I’ve been thinking a lot lately about creativity and how to live a more creative life, and at the same time wondering if that is even possible for me. Yes, I have an unfinished novel on my computer waiting for attention, but I only attack it in fits and starts. I might go several months without even thinking about it, and then I’ll spend days ensconced in research and writing, not wanting to do anything else.
I’ve also got a sketch pad and a set of beautiful colored pencils in a drawer, and I often get ideas (like when I visited the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueras a few days ago) but I never seem to get around to actually sketching or drawing.
I’ve also been thinking about my life, and how it often seems a bit chaotic. Not on the outside, mind you, but in my head mostly. To the observer, I’m sure it looks very serene and comfortable. And it often is. But whenever things get too predictable, it’s as if an internal tornado starts spinning around in my head and my thoughts and feelings get all stirred up. At those moments, I feel out of control and may likely say or do something that upsets the balance around me. I admit, I find too much predictability boring.
And, like often happens when you keep yourself open to things, I came across an article that addressed this very topic! It was about how chaos and predictability in life are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Rather, the human mind, programmed as it is to predict, actually needs chaos to be able to thrive. And this is where creativity comes in. The article stated that one of the latest big theories in neuroscience is that although humans are fundamentally creatures of prediction, creativity is not only not at odds with that, but actually goes hand in hand with improving our predictive power. “Life itself, in this view, is one big process of creatively optimizing prediction as a survival strategy in a universe otherwise tending toward chaos.”
According to Mark Miller, a cognitive scientist at the University of Toronto, the human brain has evolved to “seek out the edge of informational chaos” and it is in that zone that predictive models begin to break down – and make space for learning. Art and creativity can bring us to this so-called edge of chaos by causing us to reevaluate ourselves and rethink the world around us. Imagine: when you see a beautiful painting or hear a particular piece of music, or when you come across a passage in a book that moves you, it can actually alter how you think about yourself …. and even the world. The creative experience makes way for learning. How wonderful!
So, in spite of its negative connotation, chaos is not necessarily a bad thing. The big takeaway for me, besides how important art and creativity are, is that one of the best ways to become healthier, more adaptive (and creative) creatures is to regularly expose ourselves to different kinds of uncertainty (read as chaos). So chaos in itself is not necessarily bad… what a relief!
I attribute my dislike of predictability to being a ‘Third Culture Kid’ – I was born in Saudi Arabia to American parents and spent my formative years there. I grew up in an unpredictable place and was exposed to so much in a short time, including different cultures and experiences. I travelled a lot as a child, and in my early twenties I continued to travel extensively, looking for that elusive place where I thought I might fit in (after I was no longer able to return to Saudi Arabia, the only home I had ever known). I felt like a square – make that a star-shaped – peg trying to fit into a round hole. I never got too attached to places or things, and I’ve often wondered if there was something wrong with that. But I’ve finally come to the realization: my ‘happy place’ is not a place after all. It is that sweet spot between predictability and uncertainty; in other words, the edge of chaos. And what’s more: it is in that fiery chaos that lies the spark of creativity, which is just waiting for me to blow on it and bring it to life.
Tell me your thoughts on the subject…I’d love to hear them!
What the Focus 