When I say art, I don’t just mean painting. Artistic people are a blessing to themselves. Although it can be extremely frustrating. Creative people know there is something special or maybe even a bit magical going on when they create. The feelings are real, but difficult to share. Other creative people can easily chat it up with other creative people. They quickly discover there really is no vocabulary in any language that can truly delve into the mind,  heart or expressions, that pour into the creation of any type of art. Writing, painting, sculpting, composing music, crafting: you name it, even earning money can be a very creative endeavor. You can witness creativity virtually every minute of every day. It’s visual, it’s audible, and it even has a good time triggering the sense of smell. A fresh loaf of bread, making it, smelling it, and deciding what to spread onto it— is an exciting creative process. Bread making, and eating, happens to be one of those creative things that we can all participate in. You don’t even have to be a high-powered social media food blogger to make this creative expression happen.

I believe it was Robert Frost who once said: “I have a mind and I recognize one when I see one.” I suggest the same can be said about creativity and the aura people with this gift emanate. This aura is often wrapped in loads of self doubt and this to; seems to find its pesky way into creative people’s thinking. Acceptability in all of our lives seems to be built into our subconscious. Self-doubt definitely is a saboteur of creativity.

I have heard, all too often people say, “I am just not the creative type.” If you ask these people a few questions; maybe leading questions, invariably they start to think differently. I believe everybody is creative, even if your only real talent is to balance a broomstick on your nose and parade around shouting; “Look at me, look at me.” Try it sometime, it’s pretty darn difficult. Self criticism aside, you may want to explore all the ways you are, or can become creative.

The demon to creativity is negative self talk and the lack of understanding of what it is to be creative. You don’t need to be a Picasso or a Beethoven. You can be superduper creative by just making the most incredible tuna casserole that everyone loves— and that’s creative cool: especially considering not everyone loves tuna casserole. But  yours may be worth a Michelin star, maybe even three. It’s all in the eyes of the beholder, or better yet in the presentation and the tastebuds of its devourer.

It’s okay to be prideful of any creative outlet you may have; after all, creativity is most often a solo adventure. You may be frustrated at times because your vision may not always translate to whatever medium you’re working in. It’s not so difficult to rework a painting, but if you knock out a critical chunk of marble in a sculpture; it’s doomed. What about the textile arts, like weaving or quilting or even needlepoint? These artful endeavors require a tremendous amount of patience and a whole lot of stick-to-itiveness. Again, I suggest you feel blessed that you have the creative skills to create these informal works of art. These often are the ones that get handed down through generations of family members. Show your pride and retain the confidence from being creatively blessed.

But let’s say you are a really talented creative person. You can paint, you can draw, you’ve written your sixth novel, three of which have been Amazon bestsellers. Maybe you have composed a symphony that was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. That would be blooming rather wonderfully; quite huh? I would say you are very creatively blessed. Maybe you just built a website by manipulating all the tools you could teach yourself how to use. You selected the best stock images you could find, to enhance the overall look and to work especially well with your color palette. Don’t forget it takes a ton of talent to write all that content, that holds your spectacular new website together. Some people would call you a creative genius, especially considering most of us do not have a clue how to accomplish such an endeavor.

When you lay your head down on your pillow tonight, you might try counting your creative blessings; counting sheep went out a favor when those Merry Melodies, black-and-white cartoons, from the 30s to 50s were no longer crushing it.

Start with the easy stuff, like how creatively you made the bed you are now about to crawl into. Then move on to  thinking about all creative things you did that day. If you’re still awake, think about all the creative things you did for the whole week. If you’re having a terrible case of insomnia: maybe try thinking about all the creative things you’ve done during your life. But: by this point, if you are having trouble falling asleep, WARNING: you’re probably starting to become overly energized, because it’s terribly fun to reminisce about all the creative things you have done and all of your creative achievements. In case you don’t know what those are blessings. I called them blessings from art, no matter what your art is.