http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-tips-for-sparking-your-creativity.html
7 Tips for Sparking Your Creativity
By Gretchen Rubin, Intent.com
I’ve read a lot of advice about how to spark creativity. Everyone’s creativity takes a different form, so helpful advice varies from person to person.
For example, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be efficient and productive. One of my struggles is to allow myself to spend time on activities that don’t pay off in some direct way. Creativity often involves play, digression, exploration, experimentation, and failed attempts; it doesn’t always look productive.
These are the strategies that work best for me:
1. Taking notes. I have a compulsion to take notes as I read. I write down quotations and bits of information that catch my interest. In fact, all my book projects have really been ways to justify taking the notes that I most wanted to take. I used to fight the urge to take notes that weren’t related to a specific project, but no longer. All this note-taking is time-consuming, but in the end, highly satisfying. Along the same lines, I…
2. Follow my interests. Why do I keep reading more and more about St. Therese of Lisieux? I’m not sure, but I’m not stopping myself. Instead of staying focused on what I “ought” to be doing, I allow myself to wander—by buying an odd book, poking around the internet, or exploring an unusual place.
3. Allow myself the “fun of failure.” This catchphrase has made a HUGE difference to me. I’m very ambitious and want to succeed at everything I try, and that makes me very anxious—which isn’t a creative frame of mind. Telling myself that I can enjoy the “fun of failure” has made me more light-hearted about taking risks.
4. Buy supplies. I don’t like making purchases, but in keeping with my resolution to Indulge in a modest splurge, I encourage myself to make an occasional creativity-supporting purchase. A few months ago, I bought a beautiful set of magic markers and an oversized pad of drawing paper. For some reason, I just craved them. And indeed, when I got home, I sat down for a spell of…
5. Idea-mapping. This is a process of writing down ideas in a way that helps you see new relationships and possibilities. I begin with a symbol or word in the center, and then map out my associations with that word—using single words and colored pens to keep the ideas vivid and clear. I’ve done this lately when I get stuck on a happiness question.
6. Read random magazines. Every once in a while, I pick up several magazines that I would never ordinarily read. It’s surprisingly interesting and useful. And I love the feeling of possibility that I get whenever I browse in one of those stores that carries 500 different magazines.
7. Gather ideas. I was fascinated to read in Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit
* So many people have written to ask for a starter kit for launching their own Happiness-Project Groups in their own area! I think this is a great idea for boosting your happiness.
I’m working away on creating something to send out — I want the materials to be terrific.
If you’d like to add your name to the list, email me at gretchenrubin [at] gmail [dot com]. (Sorry to write in that weird way — trying to thwart spammers.) Just write “Happiness-Project Group” in the subject line. I’ll send you the kit as soon as it’s ready.
Intent.com provides content and community for who you aspire to be–personally, socially and globally.
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5 comments
add your comment »My latest craft craze lol is taking old Jeans & cutting pockets off & sewing them onto my 2 little Grandsons Tee shirts. I also use part of the legs to make sacks for odds & ends & toys for my animals.
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ooohhh... I don't think anyone could navigate through my studio or the many other places that I keep ideas in! I have a whole bookcase full of binders - all labeled with different catagories. As a multi-media artist, I tend to have so many different snippets of things that, at times it is overwhelming.
There were a number of things I used to do to get my drawing students to open their right brains to creativity. One was to have them scribble, draw straight lines, curves, swirls, jagged lines, etc. Then they would be asked to look at the lines and find "things" in them. A bunch of swirls may be a flower..jagged lines, along with that big swirl looks like an animal barring it's teeth. They would then outline the shapes to create an image. We often toured around our environment, looking closely at wood grain, rocks, the mottling on tiles, anything that would hold an image in it. We also did speed drawing. Speed drawing is meant to show the budding artist that they don't have to be ever so careful and produce a masterpiece. When drawing something that is moving, you can't possibly be concerned with accuracy or perfection. It was also a great stress reliever!
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Miss Info, I do the same thing with ideas for scrapbooking. I got a great sb journal from Inspirational Memories that has squared paper on one side of the page, lined on the other. I do sketches of layouts on one side, and notes, journaling, and idea maps on the other. I also use this as a place to stick samples of punches and rubber stamps so I can have a reference for size and possible uses. It's a combination of 1 and 7.
I also do the random magazine thing. I frequently buy sb mags, but will also pick up copies of Wired, Nat Geo, and others just because something has grabbed my attention.
I would add another item to this list: Be a Kid Again.
Playing outside, going on treasure hunts (geocaching), making up silly songs, throwing around a Nerf ball in the living room, and reading favorite kids books are great ways to find inspiration -- not to mention stress relief!
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This is very interesting because my son had a question on his test that asked him to choose the correct word to describe "doing useful things." He chose "helpful" but the teacher marked it wrong and insisted on "creative". I took the matter to the principal, who agreed that my son was right. Creativity, like you said, isn't necessarily useful. My son is often doing creative things on white bond paper with crayons and colored pencils, so he knows from experience. However, engaging in creative activities helps him think creatively, too.
It is also interesting that you are reading about St. Therese of Lisieux! I wonder what got you interested. I find myself reading about St. Pio (Padre Pio), whose life is completely fascinating! A cousin lent me a CD, and there have been newspaper articles about him. Do you know that his body has remained incorruptible? While he was alive, he also could be in two places at one time and could read people's hearts. Most importantly, he bore the wounds of Christ (stigmata) for 50 years.
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I have a 3-ring binder with plastic sleaves that hold sheets of paper. Whenever I go through quilting catalogs and see a quilt or technique I like, I cut it out and glue it onto a sheet of paper. I sort out the quilt patterns by type, putting all the log cabins on one page, for example. When I'm ready to quilt, I first go through the book looking at everything that inspired me. I think this would work no matter what your craft is.
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