It's S.O. Creative! Living is not the same as 'making a life.' As Henry Thoreau put it, “The highest of the arts is to affect the quality of the day.” Engagement and absorption in the creative process is a journey of self development that demands openness. All individual's are unique in their experience so it’s important to approach each person as such and this means getting creative! By considering the value of expressive activities and experimenting with expressive activities you will greatly affect the quality of your days. These are just simple little activities that brighten the day and lighten the load. What can you do  each day to add new flavors, texture, color, verve, and zest ?!  Adding a bit of zest affects the “Quality of the day.”  By experimenting with and engaging in new activities you get inspired to do more and engage in different activities and really figure out what it is you love to do. Take a risk. Try something new and do something that scares you everyday, you are changed just by the energy of the attempt!  This helps you gain a new perspective of old fears. Eventually, you conquer the fear.  Gratitude as an expressive activity 'excites life' - it's more than just acknowledging thanks, it's a state of being that appreciates all that is good and welcomed in our life. With a focus and attention on gratitude each day, it heightens a sense of energy that could be thought of as aliveness.

Solution Oriented Creative Counselling is S.O. Creative! Creativity can be defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. When you perceive change going on in your life, some part of the creative process is on the move! Creativity is born in movement, be it physical, intellectual, emotional or spiritual or any combination thereof.  When different challenges arise you may ask yourself "Why can't I do this?" or "Why is this always happening to me?" Instead, get creative and ask yourself,  "What's my solution?"

              What Is Creativity* by John G. Young, M.D.              

Solution Oriented Creative Counseling, Kelowna, BC