The importance of creativity and imagination on everything
Many people tell me that they’re not creative. They tell me that their jobs aren’t creative and that they’ve never done art or painted. The truth is that creative expression has little to do with the activity and more to do with the process of doing it. When I ask perhaps if they’ve taken a different way to work when they’ve been stuck in traffic, they answer yes. When I ask if they’ve approached a problem with a different frame of reference to which they first begun, they’ve answered yes. This is creativity!
What happens in ‘real’ life can often be likened to what happens in the brain. Most often we do the same things habitually expecting a different result. The same thing happens in the brain whereby we think the same thoughts over and over again. Our thoughts (almost 90%) are directed towards the past (which we cannot control) or the future (which we cannot control). Our thoughts create neural pathways in the brain and these pathways literally become like highways. In other words it gets easier to think the same thoughts over and over again because we’re so used to it. The other challenge is that often we’re not even conscious of the thought process.
This is where imagination becomes important. The radical thing with the mind is that it cannot distinguish between an imagined and so called real reality so you can litterally ‘train’ your brain with a little creative imagination everyday. This is why activities such as creative or guided meditation are so important; not because they just relax you but because you’re literally training your brain to think differently.
What are the benefits? Well apart from a well rested sleep at night, the benefits include creative problem solving (incidentally a very necessary process in work that requires analytical thinking), the ability to direct emotions, the ability to bring the mind back into the present (which is the only aspect of our existence we are ever in control of) and the ability to bring down cortisol levels. Cortisol is the main chemical released in response to a perceived stressful situation.
So whether you’re looking to run Comrades, increase your performance at work, enhance your relationships or even just ‘feel better’ engage in some creative exercise or just close your eyes and picture yourself doing it…the response is the same.
Happy creative imagining
Lisa
PS Lisa is the founder of Life Inc (www.lifeinc.co.za) and facilitates creative meditation practice, counselling and retreats.
