subject: Improve Your Creativity With These 5 Easy Tips [print this page] Improve Your Creativity With These 5 Easy Tips
You know the person who always shows up at baby or bridal showers with her stunningly-wrapped gift? How about your friend who knows exactly how to arrange furniture or design her bookshelf so it looks just like a store display? Or the girl who can wear a shockingly bright belt or scarf with her outfit and make you secretly wish you dared to do it too?These people have style. They are clever. They are creative. The usual thing is to compare yourself to them and come away with the opinion that they are just more creative than you, that some people just know how to do things well. Like Steve Martin said, "Some people just have a way with words....some people...not have way."The truth is we are all creative in our own, unique ways. Creativity is the ability to think up and design new inventions, produce works of art, solve problems in new ways, or develop an idea based on an original, novel, or unconventional approach. It's being able to see something in a new way.Sometimes the business of life stops the creativity from flowing. We do things as quickly as we can to get them out of the way and move onto the next list item.In Productive Flourishing, Ali Hale said, "When you're busy, your attention is constantly on the moment. You obsess over this half-hour, this email, this task, and your focus isn't on enjoying each task and giving it the value it needs, but on getting through it so that you can get on with the next thing."Being busy means adopting tunnel vision, constantly focusing ahead, with no time to deviate, to wander, to glance at the richness and the possibilities all around you."When you're busy, you miss out on getting any real depth. Maybe you end up cutting out time you'd spend in meditation, prayer or reading. You find yourself putting off creating until another day. That novel stays in the bottom drawer. That painting gathers dust in your studio."The truth is, we all create something every day. Whether it is a positive atmosphere or a negative attitude, we are creators. But generating something constructive every day causes feelings of empowerment and capability, whether it is baking a new recipe for the family, playing a song on a musical instrument, or producing a feeling of peace in your cubicle at work.Need a jumpstart? Here are five ideas for boosting your creativity: 1. Listen to music from the Baroque period. This is like a reformat for your brain. 2. Carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you. That way, if you are struck by an idea, you can quickly jot it down. Ten percent of what you write will turn out to be brilliant. 3. Brainstorm. It can help you come up with new ideas and decide which ones are best. 4. Go for a walk. A change of atmosphere and gentle exercise are healthy for your mind and body. 5. Take a class! Trying out a new skill or developing a latent talent are great motivators.Don't be afraid to start a creative movement in your life. It will only enrich your life and flow to others. Maya Angelou said it well: "You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have."
