How To Develop Your Creativity
What is creativity?
Creativity is a term that, like many in the English language, over time has seemed to pick up many meanings and forms, which often distracts from the true essence of the word. Nowadays one might refer to a painter, or a singer as having creativity, but how about a farmer or a general labourer? How would you define creativity?
Creativity is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas,” which in essence is the ability to create solutions to problems from nothing but one’s mind and imagination. Some even say "creativity is intelligence having fun", and they're not totally wrong. This is arguably human-kind's most valuable skill and is inherently within each and every one of us. Imagine if our earliest ancestors weren’t able to create tools for survival. You’d likely not be here reading this article right now. But how did they do it? They didn’t have any instruction manuals or the internet. They simply had the raw materials around them, and their creativity.
How to harness your creative side:
1) Get active
The average person nowadays sits between 7 and 15 hours every day. When we compare that to our ancestors, even just 100 years ago, that is a dramatic increase. An increase which has dramatically affected our health and mood, directly impacting your creativity and ability to think for ourselves.
Stanford research has indicated that even the simple act of walking helps improve one’s creative thinking. A follow-up study by HBR also found that those who partake in walking meetings are more creative and engaged.
So, if you seem stuck on problem or struggling to get your creativity flowing; simply getting into an active, natural state of being will help unlock some neurological pathways that may have been blocked while inactive.
2) Collaborate with others
A common term used today is “vibe,” you may hear a phrase such as “we are vibing right now” some might say. But what is a vibe? Vibe is simply an abbreviation for “vibration.” When we talk or interact with somebody else, we are exchanging vibrations. These vibrations can be great catalysts for new ideas or thoughts, particularly if the vibrations being shared are positive in nature.
Collaborating with others doesn’t even have to always be face-to-face. Even through reading a book, you can gain new insights on a topic which may lead to new ideas appearing. Through books, your network becomes boundless, and even timeless.
3) Meditate
Meditation has become hugely popular in Western culture over the last few decades, but for good reason. How much time during your day do you actually put aside for your thoughts and creativity? Most people today often fill that time with mindless scrolling through news feeds or TV channels. Like any muscle in the body, the brain too needs to be trained, and meditation is the perfect exercise for it.
Simply put 5 – 10 minutes aside, find a quiet spot, sit down and just see what your mind comes up with. If you’re just starting out, you may find your mind will begin to wonder aimlessly. So, a good tip, specifically if you do have a problem or challenge you are trying to solve; Go into the meditation session simply repeating the problem you want to solve in your mind, as a kind of mantra. This will help you focus your mind towards finding a creative solution to that problem you have.
Creative thinking isn’t linear
It is clear that creativity is within us all. It is our greatest ability as human beings and is literally boundless in nature. Allowing us to solve problems from how to fix a wobbly table, to how to land on the moon.
How do you get there? Well, that’s up to you!