The Creative Personality

Just finished an article written by my close, personal e-mail buddy, Dr. Csikszentmihalyi about the personality traits of creative folks. He writes that there are "10 antithetical traits often present" in creative folks. I'm hoping that I can come up with people who exemplify these traits. Let's give it a whirl.

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet and at rest. I'm thinking Charo here. The woman has got to be 865 years old, but she still plays concerts, wears insanely high heels and is relatively hot. I can imagine, however, that when Charo is spent, she is spent and sleeps like the dead.

2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time. One could choose any really great Hollywood actor or actress to put in this category. It seems like most of the really creative, "genius" actors act like children when they're not at work.

3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility. F. Scott Fitzgerald. He only stopped drinking long enough to write his fabulous novels.

4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality. Of course. One must understand reality before one can imagine ways to improve upon it or create around it. As Dickinson write, "Water, is taught by thirst."

5. Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted. I'll use myself as an example here. I'm creative. I long to be alone but to have people that I trust just a phone call away. I'm uncomfortable in crowds as I find small talk exhausting and people disappointing. However, I lean heavily on those I already know and love.

6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time. I remember reading that Amy Tan was fascinated to discover that someone had written Cliff's Notes to accompany The Joy Luck Club. It was when she saw this that she became really impressed with herself, but she was also rather self-deprecating. She wrote that, while reading the Cliff's Notes, she realized things about her book that she had never thought of before, like her own repeated use of the number 3, etc.

7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping. Time to mention my boy, Prince. He is like 4 feet tall, wears high heels, belly shirts and sequins and yet exudes a masculinity that puts Barbarians to shame. And, no, I don't love Prince that way, I'm just sayin'.

8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative. Zora Neale Hurston was being rebellious by revealing her conservative views, which is why she sort of fell off the face of the Earth for a few decades.

9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well. Fitzgerald again. Did you know he rewrote Gatsby several times until it was just right? His magnificent understanding of language did not just spring forth from his mind...he had to work and rework it until his writing was done to his own satisfaction.

10. Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment. Michael Jackson. He was a creative guy, but also seemed to be insanely sensitive and pain-filled. I assume that he enjoyed spending his squillions of dollars and hanging out with Bubbles the chimp, but he was also pretty messed up emotionally and psychologically.