Be creative = be happy

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt

I am a big believer that creativity is linked to happiness.  Also, I think it's reassuring and exciting that there are so very many ways to be creative that everyone can find a way to be creative.  It takes creativity to paint, sew, draw, write, bake, design, problem solve, do algebra, take photographs, coordinate a schedule, repair something, teach, get a toddler to do what you want, or get a teenager to do what you want.

Even better?  I never feel more alive, more like me, than when I'm being creative.  There are plenty of tasks in my day that don't take much inventiveness.  It's up to me to look for ways to flex my creative muscles in my own sphere.

Sometimes my attempts to create are big fat failures.  For example, Janet, bless her patient heart, taught me to "knit."  (I think I can call it knitting.)  I'm not very good at it. I finally finished my "scarf."

I have to point out this is not Janet's fault.  She is a good teacher who had no control over her student's skill level.

It is homely and asymmetrical and really short and fat for a scarf.  The only person it would work for would have to have a long and skinny neck.  Like, longer and skinnier than a giraffe.

As sorry as it turned out, I enjoyed the process and will try again.  It made me happy to try something new.  (And I can only get better, right?)

When you are creative, you tell the world, I was here!

(Thelma made one ugly scarf, but she was here!)