The Creative Life is full of new
possibilities, discoveries, exploration, experimentation,
self-expression, and invention. It’s a habit, a way of being, a style of
existing. But is the Creative Life full of well-being?
Depends on how you define well-being.
In recent years, psychologists have
taken a deeper look at well-being. The traditional approach to
well-being focuses on hedonic pleasures and positive emotions. However,
while positive emotions often accompany happiness, the mere experience
of positive emotions is not necessarily an indicator of happiness, and
the presence of negative emotions doesn’t necessarily decrease one’s
well-being. This deeper approach to well-being, often described as
“eudaimonic well-being”, focuses on living life in a full and deeply
satisfying way.
- Autonomy (“I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to the general consensus“)
- Environmental mastery (“I am quite good at managing the many responsibilities of my daily life”)
- Personal growth (“I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about yourself and the world”)
- Positive relations with others (“People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others”)
- Purpose in life (“Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them”)
- Self-acceptance (“I like most aspects of my life”)
Amore recent study dived deeper into the
relationship between the Creative Life and happiness. They found that
creativity was not significantly correlated with overall life
satisfaction. Nevertheless, they found that various creativity styles
were associated with intrinsic motivation— a love of creating for the sake of creating, and not for external rewards.
In particular, the following four aspects of the Creative Life were all associated with intrinsic motivation:
- Specific strategies to facilitate creativity (“I often let my mind wander to come up with new ideas,” “I take walks to come up with new ideas,” “I typically create new ideas by combining existing ideas,” “I am always thinking (fantasizing) about how to do everyday things differently”)
- Strong belief in unconscious processes (“I believe in unconscious processes that facilitate my creative work,” “I have been able to use many ideas for creative work that have occurred in my dreams”)
- Use of all senses for creative work (“I tend to use my visual sense a lot in my creative work,” “I tend to use my sense of smell a lot in my creative work,” “I tend to use my sense of taste a lot in my creative work”)
- High need for solitude (“I am secretive about my new ideas,” “I physically isolate myself from other people when I am working on creative ideas”)
But perhaps most tellingly, the researchers found that creativity was more strongly related to the sum of
positive and negative emotions than measures of positive or negative
emotions alone. This suggests that the capacity to experience intense
emotions– both positive and negative– may be central to the Creative Life.
The Creative Life
While the Creative Life is not directly
associated with traditional conceptualizations of happiness, the
Creative Life appears to be associated with a more deeply meaningful
life. – See more at:
- The Pleasant Life is what people tend to think of when they think of happiness: a life full of positive emotions and joy, and lacking challenge or struggle. The Pleasant Life is mainly about getting what you want and need. It is associated with feeling good in the moment, and being a taker more than a giver. In contrast, the Meaningful Life is linked to self-expression, and doing positive things for others. Certainly, there are factors that contribute to both the Pleasant Life and the Meaningful Life– including feeling connected to others, feeling productive, and not being alone or bored– but there are also some key differences between living a pleasant and meaningful life.
- The Meaningful Life is associated with increased stress and anxiety, but it is also linked to greater integration of the past, present, and future, resiliency, and the ability to cope with life’s inevitable difficulties.
The Creative Life may not always be
pleasant, but stick with it, because it can ultimately lead to a deeper
and more meaningful sense of well-being.
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