Professional Development and Personal

Evolution: Creativity as a Tool

Miguel Alfonso Garcia

SUMMA 112 Training Department

(Servicio Urgencia y Emergencias Medicas De Madrid)
Emergencies and Medical Urgencies Service of Madrid
C/Antracita 2 Bis. CP 2804 Madrid Spain.

Abstract. Creativity is a quality we all have; we continually use it without often realising it. We
only need to be conscious of it and try to enhance its development and growth. Here I offer some
ideas that I hope will be useful to whoever is interested.

ARE WE CREATIVE?

I would like to begin by making a clarification and by posing a question to those

present. I am not here as an economist which is my academic training or as an
emergency technician which is my present profession. I am not well recognised or a
creative example of a company famous for its advertising success, I only collaborate
as a volunteer in risk prevention drug dependency programs for adolescents.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out the curious irony of this situation.
The ideas that I contribute for the prevention of drug dependency in adolescents are
not by any means economically rewarded, but, if I had a great idea that would urge
adolescents to smoke more or drink certain marketed products, I would surely earn a
large sum for it. A strange fact...
And this is the most validity I can offer to those in attendance—my absence of
fame and recognition on topics of creativity—since my goal today is not to further
stimulate the social fever of our times, or the search for models of fame and success,
above all economic success, to follow and imitate. My goal is to pass along my deep
conviction that all of us are creative from the moment we are born. The problem lies in
realising this reality, and above all in beginning to be conscious of it so that we may
effectively use it in our lives, since social or economic recognition is not necessary to
bring about this intrinsically human quality.
My question to those present is: How many of you consider yourselves to be
creative? Only two people raise their hands...fine, then the necessity of my speech is
justified and, I hope at the end a larger number of the audience is able to raise their
hand, hopefully all those present.
First I would like to remind everyone of the meaning of the word "create", from the
Latin word "creare", it is to produce something from nothing, in a figurative sense.
On the other hand, creativity could be the ability to create, the capacity for creation.
CP905, Frontiers ofFundamental Physics (FFP8), Eighth International Symposium
edited by B. G. Sidharth, A. Alfonso-Faus, and M. J. Fullana
© 2007 American Institute of Physics 978-0-7354-0412-0/07/S23.00

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 Creativity is usually related with art, science or its discoveries, and with advertising
and its economic interests in large advertising campaigns.
But creativity exists in all fields of human life. Let us look at some examples. Our
own perception of ourselves, our image, is a creative act in itself. I believe that my
image, the image I want to offer to others and the distinct roles we play in our life are
continuous acts of creativity. Today I am not a father but when my child is born a new
role will be created in my life, and with it I will create and configure my personality
and image. Every time there is a loss in my life, every time a role disappears, I have to
recreate myself and redefine my personality and who I am in an act of continual
creation.

Let's look at some simple guidelines that can help us discover and benefit from the
creativity that exists in all of us:

-View problems as opportunities: Opportunities for what? -Opportunities for

personal growth, for developing abilities and qualities that we already have in our
latent state but that we still don't know about ourselves. Problems help us to develop
this "something more", that in a different situation we would never have had to bring
out from our conscience. We must come to terms with the word "problem".

-Select a focused perspective: The angle from which we look at problems or

situations is important and, above all, it is important to know how to vary this angle.
That change in perspective is in itself a creative act, to be able to generate new points
of view and focus points about the same problem, instead of stagnating in only one.
There is always a different way of contemplating the same situation or problem. It
provides us with different information and points encounters that create new scenarios
so that creative solutions can appear.

- Develop techniques: this is essential regardless of how skilled or able we are in an

innate function or activity; it is fundamental not only to trust in the qualities or talents
we posses, but we should also train and develop our techniques for maximum
optimization and expression of our original potential in whatever activity we are
carrying out. We must polish the tools we posses so that our talents can be manifested
to their fullness.

