What is creativity and how to enhance it? – Health and wellness

Creativity is a tool for the well-being and progress of humanity. But how can this cognitive resource be enhanced? You can do this by walking, reading, and by other keys that we reveal in this reading.

Agatha Christie, Albert Einstein, Coco Chanel, Stephen Hawking or Stephen King. What do these names that many of us admire and that are part of our culture have in common? The element that unites them is that wonderful dimension called creativity. We all come into the world equipped with this talent, but only a few know how to develop it to its fullest extent.

Surely now you will ask yourself: Why does there come a time when we stop benefiting from it as we should? Sir Ken Robinson, the British education expert, once said: “Schools kill creative thinking.” But don’t worry, you always have time to revive and enhance your innovative thinking. We explain how to achieve this.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” Pablo Picasso

Creativity is much more than just generating ideas

Creativity, from an evolutionary perspective, is what has allowed us to adapt to difficult situations. You are faced with a world-changing cognitive tool to which we can all contribute. You, too. A creative person is one who thinks innovatively, combines concepts and produces unexpected but valuable results.

The creative process is the seed of art and scientific and technological progress. It is a mental exercise that begins by linking ideas and information, and in addition to that, it is useful. This is what they highlighted in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Creativity increases subjective well-being, and both dimensions in turn feed each other. In fact, as David Lynch says in his book Space to Dream (2018), creative inspiration comes when one is contemplative and quiet. You are faced with an area that deserves practice, practice, and improvement. Below, we reveal the techniques.

You may be interested in Restless Minds and Creativity: How Are They Related?

Strategies to enhance it

One of the most prominent figures in psychology in the study of creativity is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. His book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1995) is considered a reference in this field. The interesting thing that this work suggests is that this factor is exercised through apparently contradictory processes.

A creative person combines comfort and discipline in work, pleasure with effort, intuition with regulation, and imagination with objectivity. These extremes may seem confusing to you, but they make sense. The creative brain needs multiple stimuli to be productive. The following techniques can help you.

1. Connect ideas

The idea linking technique is a creative method that consists of linking unrelated concepts, words or ideas to generate new points of view. The premise is that by finding connections between elements, you can stimulate creativity and discover unusual perspectives. This would be an example:

· Identify the problem or challenge you are facing now.

· Write a list of the ideas that come to your mind right now.

· It does not matter that these proposals have no apparent relationship.

· Next, look for connections between the two, and think about how they complement each other.

2. Activate your curiosity

Always keep an open and curious mind about the world around you. Ask yourself every moment why things are the way they are and how they could be different. Don’t take anything for granted, try to focus beyond immediate reality and regain that childlike outlook that is surprised by even the simplest facts.

3. Read every day

The benefits of reading in the field of creativity are undoubted and supported by science. An example of this is work published at the Third International Conference on Innovation in Learning and Quality of Education. I concluded that this rich activity has a significant impact on developing creative thinking skills, especially fluency.

4. Stimulate divergent thinking

Divergent or lateral thinking approaches problems from unconventional angles. Developed by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist and writer, it focuses on challenging entrenched patterns of thinking. If you want to enhance this cognitive resource further, note a few keys:

Changing the approach: Lateral thinking involves changing the way you approach a problem. Instead of a linear and logical approach, a change of direction is sought to find new solutions.

“What if…?” Question: One of the basic strategies for this creativity technique is to ask questions that begin with: “What if…?” This invites you to think about “what if” scenarios and explore other approaches.

Explore new perspectives: Consider different perspectives on a given problem. This can include looking at reality through the perspective of others and even inanimate objects. Why don’t you dare?

Breaking Patterns of Thinking: This technique seeks to break the more rigid patterns of thinking imposed by traditional logic. This often forces you to review your internal narratives to discover the pre-established assumptions and rules you inadvertently reinforce.

5. List of attributes

This is one of the most fun techniques. It was developed by Robert Crawford and is included in the book Creative Thinking Techniques (2012). An attribute list consists of listing all the properties of an object or problem. Then, you can modify each theme in as many ways as possible.

