How To Become Creative – Use These 7 Lifechanging Tips

Creativity means taking ideas out of our imaginations and bringing them to life. Creativity not only presents itself through visual forms of art such as paintings, drawings and even music, but involves everyday thinking and the ability to present thoughts and solutions in impactful ways. Thus discussions on creativity and how to become creative are important for success.

become creative tips

So what exactly is creativity? California State University, Northridge sums up creativity beautifully: “Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.”

Come to think of it, life itself is a creative project. And we have the choice to participate in her color choices, the writing of and presentation of our stories. To become more creative, one has to become expert at birthing something meaningful and attractive out of ideas that are floating around in the mind.

Everyone has it in them to become creative and to excel in creativity. But guess what, there is actually no formula to become creative. However, once we get rid of excuses and other mental barriers such as fear and uncertainty, our minds’ special ability to think outside the box begins to manifest in marvelous ways. We find ourselves coming up with solutions and producing colorful products in our areas of expertise. It is really up to us to activate and stay closely connected to our creative selves.

Here are tips on how to become (more) creative:

become creative

1. Meditate
Meditation calms the mind and helps it focus on that which is important. Sitting quietly for 10-15 minutes while slowly breathing in and out, consciously steering your mind and thoughts towards a more positive state helps us zoom into our innermost desires, wants and needs.

Studies by a team led by Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin based psychologist show that the brains of monks who spent 10,000 or more hours meditating showed significantly more activity in the brain’s emotional network than those who meditated less. This suggests that neural circuits linked to positive emotions can be bolstered through long-term meditation. An abundance of positive emotions helps our minds overflow with creative ideas. This helps us become more creative.

It is thus worth keeping in mind that like muscles in our bodies, centers that control positive emotions can also be strengthened… through activities such as meditation.

2. Daydream
Give your imagination permission to run wild. Let your mind wander into all kinds of childlike, spontaneous wonderlands where those dreams that may seem impossible (to the physical eye) actually reside. This helps us embrace and connect with possibilities present in us and for us. Once connected with these beautiful possibilities in our minds, bringing them to life only becomes a matter of time.

3. Keep a notepad and pen handy
It is no secret that ideas have the tendency of popping into our minds at the most unexpected moments – e.g. while in the shower, or cruising down the highway, at dinner with colleagues or even during conversations with friends. Jot these ideas down as soon as they surface before they disappear. The more ideas we write down, the more ideas come to us. This keeps the stream of creativity flowing.

4. Seek inspiration
Listen to music, watch a movie, read a good book or an enlightening magazine (like DUNIA), visit a local museum, exercise and engage in activities that move and refresh your mind. Indulging in these not only serves for inspiration, but helps relieve the pressures of daily living, thus keeping creativity at tip-top levels.

5. Find an outlet
Whether you are writing music, singing, blogging, knitting, cooking, baking, home designing, or even volunteering in the community, it is important to, first find time to engage in your passion; and secondly share it with others!

If left bottled up on the inside of us or stuck in notepads, our creative ideas may eventually fizzle out. However sharing the products of our creativity with others breathes life into our dreams, and helps us create more. Others’ appreciation of your life-changing creative gift(s) leads to your greater appreciation of it as well. Sharing is a tremendous way to boost creativity as it also helps grow confidence. So get creative in finding ways to present the results of your creativity to the world.

6. A date with nature
Spend time with nature’s wonderful gifts e.g. live plants, beautiful hills and mountains, calm blue waters, etc. Notice that these are all offered to us for free and are available around us. Time with nature is a great way to allow those calm creative hormones to flood the brain. Activities such as taking time to enjoy the cool breeze, simply admiring beautiful sunsets, or noticing the changing colors of leaves can be tremendous creativity boosters.

7. Take a break
Don’t get caught staring at a blank wall for minutes just because your brain is too tired to think. Lack of rest is known to raise stress levels, which affects proper human functioning. Imagine running a vacuum cleaner continuously on high for 24 hours, it eventually breaks down. Do not do this to yourself. It is almost impossible to come up with fresh actionable ideas when our minds are tired and our bodies weary. Taking time off allows the brain to rest, rejuvenate and refocus, hence becoming more creative.

On days when you are not feeling particularly motivated, or even if your creative juices are running low, I hope today’s article on how to become more creative gets you going. Give that creative energy every reason to run wild! Cheers to your success.

Lema’s website is www.lemaabeng.com; Twitter: @LemaAbeng

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