- Lose the fear of making mistakes and breaking the mould: errors are always a
guarantee of learning. Recognized and incorporated mistakes provide us with an
excellent experience for learning and advancing our path. The fear of mistakes, being
interpreted as failures, block us and hold us back when we have to make and act on
new and creative decisions. Breaking moulds, creating new paths, acting bravely and
alone in our first steps on unknown ground.. .it is much easier to walk on paths already
taken than to go off the path having to support loneliness, doubt and critique from the
rest of the group, as well as confront our own doubts about whether or not that road
will bring us good fortune. Creativity requires moments of walking alone on our own
path in life.

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 Thomas Edison conducted 2,000 experiments before inventing the light bulb. A
young reporter asked him about why there were so many failures. Edison
responded: "I didn't fail once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a
process with 2,000 steps."

-Search for more than one answer, choose yours and pay the price; in whatever
situation more than one answer can always be found. We should not be content with
only one, once we discover the options we choose ours and we pay the price of our
choice. There is always a price to pay: the opportunity cost of the one option to leave
the others behind.

-Convert the winning or losing scenarios into winning or learning; our leisure
education is centred in competition. Albert Einstein said on a particular occasion: "The
greatest pain caused by the capitalist system is the undermining of the being human.
This dishonour is detrimental to the entire educational system because it teaches the
student to compete excessively and instructs him to worship economic success as
training for a future professional life".
Loss and failure are two paths directed towards a sure education and evolution; it is
not about searching for them but taking advantage of them when they appear.
Whatever loss produced in our life is an opportunity for creativity since, when we lose
something or someone important in our life our identity is changed, our relationship
with the subject of loss disappears, our expectation vanishes creating a vacancy. It
obligates us to once again redefine our image, the meaning and direction of our life,
and to create a new "I" without that person or situation, therefore, filling that vacancy
is also an act of creativity -To create a new meaning for my existence in a different
context.
To a degree, I accept losses and the rediscovery of who I am after these losses
appear. I submerge myself in a more profound, self-conscious process, each time
creating or discovering a concept of myself more intimate and authentic, independent
of external factors, roles and etiquettes, that before were considered an integrate and
essential part of my identity.

-Search for the most potential place; every human should do it, as there is always a
place with the most potential for developing our creativity to the maximum. This place
appears in many forms or can even be a difficult or adverse situation. It is good to be
conscious when we are in it, but what really counts is simply being there. On
occasions it is the place that finds us. A well-known Nobel award winner fractured his
leg skiing and during his hospital stay discovered a good part of the work for which
much later he would win the award. He could have used the time to complain and
curse his bad luck; instead, he converted it into a highly potential situation. Sometimes
a catastrophe is a highly potential place to bring many hidden qualities of being human
to the surface. When what is already known no longer serves us, when what is already
established collapses, when a relationship no longer functions, a crisis arises and the
crisis is the precursor of creativity or something new arising.

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 - If you do not like a situation you have three options; change it, leave, or accept it.
We are only fanatics of trying to change things and people: on occasions change can
be the right path. Leaving, sometimes, can be a wise decision. But when the first two
options have not worked or simply are not possible, acceptance, not resignation or
passivity, but acceptance of the situations or people as they are creates an environment
that in the absence of fighting and resistance, favours the flow of creativity. Even
seeing reality for what it is can be an act of creativity in itself.
Educating a child is one of the greatest lessons in creativity. In the first instance, the
merit of creation is natural. But the truly creative human rises to the act of educating
and training a child. The criteria and method useful whit a child doesn't work with
another, nor could they continue with the same child throughout different stages of its
growth as a person. This process needs lots of creativity.
If by misfortune there is a loss of a child, the most painful test that one can
emotionally experience appears. It is the greatest void we can feel, the greatest loss of
our meaning of existence, but at the same time, although it seems incredible, a deeply
and authentic creative opportunity is born with the acceptance and integration of this
experience. A last gift from our child remains -the possibility to discover the most
profound and hidden aspect of human existence, the acceptance of life in all its
dimensions, with beginnings and ends, and in this new scenario of deep acceptance
there will be no searching for creativity... simply it will flow

"A new world can be created by entrusting our wisdom to the youth."

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dedicated, with all my respect, to the human beings that search for answers and meaning to the pain of their losses.
In other words: dedicated to all human beings that share this world and its profound mystery.

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