Can you remember a time in your life when you were your most creative? Is there a time when you felt like you had so many ideas bursting from you that they simply had to be enacted or you might explode from the extended capacity? When was that time in your life?
My assumption is that it was a time before increased responsibility and task. It was likely a time when you had more free time than you do now.
There is a reason for that, and it is not so easily chalked up to blaming the responsible life for killing your creativity. You only need to look a bit at the brain and the lifestyle you...we have created.
A study I recently read about showed the brain activity at its most creative moments. The exhaustive information showed that our brain is its most creative in the moments when it is allowed to wonder and wander. Essentially, we are our most creative in daydream mode.
I could leave it all at that if we were not so horrible at doing so. Daydreaming and creativity happens when our brains are truly allowed to disengage to a certain point. The brain has to lose focus and be allowed to wander a bit. That journey is where creativity is its most possible.
The problem for us these days arises in how many things require our focus; things such as television, gaming, even music make our brain focus.
I recently read an article about how the iPhone and other similar technology kill creativity in this way. Those with an iPhone or similar technology know how easy it is to "stay connected" so often throughout the day. There is always something to check, read, watch, listen to...to DO. So many of the things we once blamed "the boob tube" for doing in the evenings are available in our pockets throughout the day now. The iPhone can kill our creativity. (I also recently read that phones in my pockets can effect my potency as a future father, but that's for a different note.)
I have a close friend whose brother did advertising in Chicago, and his company gave him a monthly entertainment stipend to be spent freely on things like music, movies, and games. The company paid for these things because they believed it sparked creativity in their staff. I would say we get a lot of ideas and inspiration from all forms of entertainment, but I would say that the creative movement on that inspiration comes in the moments we allow our brain to just wander a bit.
When we daydream a little more, we find that creative person we thought had been killed by the responsible professional.
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LISTENING TO: "Hello my name is...EP" by Greek National Road
READING: "Total Church" by Tim Chester
3 days ago
1 comment:
This is really interesting and alot of truth to it! It sucks that we are robbing our kids of creativity and imagination too because they have computers to make it come to life for them! I think though that thier are some good things that do spark and inspire creativity. Music for example can definitly inspire. Where would the cheoreographers be on so you think you can dance without the music that brings thier steps to life? Or books can spark tons of imagination in all who ead them and open people to new thought and ideas. I think that in todays culture we have perverted entertainment. We fill our lives with so much bussiness that the last thing we want to do is make our brain work to be creative. We want to shut it down sometimes. We would rather watch the book as a movie or watch the dancers on t.v. because we are just all too burnt out! We really need to take a load off and remember how much fun it is to imagine!
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