5 simple things you can do to sparkle creativity
The neuroscience of creativity - how to create favorable conditions for your brain to enter the creativity flow?
This post is about what triggers creativity from a neuroscience perspective and the simple steps that you can do to arrive at the creative flow.
The neuroscience of creativity - what triggers creativity?
Do you remember the last time you had a creative “aha” moment? Was it when you were working hard on solving a problem or was it more when you were relaxed?
Creative insights come from new associations discovered by our brains. Most people have them when they are relaxed.
We cannot force creative insights to come to us, but we can create the most favorable conditions for them to come in order to give time to our minds to make new associations.
The best situation for creative thinking is to have both hemispheres active at the same time since we can approach a question through both angles simultaneously: analytical, factual, detail-oriented, and verbal logic on the one hand, and big-picture, contextual and non-verbal logic on the other hand.
How to create favorable conditions for your brain to enter the creativity flow? What triggers your brain's both-hemispheres activation?
There are many ways how to do this and I have selected a few for which you do not need a special preparation or a special place, you can use them anywhere:
🎲Hand-eye (hand-mind) coordination helps - any game that you need coordination for would help. Lego is for fur one good option here.
🎲Performing your own Stroop Test. The original Stroop test included two parts. In the first, the written color name is printed in a different color of ink, and the participant is asked to speak the written word. In the second, the participant is asked to name the ink color.
🎲 If you are a right-hand writer try writing with the left hand and the other way around.
🎲 Alternate nostril breathing improves our creative thinking capabilities by balancing our 2 brain hemispheres, in order to allow us to approach a question through both ways of thinking simultaneously.
🎲 Meditation - Open-awareness meditation practice has been shown to improve divergent thinking. Focused attention meditation practice has been shown to improve convergent thinking. By practicing both types of meditation, one can improve both creative thinking skills.
One-phrase summary:
Observing when you are creative and which situations are triggering you to arrive at the creativity flow is one of the first steps of awareness. Helping your brain's both-hemispheres activation is definitely proven by neuroscientists to trigger creativity and there are simple methods above how to do this.
Resources:
https://neuromindfulnessinstitute.com/the-neuroscience-of-creative-thinking-and-mindfulness/
The NeuroMindfulness Institute - Neuromindfulness Training
hand - eye connection is a big one I think. So many people play with something in their hands when they talk!