What is creativity? Where do our stories come from? It is something that I will be unable to answer here with these few short paragraphs. Creativity has been the focus of several major neurological studies and a topic that has been written about in countless books. Some will have you believe creativity is an act of divine inspiration, others that it is a harmonious dance of chemicals in the brain. In essence, we don’t really know for sure. However, one thing remains true, every book we’ve read, every film we’ve seen, every new song, recipe, sculpture or painting, every complex mathematical or scientific theory has its beginnings from the same thing. They all began with a single idea.
Ideas are powerful things. From them we form our views about our world. They shape our perceptions and dreams. Some ideas must be overcome; others might require a whole new way of thinking. Some ideas stand tall, seemingly too big, too incomprehensible, to understand. Others come as hardly a whisper, waiting to change the world. Yet our ideas as great as they are fleeting, ethereal. All to quickly do they return from where they came, a chance lost, an opportunity closed.
These days we are constantly buffeted by information. Facebook and Twitter are instant and within easy reach at all times. Our time at work is about getting as much as possible done in as little time as we can. Our down time is spent doing errands and chores. We do not have a culture where we spend time just wallowing in and enjoying our imaginations. We do not take time to foster our ideas, instead we allow others to do it for us as we relentlessly consume a never ending deluge of books, movies and TV. The first thing we must learn to do is stop. Simply just stop for one moment and look at the sky. Stop and wonder at the life of a beetle. Stop and marvel at the rainbow of leaves on the fall trees. Stop consuming for a moment and just be.
All of our brains are wired to react to certain situations. For most of us the color blue is very calming and relaxing. It is also a color that stirs the creative juices for most of us. What many do not realize is that it is not the color that makes us creative, but that feeling of relaxation. This link between relaxation and ideas has been experienced by all of us. How many of you have had a really good idea in the shower? How about as you are drifting off to sleep? Almost everyone has experienced these situations at least once. As we unwind our brains are free to do what it does best. So as we hit the pillow our brains are making new connections and forming new ideas. In his book Imagine: How Creativity Works Jonah Lehrer describes this process of discovering what inspires us and ends with this.
“The advantage of knowing where insights come from is that it can make it easier to generate insights in the first place. When we’re struggling with seemingly impossible problems, it’s important to find time to unwind, to eavesdrop on all those remote associations coming from the right hemisphere. Instead of drinking another cup of coffee, indulge in a little daydreaming. Rather than relentlessly focusing, take a warm shower, or play some Ping-Pong, or walk on the beach.*”
The point is, we need to learn what sets off our imaginations and then we need to spend time doing that. For me it’s music. For you it might be running. Others might need to go on a long hike or take a warm bath. Whatever it is that spurs new ideas in you, find it and then do it. Stop trying to get more and more done for once and just relax. We will find that not only our ideas flow more freely but our creativity will be pumped and our imaginations stoked. And the ideas will flow.
*Lehrer, Jonah (2012-03-19). Imagine: How Creativity Works (pp. 50-51). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
(This blog was originally posted on September 10th, 2015)