To nurture our creativity is to provide our minds and ourselves with space, non judgement, growth and potential. Creativity is vital to many of us, to deny it is to turn off a tap of ideas, of stilling our hands from making, blocking our ears, eyes and mouth. All thinking is creative. Logical is not the opposite of creative. To be logical is to see patterns and determine which has the greatest potential. This in itself is creative as we cannot predict the future, so our mind goes through and imagines the series of steps it believes is most likely to occur.
We often are told that being creative is not desirable. We must be practical not dreamers. Without dreamers, without creativity our world will not flourish. We will not learn of new ways to manage waste, heal devastating disease, or to find a way to save our planet from the effects of climate change.
This feels quite the sermon… it’s not intended to be…
This month I taught pre entry English learners about Wellbeing. During the course of the sessions, I had invited them to bring in any crafts or books or writing they were enjoying at home as part of an exercise in relaxation and mindfulness. Several of the women were from Afghanistan and they brought in their embroidery.
Within this small cohort I had a mother and daughter. The mother is teaching the daughter has to embroider a hijab. During the short period of time we gave ourselves to our crafts, I watched the daughter steal sideways glances at me to see if I was watching her, I watched her mother look over her work with a critical eye and provide guidance, and I saw the continuation of a tradition of creativity. The pride in mother and daughter as they continued their culture in an expression of creativity in a new country. The embroidery created by these women was simply beautiful. What I had thought was machine embroidery, patiently and swiftly created by hand.
I am a generational creative. My mother was an talented textiles and 3D embroiderer and although I didn’t grow up with her, nor did she teach me any of her skills, I watched, I experimented and I made use of the tools she left behind. I sew, crochet, experiment with textile crafts, make jewellery, and write. Now my daughters are continuing that creative tradition passed down from my mother… my eldest is a make up artist and piercer, my youngest crochets, bakes, writes and sews.
Creativity is enormously powerful and the old idiom that we are all creative is very true. Creativity comes in many forms, and is multifaceted. To embrace your creativity is to open yourself up to new ideas and thoughts. Let no one dismiss you as a dreamer, or a fantasist. You do not need to write a best selling book to touch people, my social media posts bring my adventures to life for my friends and family back home. You do not need to have an exhibition at the Tate, my friend’s home made cards are treasured by me.
To live without believing we have limits is to live a life. So encourage creativity in those around you, embrace your own, nurture it… and see what creative power it brings to your life.
©Fiona Doney 2025
kanyini.co.uk 