Do you see what no one else sees?

How do you learn‚to be more creative

Last week, I answered a few questions and intend to make it a once-in-month feature. However, I individually respond to every single question I get. So do keep your comments, suggestions and questions flowing in.

Now for this week’s topic: creativity. What exactly is it? Creativity or creativeness is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or associations between existing ideas or concepts. Although associated with art and literature, it is also an essential part of innovation and is important in professions such as business, economics, architecture, industrial design, science and engineering.

Creativity involves bringing into being of something that did not exist before, either as a product, a process or a thought. Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but interpreting it differently.

You may not realise it but your mind is in a constant process of creation - thoughts, feelings, ideas, even your future. In the same way your body constantly breathes, your mind constantly creates. It is the natural function of the mind to create, whether you are awake or asleep.

But remember that when you use your creative mind, nothing, I repeat, nothing, ‘just happens’ to you. Every event that occurs in your life has one cause, and that cause is YOU.

The inner recesses of your mind are a fascinating place. They hold all your hopes and dreams, your fantasies and the seeds for the future that you will create for yourself.

Just as a plant has its foundation in the hidden soil of the earth, so, too, are your thoughts based in the inner mind. By learning what the soil is made of and the process of growth that occurs in a plant, a scientist can learn how to develop richer soils and healthier plants. By learning what goes into the act of creation within your inner mind you can learn how to make your thoughts stronger and healthier, and enrich your existence.

To start developing the creative aspects of your mind, you must train yourself to think beyond all limitations or boundaries because we are all victims of our mental programming since birth. A wealth of observations and experiences are already within us; all we need to do is to employ ‘awareness’ and bring it into our zone of reality.

To start, always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil with you. Whenever you are struck by an idea, quickly jot it down. Later you may discover that over 90 per cent of these ideas are useless. Don’t worry, that’s perfectly normal. What’s important are the 10 per cent that are brilliant!

Now do a simple exercise. Think of any colour - Red (for example) - and list out at least 25 things, from your day-to-day life, which are representative of this color. Like sindoor in a woman’s hair parting, tomato sauce etc. Send me your list, if you wish.

Next, try some doodling. Most of us have at some time or the other, when bored. We start with a few lines or a geometric shape and then add more lines and even colour if it is available to create a doodle. Now do it as a deliberate exercise, not as ‘time-pass’. There is no right way or wrong way to complete a doodle and doodles are not a test of artistic skill. So don’t worry if your finished doodle doesn’t make it into your local art museum. Just be imaginative and let yourself go.

Doodling is a great creative exercise because it forces you to use your creative vision in order to make a complete picture from a few lines. In addition, it forces you to think visually rather than textually, as most people do at work. As a result you are thinking in new ways. You are thinking more creatively.

.
Thought for the Week

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. 
You imagine what you desire, 
you will what you imagine and, 
at last you create what you will.”
George Bernard Shaw
.

 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times