BE UNIQUE

What’s creativity?

The Salad Analogy.

When I’m asked what I had for dinner, and like so many who are trying to keep it green, my answer goes something like this:

You know, just a salad! You’re on a diet, good for you!

Well, they haven’t seen the salad; off the top of their heads, they probably picture a few lettuce leaves and maybe some tomato slices, you know the typical franchised salad.

Meanwhile, the boiled eggs, the Feta cheese, the pepper slices, the nuts, the bread slices, the Pecorino, some raisins, and even some avocado are completely discarded. Besides, it’s not always lettuce, some would rather rocket salad or spinach leaves.

The salad is healthy, but there is no diet in there!

The interplay between the stream of words and how our mind frames them in the organ of creativity is unique. And yet, our entourage, our society, our TV, and even our feed have a say in this matter.

High grades are good. Low grades are bad. Art is beautiful. Art is terrible for a career. Slim size is good; XL not so good. Men are jerks; women are bitches. France is Chanel; Italy is Pizza. History is this, history is that. Marriage is hard. Kids are a life-responsibility.

We’ve become compelled to link words to immovable concepts from a very early age. Society has been sheep dogging us to think the same, believe the same, and if you don’t, then something is wrong with YOU.

The real challenge is to imagine all the other uncommon ingredients that might be in a salad, something that goes beyond the lettuce leaves.

And that’s creativity.