Steps To Creativity

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The majority of my time over the past few weeks has been swallowed up by a class I'm in, Life-Span Development. Though the content is extremely interesting to me, I've been getting frustrated with the lack of time to be creative (or really, to do anything). Today I'm in an especially creative mood and it has been taking all of my energy to focus on the work at hand.  

But, in my reading today, I came across a list of ways to be more creative and I thought it might interest some of you. People have their own avenues they like to explore in creativity, but some people don't realize how creative they really are! So, I hope you read this list and find some way to add creativity to this beautiful day (seriously, can the weather get any better?!).

The first step toward a more creative life is cultivating your curiosity and interest. How, do you say?

• Try to be surprised by something every day. Maybe it is something you see, hear, or read about. Become absorbed in a lecture or a book. Be open to what the world is telling you. Life is a stream of experiences. Swim widely and deeply in it, and your life will be richer.
• Try to surprise at least one person every day. In a lot of things you do, you have to be predictable and patterned. Do something different for a change. Ask a question you normally would not ask. Invite someone to go to a show or a museum you never have visited.
• Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others. Most creative people keep a diary, notes, or lab records to ensure that their experience is not fleeting or forgotten. Start with a specific task. Each evening record the most surprising event that occurred that day and your most surprising actions. After a few days, reread your notes and reflect on your past experiences. After a few weeks, you might see a pattern of interest emerging in your notes, one that might suggest an area you can explore in greater depth.
• When something sparks your interest, follow it. Usually when something captures your attention, it is short-lived--an idea, a song, a flower. Too often we are too busy to explore the idea, song, or flower further. Or we think these areas are none of our business because we are not experts about them. Yet the world is our business. We can't know which part of it is best suited to our interests until we make a serious effort to learn as much about as many aspects of it as possible.
• Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to. Creative people wake up eager to start the day. Why? Not necessarily because they are cheerful, enthusiastic types but because they know that there is something meaningful to accomplish each day, and they can't wait to get started.
• Spend time in settings that stimulate your creativity. In Csikszentmihalyi's research, he gave people an electronic pager and beeped them randomly at different times of the day. When he asked them how they felt, they reported the highest levels of creativity when walking, driving, or swimming.These activities are semiautomatic in that they take a certain amount of attention while leaving some time free to make connections among ideas. Another setting in which highly creative people report coming up with novel ideas is the sort of half-asleep, half-awake state we are in when we are deeply relaxed or barely awake.

[This was taken from the book, Essentials of Life-Span Development.]

p.s. Do you know what also fosters creativity?Pinterest! I was on it for way too long today, but you know what? When something sparks your interest, follow it! (I think this bullet point is the one I need to work on the most)