Tap Into Your Creativity Using Mindfulness and Meditation

Mindwork

Aug 11

Do you often tell yourself and others that you were not born creative? Are you convinced that creativity is reserved for those on the art scene and for the members of the cultural elite? Do you believe that only the great musicians, painters, actors, best-selling authors, producers of box-office hits, and founders of unicorn companies are truly creative?

Creativity Matters

In the modern world, creativity is no longer just a nice-to-have trait, limited to the world of creative professions. “Creativity pays” is a new slogan in the business world. The World Economic Forum (WEF) considers creativity and its two offspring (innovation and ideation) to be the key skills for the workforce of the future. (1) A global survey of creativity by Adobe found that 83 percent of the employees experience pressure at the office to be more creative and that creative employees earn 17 percent more than non-creative ones. (2) Boston Consulting Group’s annual strategy survey listed creativity and innovation as top global strategic priorities. (3) IBM’s study conducted on more than 1,500 global CEOs identified creativity as “the single most important leadership competency for enterprises.”(4)

Scientists have also found that creativity decreases mortality risk and increases longevity. (5) Therefore, learning how to foster creativity through education, training, and personal development is of paramount importance to anyone who aspires to remain competitive in the modern workplace.

What is Creativity?

It is important to understand that creativity is not delimited to small groups of talented individuals and creative geniuses. Many thinkers have tried to understand and define the phenomenon of creativity. And even though creativity has often been linked to an extraordinary talent and divine inspiration, the central place in the creative process has always been reserved for the individual who possessed the ability to tap into that “reservoir of creativity.”

We are all born creative. As we grow and pass through the education system, over time many of us become less creative. Research has shown that, while only 2 percent of adults demonstrate objectively measurable traits of a creative genius, a staggering 98 percent of five-year-old children pass the criteria. (6) Children are less inhibited by complex frameworks and systems of theory; therefore, they are capable of divergent thinking—approaching new situations and problems with an open mind. With each new learning and problem-solving experience, new neural synapses get developed; then throughout life, those neural pathways either get reinforced (strengthened) or pruned (lost), depending on how much they are used.

Creativity is both an abstract phenomenon and a personal skill or trait. Modern psychology has reached a consensus that creativity is the ability to discover or generate something new—whether it is an idea, an object/product, a theory, a method, or a solution to a problem. The creative process involves using existing knowledge, imagination, and thinking.

Creativity is characterized by three key elements: novelty (originality, uniqueness), value (not limited to the financial aspect), and surprise (non-obvious, insightful). (7) There seems to be no creativity without the ability to perceive things differently, to “think outside the box,” and to move beyond traditional approaches and routinely applied methods.

Creativity and the Brain

Neuroscientists have not identified a single part of the brain that is solely responsible for creativity. Instead, by mapping brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they have concluded that three large neural networks, when in synchrony, play a key role in creativity:

The default mode network (associated with daydreaming and brainstorming),
The executive control network (active during concentration and focus), and
The salience network (responsible for detecting and filtering environmental stimuli; integrates sensory, cognitive, and emotional information). (8)

Mindfulness and Meditation for Creativity

“Make a space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it”

~ Dee Hock

Psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neurologists have identified many tools and activities which can help us nurture creativity. Some of the recommended activities are regular physical exercise (20-30 min, twice or thrice per week); reading; writing (for example journaling); surrounding yourself with diverse groups of people; immersion in works of art—from listening to music to visiting art galleries; and daring to do things differently (trying something new, assuming a different approach, avoiding routine & mechanical tasks). (9)

Or you could simply try meditation. For example, mindfulness meditation enhances creativity and innovation — just 10–12 minutes of daily meditation is sufficient to boost creativity. (10) A study has found that employees who meditated for 10 minutes were able to generate 22% more ideas compared to those in the control group.11 Another research has found that the practice of mindfulness is associated with brain activity in areas overlapping with the default mode, salience, and central executive networks (DMN, SN, CEN), known to lead to increased creativity. (12) A meta-analysis of 20 research papers concluded that mindfulness, too, makes a small contribution to divergent thinking, a key characteristic of creativity. (13)

Psychologists have found that being open to new experiences is a personality trait that can be used as the strongest indicator of creativity. A series of studies have demonstrated that certain mindfulness skills—such as awareness, non-judgmental observation, and acceptance—are high predictors of creativity. (14)

It is important to add that meditation reduces the activity of the amygdala (the brain center which, in a state of danger, stress, and fear, activates the fight-or-flight physiological response). When we are not in the debilitating grip of our fears and anxieties, our “creative juices” start to flow.

Sources

ClarityJoyFreedomPerformanceWell Being

Sai KrupaSagar

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