Let's start at the very beginning....

So, what exactly is holistic creativity?

ho/lis/tic (adj.): Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.

cre/a/tiv/i/ty (noun): the ability to create.
(source: thefreedictionary.com)

Okay, so that definition is as clear as mud. Sounds very high faluting, and like all gibberish illustrates little. Here's where I'm coming from.

• I believe that creativity is as necessary as breath, water and FDA-approved snack food.
• I believe in the arts being an important part of everyday reality, not a segregatable option.
• I believe in Einstein's lesser known Theory of Creativity, which states that "Imagination is more important than Knowledge"
  
• That children should be trained in creative arts the same way that they do physical education, with an equal importance given.
  
• And I refuse to believe in the myth of "I could never do that, because I'm not creative."

One of the best compliments I ever received was from my brother when he told me that I was the most holistically creative person he ever met. Hence the name of the blog.

But as I spend more time thinking about it, holism is an important, neglected aspect of our world. We got into global warming in part because we separted out the positive parts of our post-industrial world (ka-ching) from their potential consequences (destruction of the planet ).

We cordon ourselves off, into little segments, like some crazed version of a human pie-chart, with 2% going towards "the finer things in life" like art, music, and other creative impulses. Never realizing that by pigeonholing being creative as something we only do on alternate Thursdays from 3 to 4 p.m. that we make it easier for ourselves to gradually eliminate that aspect altogether when "more important" things crop up. But just like the impacts it has on the planet, this dis-integration isn't good for the soul. I'm guilty of this myself, which is the second reason for the blog. So for the next while, I am going to work on embracing my creative side in all aspects of my life, becoming more holistic and less specialized.

I recently became an avid fan of A Year of Slow Cooking, where the author made a New Year's resolution to use her crockpot for an entire year and journal about it. I aim to do the same thing with this blog, only focusing on doing something creative every day, in any aspect of my life. I'm trying to get back in touch with a part of myself that I have lost along the way, and recapture some of my artistic skills that I haven't used regularly since college. As I go along, I will also be trying ways in which to expand my interest in creativity into the educational field, as I am a newly minted teacher. Everything and anything will be fair game to be posted (and hopefully photographed), so who knows what will hit these pages. And having said that, let's get on with the show!