Is Creativity only found in Art?

from adi mari's album "quotidie"

I have learned that creativity isn't only recognized in the universe of art forms.  A huge amount of knowledge on this subject has already been explored by so many and I've only begun to touch its surface. Despite having been aware of the wealth and value of the creative mind and how it churns information, I have never attended to how I applied what I knew about it in my everyday life.  

Part of the exploration is observing how I'm growing creatively and how it has helped me cope with various circumstances.  I cannot afford to discount that this is also a matter of spiritual growth because the creative mind in a sense begins, at least for me, when I become attuned to the Creator.  

God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman's task. Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God”, and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him. With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power. (Pope John Paul II, Letter to Artists)

This is hard to keep up with because in everyday life, creativity is often an act of will, relying solely on our own prowess.   At least for those who are unaware of its source.

You calculate digits and mark decimal places while feeling the pulse of the deadline press against your temples and giving you that unwanted migraine.  It's 5 minutes before 6:00 pm and you're supposed to pack your bags but then the phone rings and a caller says, "You need to submit the budget template tonight because it will be compiled by tomorrow."  They are oblivious of your need to breathe.  They fault you for lack of commitment when you do not appear for tomorrow's boardroom meeting because you had to speak with an employee who is concerned about the delay in his compensation's increase.

You chug down a bottle of lukewarm water because you don't have time to go down to the canteen and buy a cold one.  You open your lunch box and quickly mouth a fork full of cold spring rolls because there was no time to heat it up in the microwave.  Your eyes start blinking because it aches from the glare of the computer screen and still you type away squeezing all you can out of your mind until the numbers you calculate start to make sense.  You've repeated the payroll budget 5 times because of additional revisions in the org chart.  All this without a proper business plan framework.  All is done in one swing like shooting darts in the air aiming for an invisible target.  

But you choose this job because you don't want to be called a quitter and you want to test the limits of how far you're willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of gaining something more than monetary fulfillment.  It has to start with that.  It cannot be just monetary or you'll lose it.  You'll lose all meaning. You'll lose all purpose.  And you'll lose all sanity.

You are at your brink and you've compromised all that you know to embrace this environment that does not make sense and when you clasp your hands around it you begin to say, "I believe in God."  And then you find your second wind.  And you realize that you didn't die at the end of the day and you overcame the distress that battled with yourself.

Creativity doesn't only manifest in art forms.  It permeates life.  It is life.