Somehow I got on the subscription list for Newsweek and have been receiving “free” magazines for week’s now. I like Newsweek, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t made time to read any of the magazines until now. The newest issue is called “The Creativity Crisis” http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html and is all about how the children in America (from Kindergarten through Sixth Grade) are experiencing a decline in their creativity. Arguments are made that it is because of all the time that kids are spending in front of the boob tube and/or computer or that teachers just don’t have the time in class to explore creativity. This article actually has a lot of data from various sources and good news (ultimately).

And it got me to thinking. How do you express your creativity? Sometimes we’re creative without thinking of what we do as being creative. For instance, my husband, the web developer is so left brained it isn’t even funny but does he come up with ingenious solutions for all kinds of ways to make our household hum? Yes! I think he is one of the few who is a “bridged thinker” meaning that he is able to access both the left and right side of his brain equally as well.

We can be creative in our business as well. Look at Sam Rosen of Thought Lead (http://thoughtlead.com/) who at 24 creates innovative ways for us to do business all the time with his partners. Also my friend, Mitch Ditkoff and his team at www.ideachampions.com.

I don’t knit (but so many of my friends do), I don’t paint (ditto) but I usually score off the charts in creativity. I think that is because of the way that I look at the world. Let me put it this way, I’d rather score high on creativity than flat out balls to the wall crazy! Because I don’t have children, I don’t have the opportunity to be around kids as much as I’d like to be but I got to say that the kids that I am around seem pretty darn creative to me. I have several friends on FaceBook with kids who are between 3-10 and some of the ideas and ways their kids communicate seem to be very creative. I also have friends with teenagers who are extremely creative so I am heartened to believe that the teens of today will be able to lead the teens of tomorrow in a creative direction towards solutions.

How do you express your creativity? Are you good at communicating difficult points of view with a myriad of people? Do you draw or paint? Are you a musician? Do you knit crazy funny wonderful “animals” like my friend Risa? I’ve loved every single one of them that she has shown me thus far…not too sure what planet this animals come from…but would definitely want a collection of them. Look around at the children in your life, how can you help them be creative? Who helped you to be creative?

Go search on YouTube for “Gravity Cats” and get a laugh. There are so many ways to be creative? What will you create today?