Thursday for example: I’m happily working, being productive… and then the Nanny announces something happened and she has to leave early.
And it’s not even noon yet.
And I work from home.
Lately I’ve spent a lot of time considering connections and the things that result from those connections. People connecting with other people to share their thoughts and produce new innovations, loving relationships, or even children. Systems connecting with other systems and components to produce new, integrated systems that can do things no one conceived as being possible when the individual components were first designed and built. People connecting with systems and producing movies, digital art, music, robots, products we purchase, cars we drive, etc. Connections are really, really important. And the quality of those connections, including the ease with which they share information and ideas… the interoperation… all such interesting things to consider.
It has happened to you. I know it has.
You’re on your laptop/ipad/iphone, reading articles and blog posts when suddenly, someone’s words connect with you. They not only “ring true”, but they feel… right. You get it.
You connect.