Creativity, it's everywhere!

So many people say, in a humble, self-deprecating way, usually with a shrug, "I'm just not a creative person".  That can never be a true statement.  Creativity is an intrinsic part of every single human being.  Without it, there could be no life, great or small.  People who say they are not creative do not realize that it's like a little energetic, smiling imp, ever-present, peeking around the corners and through the cracks of what he or she believes to be an uncreative life.  There is no such thing as an uncreative life.

The definition of creativity is the ability to create.  We do that whether consciously, or unconsciously on a daily basis.We create words, pictures with words, relationships, emotions, desires.  Creation is so much more than art, although the creation of art and beauty is what most think of when creativity is mentioned. 

There are inspired creations, sublime creations, so-so creations, painful creations, evil creations, unintended creations, lopsided creations, creations that got the job done, creations that didn't quite work out, endless, endless creations, to infinity-and beyond!!!  (I love that phrase, thanks Buzz Lightyear to you and your creator.)

Each time any person makes a way where there was no way before, an answer is created.  Even imitation of someone else's creation shows, first, an appreciation of another's creativity, and second, the creativity of the imitator, because even the most accomplished imitator can't help but pour himself into the imitation, and so the copy is also a creation.  Each time I procrastinate by coming up with a new excuse, an avoidance is created. Think about it, a person contemplating sucicide must create reasons for himself to do it, or not to do it. Every action, every thought is a creation resulting of the sum of a person's whole. Each time a student, teacher, co-worker or I realize a difficult concept that someone else wants us to understand, a connection is created, an emotion brought into being, an expression fills our faces, a momentary rush of adrenaline speeds our heart, and we experience the thrill of "AHA!"

 Creativity is pouring over us, in us, around us, and yes, out of us all day every day, with or without our help.  Every life, whether lived with intense purpose, regimented, goal-oriented, with intense conviction, or helter-skelter, any-which-way, with no general purpose other than existence or survival, is still a creation.

A thousand words for love......

This saying was on a piece of art at the Scotsdale Airport:

"The Ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand, and the Eskimos have a hundred words for snow.  I wish that I had a thousand words for love.  All I can think of is the way you move against me in your sleep, and I have no words for that."

I stood there for several moments, memorizing this. Then I wrote it down in a notebook. It could mean one thing to a mother holding a sleeping newborn, another to a lover, or longtime spouse.

A thousand words for love: Joy, sorrow, honey, dear, azizam, baby giggles, God, flowers, children, shared laughter, tears, a wry smile, an exultant grin, a grimace born of unconsolable grief, a clean pair of underwear in the drawer when you need it...... but these are expressions of love, what are the words??

What's the word you feel when you eat your mother's homecooking after a year of being away?

What's the word you feel when you are in church, or the mosque, or the synagogue and you are swept away with the majesty and smallness of being, all at once?

What's the word for the catch in your throat, when your baby sighs, or when your stinky, sour little boy gives you a sweaty kiss, or they go to school for the first time?

What's the word for the way your heart stops when adoring eyes shine into yours and your realize that you are really seeing your own adoration mirrored back to you, and then yours back to his, and so on into infinity?

What are the words for love??