Creative people

Bodhi Tree Swaying writes: "I highly recommend this 1996 Psychology Today article by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on the topic of the creative personality, in which he identifies “10 antithetical traits often present in creative people that are integrated with each other in a dialectical tension.”

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.
2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.
3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.
5. Creative people trend to be both extroverted and introverted. We’re usually one or the other, either preferring to be in the thick of crowds or sitting on the sidelines and observing the passing show.
6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.
7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.
8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.
9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
10. Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

This is an article that bears repeated reading, especially for those pursuing a spiritual path — something that I regard as being an inherently creative field of endeavor.