The Other 167 Hours

Creative Leisure

“Why do you have to go to work, dad? It’s summer.”

This question from one of my younger children a few weeks ago highlights the tendency many of us have to associate summer with more leisure activity. I figured, since it is summer, that even when I can’t actually experience leisure, I might as well write about it. I thought I’d start with an article in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.

Hegarty, C. B. (2009). The value and meaning of creative leisure. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3, 10-13.

Both the fields of creativity and leisure have been investigated in numerous studies. Surprisingly little has been discussed about their interrelation, although creativity is among the five functions of leisure identified back in the late 60’s.

1. relaxation
2. diversion
3. knowledge
4. social participation
5. creativity

Christians should readily accept that leisure time is important, since it was identified as a legal obligation for the Jewish people a few thousand years ago. Hegarty defines leisure as  “a psychological state… in which the participant has a high sense of perceived freedom and intrinsic motivation.” It happens when we feel like we can pick among various options and when the motivation seems to naturally flow from the experience itself. We find our self saying, “I don’t have to do this, but who wouldn’t want to?”

Creativity involves the mixture of novelty and utility toward a certain end. The end product may be intangible in the form of self-expression or happiness. As I’ve said elsewhere, it may be that creativity is one of those markers of God’s likeness in us. When combined with leisure activity, the result, “creative leisure”, can lead to a peak experience and a sense of “all being right in the world”, if just for those few moments. That certainly sounds like something we could all use a little of.

Csikszentmihalyi, a prominent author on creativity, focused on creativity experienced in deep concentration and for extended periods of time. Hegarty suggests creativity may occur as a mindset for short bursts without the extreme immersion, concentration and loss of sense of time. That seems to be good news for those of use who have schedules and less “discretionary” time. We can’t all be that artist that locks himself in his room for a month to finish his masterpiece. Hmm, does that mean I could even be creative in my discretionary time which lately takes the form of driving from one soccer game to the next?

One theme that pops up from time to time in my office is the idea of missing the window of creativity since “everybody knows” that creativity peaks in our 20’s and 30’s. On closer examination, as discussed in Hegarty’s article, it appears that a person’s stage in career may explain more of this peaking than does age, since earlier in one’s career there is less to lose and so one is more willing to take a risk. Also, in terms of quality instead of quantity, there does not seem to be an early window that evaporates. As we age, quality can increase, peaking later in life.

One last point on creative leisure. All of us have constraints in our life… time, rules, budgets, etc.. Hegarty points out that certain constraints may actually enhance the experience. Here is the example given.

A woman signs up for a collage class with the desire to actualize more creativity, but upon taking the class becomes self-conscious about her ability among the other students and thus not able to stretch her creative wings. One day, she is the only student that shows up for class and the instructor decides to change the rules. She must use all of the materials available to her in this class to design a collage. This woman has a peak creative experience, a sense of joy, and high-perceived freedom and intrinsic motivation; yet, there were constraints to her activity. Sometimes our constraints allow us to be creative. It, ironically, may release us from being overwhelmed by too much freedom.

I intend to take what little is left of summer, with all it’s constraints, and continue moving toward my peak in creative leisure. I hope some of you do too.