The Ancient Greeks had their own concepts of creativity, suggesting that it has to come from the gods, making us ʽmortalsʼ believe we can never be creative. But, luckily, there’s science to show us the opposite – that there are ways for everyone who’s looking to get their creativity flowing. First of all, imagination is an integral part of the mind of every human being, and it’s responsible for both learning and creative spheres. So boosting up our imagination opens up a field of numerous opportunities. After that it’s all about exercise – creativity is like a muscle that needs to be pushed past its comfort zone, challenged, and stretched. Basically, it’s all about providing our brains with constant nudges in order to make new connections. Let’s take a look at how to accomplish this.
No Pressure
Sometimes the pressure of the deadline may trigger our brain to do some novel thinking, but in general, overworking doesn’t lead to more creative ideas. Usually, it leads in the quite opposite direction, to creative blocks. There’s no need to strain your brain all the time – creativity can be boosted even while you sleep. In fact, in order to make new neural pathways and connections, our brains need to be relaxed enough. You can achieve this with meditation, talking long walks in nature, but sometimes even a hot shower is enough for your brain to transit into relaxation mode since it signals the end of the day. You can also indulge yourself with occasional cannabis consumption – besides the fact it will elevate your mood after a stressful day, it will also escalate your frontal lobe activity which leads to creative output. Training your brain is essential, but a relaxed state is a foundation.
Writing
We don’t mean you need to write a novel right away. Just ideas that pop in your head – writing them down as soon as they do is a great training exercise for your brain that will keep new ideas coming. The trick is to clear the mind of old ideas without the fear that you’ll forget them. Keeping this idea journal will eventually enable you to bring them all together into a cohesive whole. You can also expand your creative thought process by creating interesting lists which contain the things you care about in your life. You can also involve your friends and sharing your lists will add to this creative process.
Reading
Creativity is all about putting together existing information in something new and fresh, which means sufficient knowledge you’re gonna draw from is mandatory. And there is no better way of gathering that knowledge than reading which opens your mind to new ways of thinking at the same time. Same as with writing, you don’t need to start with ʽWar and Peaceʼ – pick the books with your favorite topics and start with 30 minutes per day. That will result in two books each month with almost no effort. Weird fiction is a real treasure box since viewing something absurd or surreal puts our minds into overdrive for a short period of time.
Storytelling
One of the best ways to practice creative and imaginative thinking is to tell stories as much as you can. It’s also among the easiest one since everybody has a story to tell and everybody likes listening to them. Try to make your stories descriptive so you and your listeners can easily visualize. As an ability to create a vivid and clear picture in the mind, visualization is crucial for increasing imagination. The more elaborate your visualizations get, the more creative and imaginative your mind becomes.
Music
Although he never quite understood why Albert Einstein has credited the most of his creativity to listening to Mozart. We have all realized at some point that our brains function better and more creative when we’re listening to certain compositions or songs. This notion of music-enhanced thinking has been proven by scientific research today, clearly showing that certain frequencies such as binaural beats and isochronic tones can increase the brain’s performance and creativity. Usually, it’s classical music but the genre mainly depends on the individual.
While all these tactics work, it’s important to remember that creativity and imagination are interwoven with originality. That’s why you should look at this list only as a foundation. It’s equally important to do the things you’ve never done before, moving towards the unexplored paths where truly genuine ideas lie.