The part of the brain activated when you are judged by yourself or someone else is deactivated when you’re being creative. Fact.
As a creative person myself, my first response to this was, “Great! How do I deactivate that part of my brain?!” I constantly judge myself and what I’m doing, whether it’s a good judgment or a bad judgment. It’s natural, because it’s the way we grew up. Two plus two equals four. Right. Calling the kid with no legs a loser. Wrong. From math to morals, we are taught from a young age, to look at the world in right and wrongs.
But art, and in my case songwriting isn’t made in right and wrongs, so how can I turn off self-judgment, so that I can be creative and be better at being creative? As I sat pondering my solutions, I remembered a song I started writing earlier in the day and I realized that after I thought of the first line, the next thing I did was start trying all different melodies on it. I sang flat, my voice cracked, I had weird interval jumps, it sounded terrible, and then I found a melody I liked. I didn’t judge myself and shut down all the creativity that was happening. I just let it flow, because I knew I would move beyond what I didn’t like and move to what I did. It wasn’t a conscious thought of I like this, I don’t like that, this is wrong, or this is right. I just kept trying new things and hearing what came out.
That’s all art is, right? There is no right or wrong, it’s just what you like or don’t like. When I continued to make up different melodies, I didn’t say, “that’s wrong!” and shut down my creative process. I just let it flow. Judgment is not a conscious switch you can turn off. The goal is just to be in the moment. When you’re fully in the moment, you’re not thinking about what’s right or wrong or what’s on your to-do list or if you’d rather be doing something else. You’re only focus is on pouring out your creative energies and making your creation more appealing to you.
If someone had described to you a painting in which the facial features were distorted and out of place, you’d probably imagine you wouldn’t like it. I’m guessing Pablo Picasso didn’t think that no one would like his paintings because the facial features were out of their normal places. Maybe he just wanted to see what it’d look like. Maybe he just started his painting in the wrong place and then decided to switch it up. Maybe he just liked where it was going and kept putting facial features in different places. Maybe there’s some deep underlying meaning that he was trying to convey. Whatever the reason, it makes no difference. Pablo painted things that appealed to him and his emotions at that moment. This is how all art works.
Once the creation is made, others chose to like it or not. And I know, it’s hard to hear when someone doesn’t like your creation, but it comes with the territory. Thinking about how someone else may not like your creation is not reason enough not to create it, because when it comes right down to it, it’s yours and no one else’s. Your creation, whether it be a song, a painting, a quilt, a photograph, a dance, a symphony, or a sculpture is your representation of your emotions and thoughts depicted in a form that speaks to you and appeals to your mind’s eye. We’ve all the phrase, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I agree and so are anger, love, hate, mourning, hope, despair, joy, and excitement.
Just as no two people have the same exact experiences and innermost thoughts, no one else can create your art and no one else is going to see, hear, or feel it like you do. So don’t ever let yourself fall victim to judgment, your own included. Your art will be created as your soul sees fit.
If you want to hear more on creativity, I encourage you to check out the NPR TED Radio Hour on the Source of Creativity at http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/351538855/the-source-of-creativity
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