We all know (I assume) that exercise and developing muscles is good for us. Muscle building improves posture, gives us strong bones and–the best bonus of all—muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. (Looks better too.) I’ve tried all sorts of ways of doing it from holding soup cans as I do aerobics to going to the local gym. For years now, I went to Curves. It’s easy, quick and relatively painless. It became a habit, which means I had it mentally programmed into my life. And that’s a good thing. Unfortunately I dropped out and now I have no sound exercise habit. Which is a bad thing.

Which brings me to creativity. We hear lots about the two sides of the brain—the logical left side, the creative right side. People often tell me they are strongly left-sided and hence could never write a book.

Well, let me tell you about being left brained. In my previous life, I was super-organized, multi-tasking mother of 14.

I was so left brained you could hear the sound of a computer running when I was working.

So being able to compose and write stories surprises me as much as anyone.

How does that happen? And what does it have to do with exercise? Well, I can say from experience that creativity is a muscle that can be developed. It can go from flabby to strong with exercise.

I know there are those who are going to argue but I insist it’s true. I’m pretty sure you have a creativity muscle though you might not use it for creating stories but perhaps you knit, paint handmade cards, set a charming table, invent recipes or create stunning school lessons for children. And I’m guessing that the more you do it, the better you become. So go ahead, build your creativity muscle using whatever avenue you choose. Have fun doing it.