The Artful Fast Track

                       

You’d like to crank up your creativity, right? So would I. And that’s why my blog on writing is a day late. I've spent hours reading. Searches: “Creativity” AND …

Affirmations, biofeedback, brain games, day dreams, emotions, guided imagery, hypnotism, intuitive training, meditation, mind exercises, mind science, mindfulness, self talk, visualization. I watched videos of “experts.” I checked credentials, clicked on “related links,” and made pages of notes.

Affirmations or self talk (click here to read my weblog on the subject) help you maintain a positive mindset. Don’t expect them to turn you into a Leonardo da Vinci, but they can protect you from a hard landing if you hit a slump.

“Hypnotism works.” So state the ads and the outdoor business sign of a local hypnotist. I know of people who quit smoking after one session with a hypnotist. Recently, I tried it for pain management. Despite no insurance coverage to defray the expense, I had considered my choice a better route than pain pills. Results: thumbs down for me, but it could work for someone else. If I ever have a few extra C-notes, I’d love to learn first-hand about how well hypnotism raises my level of creativity.

Susan Gold (www.susangold.net/hypnotherapyforwriters) “enjoys using hypnotherapy to help writers reach their potential and to achieve their goals.” I found her “Using Guided Imagery to Overcome Creative Blocks” interesting, but doubt I’ll check her site again.

A practicing Christian, I have reservations about Ms Gold’s use of Tarot cards to help writers discover inspiration—even if it works. In 1980-something, I read Constance Cumbey’s book, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow,” a commentary on the New Age Movement and its practices. I've never seen a set of those cards, but prefer to avoid the tools used by tricky fortune tellers.

Along the same vein, I’m wary of growing my creative output by having conversations with imaginary animals in an envisioned forest. That is another problem solving technique Constance Cumbey railed against. Today I found it suggested in an article on how to increase intuitive/creative thought.

Mrs. Cumbey threw the baby out with the bathwater when she nixed the value of everything from simple daydreams to hypnotism. I believe guided imagery, mindfulness, visualization, and related subjects deserve investigation, for learning relaxation skills, if nothing else. Constant stress and productivity are not good partners.

Studies cited on the internet, however, deserve your skepticism. When writers with impressive degrees and high-sounding credentials quote promising statistics, look around their websites. What are they selling? Are the books offering you a stellar future truthful?

I searched. Some websites do tell the truth. We didn't become who we are in a blink. Certain mind exercises can help accelerate our creative growth. Growth is change. Therefore, there is no super charge for our creativity, because change takes time. 

© 2013, Bernice W. Simpson  

Creative Thinking: Eight Great Benefits

A boxful of thumb-drives holds a writer's unpublished works. The spare room closet and dressed-up photo albums hide an artist's unsold photography and painting. A dusty garage shelf claims a sheet metal worker's almost-perfected invention. Pitiful how time, effort, and money invested in such endeavors is wasted, isn't it?

No, it is not wasted.

Paltry financial returns and failure are only synonymous to the closed-minded observer. Psychological studies prove repeatedly that those who practice creativity have a leg up on their non-innovative counterparts. Generally they have:

1. Stronger immune systems, so can expect more satisfying, if not longer lives, according to a Harvard researcher.1
2. Greater self-confidence, happiness, courage and optimism. Armed with these traits, they look for solutions instead of complaining about a problem.
3. Inner peacefulness which helps them believe they or other visionaries will discover new methods to handle problems, including horrors described in certain doomsday predictions.
4. Better coping skills which prevent their emotional health from disintegration when they are in intractable situations.
5. Considerable tolerance for differing opinions, thus are less defensive when their beliefs or actions are questioned.
6. Self-motivation and persistence. They are too busy perfecting their craft, whatever that is, to be caught up in the daily buzz of negativity.
7. Cooperative attitudes; thus innovators are adept at collaborating and brainstorming.
8. Quiet independence.Their left and right brain hemispheres, in proper balance, signal creative thinkers to protect themselves from time-wasting intrusions on their lives. The innovative person, who must carve out time from an active schedule for the extra rest, meditation time, and the actual production of creative pursuits, intuitively turns away from, or learns to tune out, distractions.

Do you want to apply the attributes listed above to your self-image? Get those juices flowing now. Turn on your computer. Go to the Internet. Type "creativity" in the search box. My search led me to articles that affirmed my previous research and thoughts on the topic. Particularly in sync with today's blog outline was an article by Carlin Flora.1

I was surprised at one thing: Ms. Flora referred to "conventionals," or non-creative individuals. I've held the belief that we are all creative. But it's a moot point here, because "conventionals" would never read this blog.

Carlin Flora's article is a good place to start, and you will find a wealth of material on the Psychology Today website alone. You won't stop there, because the engine that drives your creativity is as original as your thumbprint. And once it's revved up, you're off to magical places that would pique the "conventionals'" curiosity if they dared to live fully. 

1 Website Psychology Today, "Everyday Creativity" by Carlin Flora. 01 November, 2009; reviewed 13 June, 2011.

(c) 2012, Bernice W. Simpson