The goal is to generate innovative proposals and explore different possibilities, no matter how strange they may seem at first. In fact, this technique is frequently used in marketing. You can start by specifying that the sky is blue, and finish by saying, for example, that the sky smells like detergent and create an advertising campaign using it.

6. Mindfulness and receptive thinking

How to deny it? In psychology, mindfulness and its benefits are always mentioned in almost any field. The truth is that mindfulness is a technique that allows you to enhance your creative thinking. A substantive review published in the Journal of Thinking Skills and Creativity delves into this same topic.

What they point out is that this resource enhances focus and promotes more open thinking. Additionally, it reduces fear of outside judgment and even negative self-consciousness. These benefits align with the foundations of creativity, such as the ability to relax and flow, a willingness to take risks, and having a more alert and curious behavior.

7. Mind maps

Mind mapping is an idea organizing technique that allows you to organize information in a more creative way. It was developed by Tony Buzan and is based on a very specific assumption. The human brain processes information successfully when using visual and non-linear approaches. Note how it is implemented:

· Take a paper and pencil.

· Write the main idea in the center of the diagram.

· Nodes connected to each other are distributed around it.

· These nodes contain the thoughts that come to you little by little.

· Implications arise from the central proposition and grow with the ideas.

· Connect these nodes with your reasoning, and you can use distinct colors to symbolize them.

8. Walking to awaken creativity

It may seem like pseudoscience to you, but going for a walk awakens your creative thinking. Your mind loves to get moving, to connect with the outside world, and to put your fears into perspective. Stress is put aside and only then do you start thinking differently.

There is scientific evidence for this relationship. The Journal of Experimental Psychology research shows that walking enhances creative thinking in real time and that this effect persists afterwards. So don’t hesitate, put on your sneakers and explore your city, the beautiful corners of the forest or the tranquility of the beach. The ideas that will arise will be very useful to you.

Interesting facts about innovative thinking

Frida Kahlo used to say that her art and creativity saved her life, and that they were a mechanism for relieving pain. Nikola Tesla and writer Stephen King noted that some of their most innovative ideas originated in dreams. Innovative thinking still contains some mysteries, but its mechanisms are fascinating. We share with you some interesting information about this topic.

Why are some people more creative than others?

Creativity is more than just thinking outside the box: it is also a way of life. In fact, this construction is a process that integrates thought, personality, motivation and emotion. This makes some features of our society stand out in this area. Maybe this is your case. We break down what these most creative men and women look like:

· curious

· They listen to their intuition

· They like challenges

· Perseverance is what defines them

· They are open to experience

· Your mental focus is more flexible

· They have more critical thinking

· They are guided by intrinsic motivation

· Creativity is a rewarding and self-fulfilling act

It has been discovered that the brains of creative people can show greater connectivity between seemingly unrelated brain areas. This could explain their ability to connect ideas in unusual ways.

What happens in the brain during creative thinking?

Inventive reasoning is based on a mechanism that relies on a combination of mental representations. Your mind analyzes data, compares difficult ideas, imagines, reconstructs and creates original proposals almost without knowing how to do it. You will be interested to know that one of the brain areas most crucial to this process is the hippocampus.

In fact, work published in the journal Hippocampus describes that people with bilateral damage to this area show deficits in divergent thinking. This area is the nerve center of your memory and emotions, and without it it would be very difficult for you to carry out the processes that regulate creative thinking. We list them for you:

· incentivize

· Abstraction

· Planning

· Working memory

· Cognitive flexibility

· Insight (understanding, perception)

· Convergent and divergent thinking

· Read also the importance of creativity in personal development

Creativity is the enjoyment of intelligence

Creativity is a basic human faculty that plays a crucial role in your life and the progress of society. It brings innovation, art, problem-solving, and the ability to enrich your daily life in a variety of wonderful ways.

In addition, there is another undoubted benefit. Creativity saves you, relaxes you, and makes you feel better by expanding your reality and bringing you new perspectives. The writer, the artist, the one who encourages the advancement of science, or the one who enjoys practicing crafts knows this well. Take advantage of this and not only will you make great progress, but your mental health will be rewarded as well.

Source: Beautiful Mind