It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents: gifts from God or nature. Creative genius is, in fact, latent within many of us, without our realizing. But how far do we need to travel to find the path to creativity? For many people, a long way. This applies to all areas of life. When we are solving problems, for 5 example, we may seek different answers, but, often as not, find ourselves walking along the same well – trodden paths.

So, for many people, their actions and behaviors are set in immovable blocks, their minds clogged with the cholesterol of habitual actions, preventing them from operating freely, and thereby stifling creation. Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggled for survival has become a tyranny – the obsessive desire to give order to the world is a case in point. This can be seen in people’s attitude to time, social customs and the great number of rules and regulations by which the human mind is now restricted.

The groundwork for keeping creative ability in check begins at school. School, later university and then work, teach people to regulate their lives, imposing a continuous process of restrictions which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of technology. Yet, even here in this hostile environment, the foundations for creativity are being laid, because setting off on the creative path is also partly about using rules and regulations. Such limitations ae needed so that once they are learned, they can be broken.

The human mind can be trained to be creative. One strategy is to erect artificial barriers or hurdles in solving a problem. In this way, people are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory, which may lead to some starling discoveries. Unfortunately, the difficulty in this exercise, and with creation itself, is convincing people that creativity is possible. There is also an element of fear involved, however subliminal, as deviating from the safety of one’s thought patterns is very much akin to madness. But, once we open the creativity box, a whole new world will unfold before our very eyes.

What does the term “stifling” in paragraph 2 mean?