Introduction
Creativity may not be some special gift, with which a few special people are blessed, but rather it can be a state that can be accessed with some practice.
We have all had some moments when we were bursting with ideas, these were perhaps fuelled by the creative state. Creativity may not only be reserved for the gifted or those involved in the arts or architecture.
Brahms would get his inspiration for compositions by shining shoes. Rudyard Kipling would write only with obsidian black ink. Samuel Johnson would surround himself with a purring cat, orange peel and tea before beginning to write, while Ludwig van Beethoven would pour ice water over his head and Friedrich Schiller covered his desk with rotten apples.
These appear to be some strange rituals, but it appears that they may have helped to enter the creative state.
This book contains some of the tips and strategies that you can use with regular practice to develop your own creative state.
One of the keys to being creative, is to know yourself, and when you perform at your best.
Some people are known as morning persons as we perform much better in the morning, others may be better at night. The key to being creative is to re-create and enter those particular states, and it can be done with practise.
The feeling of creativity is a source of power that is familiar to us all. Used wisely, it can change your life and it can also be very much fun.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be sparked
Roman philosopher Plutarch
Chapter one
What really is creativity, why do some people seem to be more creative than others?
We can see creativity expressed in everything from works of art, to cooking, to balancing a budget, but we don't really know what it is, and how it works.
Some tend to think of creativity as mysterious and uncontrollable burst of inspiration that may be available to only a select few. Nevertheless, creativity is common, and experienced every time a fresh new idea pops into your head.
Unsurprisingly, there are different definitions of creativity, and it depends on the surrounding situations or environments or states.
The Mirriam-Webster dictionary describes it as the ability to make new things or think of new ideas. This definition amy be a bit limiting.
Can creativity be summoned when it is needed?
The fact is that we are creatures of habit, and creativity can be expressed in our everyday habits.
The truth is that there is greatness and creativity inside of us all to some degree, but it needs to be expressed.
We express our thinking in words, while mathematicians express themselves with equations, architects express themselves with drawings, engineers with models, movie directors with moving images, and public speakers with oratory.
We can begin to examine ways to explore and express creativity.
Creative geniuses are able to see what others easily miss and they often have the ability to see around corners using intuition.
A seemingly unconscious object of creativity is the resulting difference in
