Creativity means the ability to find new solutions in everyday life. An ability that everyone has at their fingertips. How to activate the creative potential of the mind? Learn the best ways!
It’s hard to find new ideas when you don’t know where you’re going. However, if you clearly define your goal from the beginning, your mind will focus on ways to achieve it instead of getting distracted. For example, if you want to change the interior design of your living room but have no idea how to do it, ask yourself how to make it cozier.
Creativity is like a muscle: it needs to be exercised. You can exercise your mind alone or with people close to you. An example of an exercise that stimulates creativity is finding unusual uses for ordinary objects or, conversely, trying to understand incomprehensible things. For example, you might look at a piece of art that seems strange to you and try to find familiar elements in it. By doing so, you go beyond first impressions and develop perception, thus stimulating creative thinking.
Opening up to the unknown is part of the mechanism of creative thinking, it helps to go beyond the usual ways of thinking that constrain imagination. Do not be afraid of people who look or behave differently from those you meet every day, even if they do not make a good impression on you. By doing so, you overcome your inhibitions, fears and prejudices. You can also order a dish in a restaurant whose name means nothing to you, go on vacation to the mountains instead of the seaside again, or find a new activity.
Daydreaming can support the process of maturing an idea by giving you the key to images and ideas that the mind in the waking state does not have such easy access to. This is most likely because during daydreaming, the brain unconsciously makes associations and selects ideas. Instead of taking another coffee, take short naps, which not only refresh your mind, but also increase your creativity.
It’s always a good idea to have a pen and notebook with you in case an idea pops into your head out of the blue. You can also use the notebook on your phone, although remember that handwriting develops neural connections better. When you write on paper, you stimulate larger areas of your brain, so more ideas come into your head.
Criticism is by definition the enemy of creative thinking. Accept both your own ideas and those of others with openness, because even if they seem meaningless to you, they always serve a purpose, even if they are only a starting point for further exploration.
Any games, card games, board games, games with balls or Lego bricks, will help you connect with your inner child, awaken joy in yourself, so important in the creative process.
Creative thinking is not born in a vacuum, but is fueled by external stimuli. It’s not about copying, it’s about looking with curiosity at what others are doing in a field that interests you so that you can then contribute something from yourself, something new or different.
Main photo: Ola Dapo/pexels.com
