Unleashing your brain's creative power is not a complicated undertaking. Perhaps you feel that you've always had a hidden talent or you've always wanted to accomplish something creative, such as writing a book or learning to play a musical instrument. Unlock your creative abilities by changing your perspective and learning to view life through a different lens. By performing specific brain exercises, you enhance your ability to think outside the box and increase the likelihood that your creativity will start to shine through spontaneously.
Meditation
According to filmmaker David Lynch in his book "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity," meditation is a simple technique that almost anyone can learn to improve his consciousness, awareness and creative abilities. The more you meditate, the more you will grow and expand your creativity. Meditation offers a way to nurture your inner artist, regardless of whether you're a painter, musician or writer. Sitting quietly with yourself for a number of minutes each day helps your creative ideas come forth to your consciousness. Don't expect anything from this process, just try it and see what happens. Sit quietly and simply focus on your breath, being aware of every inhale and exhale. Notice your thoughts without attaching any significance to them. Try to make yourself as still as possible.
Number Games
Play games with numbers. Try sudoku, number jumbles or math brain teasers. See if you can memorize new phone numbers before you enter them in your cell phone. Doing simple activities to stimulate your brain's ability to recall and memorize numbers will help develop your short-term memory. Activating your brain in this way can help to enhance your clarity of thinking and produce a higher level of creativity. According to authors Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield in their book "Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain," you can try a simple exercise to stimulate creativity. Think about creating an alternative to numbers and Roman numerals. Try to develop another symbolic system. Be as creative as possible. The only requirement is that you cannot use actual numbers.
Think Like a Child
As people get older, they lose their ability to be truly creative to some degree because contemporary society forces them to act like adults. People are not encouraged to maintain their child-like sense of wonder or curiosity. According to Mumaw and Oldfield, creativity means having the ability to see things through the eyes of a child. Remember what your own childhood was like. Try to recall the names of your elementary school teachers and classmates. Think about what your favorite activities were. When you can re-experience the feelings of curiosity and wonder you had as a child, you can improve your creativity by thinking like a child. Mumaw and Oldfield suggest trying to design an action figure intended for children. Sketch out the package and the design, and try to write an advertising slogan. Imagine everything involved in the creation and production of your toy. Imagine the type of action figure you would have enjoyed when you were younger. Think about what personality or superpowers your action figure would have.
References
- "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity"; David Lynch; 2006
- "Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain"; Stefan Mumaw, Wendy Lee Oldfield; 2006
