In 1976, psychologist Silvano Arieti wrote a book entitled “Creativity:The Magic Synthesis.” Arieti specialized in two fields: creativity and schizophrenia. The two fields are probably not as far apart as we would first believe. Arieti’s book summarized nine conditions that he felt were necessary for creativity:
- Isolation. Being alone allows us to find ourselves, as well as to be open to new kinds of inspiration.
- Inactivity. We have to find time to get out of our routines. We need time to focus on “inner resources”.
- Daydreaming. Creating the space to allow ourselves to explore our thoughts and dreams; to just freestyle and not have the pressure of constraints to limit or stagnate our creative process.
- Free thinking. Finding ways to allow our mind to wander in any direction. Doing this gives us permission to explore topics that are not in our normal routines or thought processes. Doing this helps us find connection points between things we may not have connected and concepts we wouldn’t naturally link up.
- State of readiness to catch similarities. Seeing things from our creative lens and not our analytical lens; looking at things differently.
- Gullibility. Suspending judgment allows us to explore ideas without treating them with prejudice.
- Remembering and replaying past traumatic conflicts. Conflict creates more and new creative concepts.
- Alertness. Having our antenna up allows us to the ability to find relevance in things we may not normally be recognizing.
- Discipline. Finding the ability to do the work necessary to realize and then, systematically plan the execution of our ideas.
- We all love the times we are “in the flow” – when creativity is flowing and we are just able to ride the rhythm. But often that rhythm is broken. Especially when we are busy, tired, or under stress. Being intentional with these nine tools can help us rejuvenate our creative process and find that rhythm we are looking for to create our best work.
When do you find yourself needing to create creativity?
Have you identified any other practices that work for you when you need to create creativity?
Daydreaming is huge for me. Sometimes it just means putting on a favourite album and then sitting there feeling inspired… letting the mind run with crazy ideas. Sometimes some of them eventually take physical shape, but lots of the time the ideas never leave my head. I think your imagination is kind of like a muscle
ok…I am being very serious here.
my number one way to spark creativity and get inspired is in a long hot shower. it does the trick every time. it’s like the water cleans away all of the days expectations and noises and such leaving me to freely think and dream.