The Groove Issue 33 - The Link Between Creativity and Happiness
Welcome to the 33rd issue of The Groove.
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THE LINK BETWEEN CREATIVITY AND HAPPINESS
There is an unfairly perpetuated myth that creativity - in any form of art or in business - has to spring from tortured souls after experiencing a lot of suffering. That simply isn’t true. Creativity comes from having a vast range of experiences. Utilizing those experiences to create value, embracing the ups and downs of life, and developing the presence of mind to learn from them – those are the true doors to creativity.
While there is no denying that constraints are good for creativity (money and time being two of the most common ones), being a miserable person versus being a joyous one doesn’t guarantee a greater output of good and valuable ideas.
Keith Haring inside his “Pop Shop” © Keith Haring Foundation Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi | © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York.
Happiness Permeates Everything
The cheerful and upbeat work of Keith Haring is very much alive today, even though he has been dead for 31 years. He left behind a very robust legacy: more than 50 solo shows during his lifetime, thousands of canvases, tarps, works on paper, ceramics, sculptures, and prints; 45 massive murals in four continents and a continued presence in products and museum exhibitions all over the world.
If there’s one thing that Haring’s friends agree on, it’s that he was a joyful and engaging person. My friend Kenny Scharf, an extremely creative and happy man himself who was Haring’s roommate in New York in the 1980s, always tells me how easygoing and sunny he was. Haring’s longtime studio manager, Julia Gruen, who after his passing became the Executive Director of the Keith Haring Foundation, also mentioned to me that Keith was a social person who loved to be surrounded by people and to transmit joy to everyone who crossed his path.
Bliss In The Pursuit of A Greater Purpose
Keith Haring in his studio at 676 Broadway, New York, 1988.
Part of Haring’s phenomenal creativity was that many of his works contained not only the flat, two-dimensional, black-lined figures we know him for, but also deep narratives about social justice and activism that served a greater purpose.
Being a pioneer in making art accessible for everyone prompted Haring to open his own “Pop Shop” in SoHo in 1986 and launch hundreds of different objects ranging from t-shirts to notebooks to limited-edition prints many decades in advance of the massification of art collaborations and product drops. He subscribed to the idea that “art is nothing if you don’t reach every segment of the people.”
Haring, whose creativity never stopped flowing and who practically worked until a few weeks before he died from AIDS complications in February 1990, was a passionate dancer, blasted hip-hop in his studio at a deafening volume, loved Walt Disney and children and used to say that “I live every day as if it were the last. I love life.” His art mirrored his life, and his creativity was a reflection of his inner state.
Joy, Creation And Fulfillment
Kenny Scharf and Keith Haring in New York in the mid 1980s.
Researchers have found that when people are working and engaged in the act of creation, whether that creation is coming up with a more efficient way to use an excel spreadsheet, develop a marketing plan, or paint a canvas, people report less levels of stress, an improvement in well-being and lower depression.
Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, found that optimism is the greatest predictor of entrepreneurial success because it allows your brain to perceive more possibilities. Teresa Amabile, the preeminent Harvard Business School professor on creativity, found after studying 238 professionals across 7 companies in 3 different industries that those people who were in a good mood any given day were more likely to have creative ideas than those who were in a somber state of mind.
Entrepreneurs and business owners rely on their creativity to differentiate their businesses from their competitors and to present better services or products than those that currently exist. Two extensive studies conducted in 2019 concluded that entrepreneurs are happier than employees because they are constantly plugged into the act of creation through a purposeful engagement with life and the pursuit of activities that they find meaningful and fulfilling.
This all could leave you thinking: What’s first, the chicken or the egg? Do you have to be a happy-go-lucky person all the time to be creative or do you have to engage in the act of creation to be a happy person? I think that happiness comes first: thoughts precede feelings and feelings precede action. There’s a lot that comes out of being in a good place, making autonomous decisions, changing attitudes and taking ownership of your life.
Like Keith Haring or fulfilled entrepreneurs and business owners, the exploration of happiness and creativity is available to anyone who is willing to go there. Look for opportunities in your career or business to serve people with purpose and do so through acts that allow you to make meaning of your surroundings in an optimistic way. Easy? No. Worth the effort? 100% yes.
Thank you for reading this far. Looking forward to hearing from you anytime.
There are no affiliate links in this email. Everything that I recommend is done freely.
THE EXTRA GROOVE
Read:
Keith Haring by Jeffrey Deitch, Julia Gruen and Suzanne Geiss
The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life by Shawn Achor
Watch:
Documentary on Keith Haring by French artist and fashion designer Maripol
The Science of a Happy Mind by Nat Geo
Flow, The Secret to Happiness, a TED talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi