Exercising Your Creative Muscle
By: Olivia McIntosh
Aligning the idea of exercising a creative thought process is just as important as physical exercise to stay healthy. A strong creative mind takes practice and attention, if you are in hopes of being strong in all areas that is.
Creative thoughts are subjective to the curator and are up for interpretation by the viewer. That being said, the pressure and constraints felt as a creative can be exhausting for the mind. Some might call it burn out, but by actively exercising your creative thinking powers you can unleash uncovered potential and spark new ideas – it just takes practice.
The typical day-to-day practices can be easy to succumb to and blame for your lack of creative drive. Implementing a couple of hours into your daily or weekly schedule can make all the difference for the flow of your ideas and to stimulate creative production. As seen in the article on creative thinking from Adobe Spark, giving yourself certain limitations and broadening your perspective on normal everyday interaction and scenery will allow your creative mind to create in a different light.
Because a creative mind is necessary for all areas of life, here are three easy exercises to own your creativity and exercise that muscle.
Practice thoughts with certain limitations.
Imagine yourself going on the date of your dreams: What outfit would you wear? Where would it take place? What would the love interest look like? What would they say? Would you pick a specific meal, activity? Creating a space where your mind can think of a specific event or situation allows your thoughts to wander and think about certain things that you don’t usually explore mentally on a daily basis. Look past the normal.
Passive People Watching
In this instance, an essential part of imagination is given to you: the subject. Practice things like narrowing in on typical people and object interactions while allowing a deeper train of thought occur. Paying attention to fleeting details allow you to capture what busy humans typically miss, and perhaps learning to enjoy the small things along the way.
Educate Yourself on Unfamiliar Topics
Exploring subjects that you are curious about and that are unfamiliar can also elevate your creative thinking. When you are aware of different ways of thinking whether socially, culturally, ethically, or religiously, you are better equipped to tackle creative problem solving or curate designs that will appeal to a wider variety of eyes.
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