LDSPMA

Empowering Latter-day Saints to spread light and truth by connecting them at the intersection of faith, creativity, and professional skill

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7 Character Traits of Creative People

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By Trina Boice

Have you ever wondered what drives creative people? What makes them different? Hanging out with other LDSPMA members energizes me, inspires me, and encourages me to tap into my own creativity more! You can develop your own innate creativity by incorporating the following seven traits into your daily life.

1. Creative people are focused

Highly creative people usually have high levels of energy and stay focused on their project for long periods. Even when they are out of the studio or away from the computer, their minds are still thinking about their creative work. To take advantage of the ideas that tend to constantly flow, keep a notebook nearby or reserve a spot on your cell phone where you can instantly record your flashes of inspiration.

2. They hold onto a sense of wonder

Creative people are often brilliant, but they don’t think they know everything. Just the opposite, they retain a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world. They are committed to lifelong learning.

3. Creative people work hard

Creative people, whether songwriters or artists, speakers or writers, usually work long hours on a project and get into “the zone.” They let their loved ones know what they need for support, so that when they’re in “the zone,” they won’t be bothered or interrupted. Know how to design an effective workspace with music or silence, food or drink, aroma or light. Creatives are persistent and determined and totally focused on their work. They also know they need to take a break!

4. Creatives are not loners

Research suggests that creative people often combine the best of extroversion and introversion. While most people tend to favor one or the other of these personality types, creative people combine elements of both. They find ideas and inspiration in their social interactions and then retreat to the studio to work their creative magic.

5. They are open and sensitive

Creatives tend to be very empathic and sensitive. They are open to all the possibilities of the world and find inspiration everywhere. Sensitivity is necessary to be able to create artistically but can be a double-edged sword, leaving the artist vulnerable to criticism and rejection.

6. Creatives can daydream and be realistic

The traditional picture of the daydreaming artist isn’t necessarily reflective of the creative mind. Creativity is grounded in imagination and daydreaming, seeing the possibilities and wondering ‘what if?’ But creative people are also very practical, and the next stage is testing the ‘what if’ idea to see if it works. Creative thinking is essential for innovative problem solving that works in the real world.

7. Creatives seek to be a light in the world

Creative desire to share their gifts with the world to make it a better place. They want to share their insights and perspective in order to lighten another person’s burden or add joy and depth to understanding.

So, what are YOU going to create today?

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Dr. Trina Boice is a #1 best-selling author of 31 books and an author coach at www.FromBook2Business.com. She teaches online for Brigham Young University (Idaho campus), is a film critic at www.MovieReviewMom.com. Trina is the Marketing Director at LDSPMA and loves rubbing shoulders with all of you amazing creatives!

Acting with Juice Boxes: Exploring Indian Breathing Techniques

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I certainly don’t consider myself a professional actress by any means, but I cherish the memories I have from participating in school and community productions. Because we have so many talented and aspiring actors and actresses in our membership, I wanted to talk about a breathing technique I learned from my high school theatre teacher about rasa boxes.

Rasa Boxes

My director taught me and my peers this Indian breathing technique during one of our many play rehearsals. He explained to us that rasa was an Indian word that could be translated as “breath” but also “the juice of life.” We joked that the rasa box technique could also be called the “juice box” technique.

The technique can be illustrated with a three-by-three square. Each box represents a different state of emotion, such as sadness, pleasure, anger, and so on.

raudra
anger, frustration, rage		bhayanaka
fear, terror		karuna
sadness
sringara
pleasure, bliss		shantra
beyond emotion		hasya
mirth, laughter
bibhatsa
disgust		vira
gallantry, heroics, courage		adbuda
wonder, awe

Shantra is in the centermost box because it is “beyond emotion,” or a neutral state that can lead to all other emotional states.

The main idea behind rasa boxes is that your breath can be used as a tool to embody these various emotional states. Once you “activate” or engage the breath properly, you can better feel and portray the actual emotion throughout your body.

The Exercise

My teacher led us through an exercise to try out the technique. We would always start with shantra, a calm and even breath. There, we would re-center ourselves before and after we attempted other emotional states.

We would pick one of the rasa boxes—like vira, for example, the breath of gallantry, heroics, and courage—and try to activate that breath. We measured the intensity of our breath (and thus the emotion) on a scale of one to ten, one being the weakest and ten being the strongest. Then we would work our way up and down the scale to explore the breath—not necessarily to get all the way to a 10 but to see how our breath influenced our body language. After playing with the breath at different intensities, we would go back to shantra, recenter, and choose another rasa box.

It wasn’t an easy exercise. I struggled at first to know how to portray an emotion like vira—after all, how do you breathe heroically? My director encouraged us to just keep focusing and projecting the emotion through our breath. He warned us to not overthink the exercise and let go of whatever held us back, and I found myself understanding the technique more as I tried other breaths.

A young woman sitting crosslegged with her hands in front of her diaphram, breathing.
Takeaway Lessons

I learned from this exercise that how I breathed could actually influence how I felt and how my body reacted. I wasn’t an expert at applying this technique in all my high school acting, but I think it helped me better portray the role of a simple countrywoman going into shock after experiencing a driveby shooting. 

And although I don’t usually remember all of the Indian names for the different rasa boxes, I’ve become more aware of how my breath is related to my everyday actions. I’ve learned that focusing a little control on my breathing can truly influence my attitude and the results I see in my life.

Try out this breathing technique in your acting (or everyday) pursuits! Remember that the point is not to overthink the process and get each emotion perfect on every number of the scale. The point is to explore what your breath does to your emotions and body so you can be more aware of the power your breath has and discover new ways to portray various emotions.

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Brittany Passmore graduated from BYU with a major in editing and publishing. She works as a freelance editor specializing in science-fiction and fantasy. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, Brittany loves to be a stay-at-home mom to her 18-month-old son and dabble in her musical hobbies of piano, flute, guitar, and singing. Oh, and of course, she loves practicing yoga.

Website: https://brittanympassmore.wixsite.com/passmoreedits

A photo of the author of the post, Brittany Passmore.