Thought Row Episode 3: 20 Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Stay in a Creative Frame of Mind All Day Long

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Thought Row Episode 3: 20 Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Stay in a Creative Frame of Mind All Day Long

Quote of the Week:

Energy is the key to creativity, energy is the key to life – William Shatner

20 Suggestions on how you can spark creativity:

I: Today as promised, Rod and I are going to give you 20 suggestions on how you can spark your creativity everyday.

R: Just going over these has helped me to re-think some of the good habits and bad habits that I’ve picked up. Inci what is the first one on our list?

The value of making your bed every morning.

A good night’s sleep is not only good for your health, but is good for your brain, and gives you the opportunity to dream more creatively.

While we’re still in the bedroom, nighttime distractions can sabotage healthy sleep and productive dream states. It’s best not to have a TV in your bedroom or at least shut it off two hours before you get in bed.

Mobile phones have changed everything when it comes to how we communicate and they certainly can be used for personal security. But again, to encourage the best possible sleep, you may want to take your mobile phone and put it outside your bedroom but nearby if there’s an emergency you’ll still be able to hear it. Mobile phones on your nightstand give off energy all night long and because they are such an extension of everything we do your mind somehow manages to maintain a connection even while you or it is sleeping.

Light exercise seems to do the best. Just going for a walk a couple of times a day in the fresh air will help to relaxes and nourishes your mind and a side benefit – increases blood white count which increases your body’s immunity.

While we’re talking about staying healthy, a nutritious diet is a must.

Put Garbage in and you will get garbage out. Everything you eat, drink or even the medications you take can impact your overall creativity. And of course legal or illegal stimulants may give you a feeling of self-awareness for a short period of time, but continued use can be devastating to true originality in your creative thinking.

Meditation, just about every great thinker or creative person understands the power of meditation, but you don’t have to put yourself in some yoga or Zen position to meditate. Albert Einstein would simply go sit in a comfortable chair in a quiet room and listen to his thoughts while his mind was drifting he came up with the most profound theories and equations. Another well-known inventive thinker would just swim underwater in a long pool with a snorkel on he also managed to pipe in classical music that he could hear underwater. He attributed this form of meditation to all of the great inventions that he gave to the world. Just find a quiet spot and sit and listen.

Walking, it’s not only a low but healthy impact exercise it really revitalizes your well-being especially if you can walk and you can experience nature. You can find nature by just looking at trees and the birds that often hang out there. Listening to nature it’s truly a symphony that will calm you down and help you connect or reconnect to your creativity. When you are having your walk, pick up a leaf or a rock or if your by the beach a seashell. Hold it very closely and explore every little nook and cranny. You can even smell it or taste it, if it’s clean.

Be prepared for creative ideas, they can virtually show up anytime anywhere you can be one of the millions of straphangers jammed into a train car and all of a sudden the brilliant creative idea you been thinking about pops into your head with all the answers you’ve been looking for. Carrying a small notepad or maybe better yet a voice recorder or maybe even better, a voice recorder app on your phone. If it’s safe, immediately talk your idea, or write it down I can assure you you will not remember it the way it was originally served up to you.

Nothing can get inside your head unless you invite it. Watching the news can be the worst thing you can do to maintain an open creative mind. Yes we all want to know what’s going on but if there’s anything real important you’ll hear about it. If you insist on watching the news, pick a time that won’t interfere with you getting a good night sleep and trying to keep it to a minimum. New cycles are constantly being updated and almost all of it is just a rehash of the same message you don’t need that floating around inside your head.

Negative people. We all know a bunch of them try to avoid them, even the ones you know have good intentions in their heart. Negativity creates negativity and the innocent creative mind can become easily overwhelmed and lose the innocence of creative thoughts.

You are responsible for who you are on the inside and on the outside. It doesn’t do you much good if you’re wearing beautiful clothes and you’re manicured perfectly, but inside your thoughts are in shambles. Dress for success inside your mind first, then you can pull on the adornments.

Remember you literally become what you think about all day long. So try and keep an easy-going nonjudgmental personality that will make you feel better and those around you.

Some fun things you can do to keep your mind creatively agile. I have a set of wooden blocks. I take out a half a dozen of them and leave them where I have to pass them frequently during the day. I take those few blocks and make different shapes out of them. I’m amazed at how interesting they become. If they look really good I’ll leave them in all their splendor to admire throughout the day or sometimes for a whole week. The blocks are colorful so I found I can even make these designs not only in the shapes but take advantage of how the colors layout. It’s great fun and you pretty much have to focus creatively.

We read recently that Alex Trebek use crayons when he was doing his jeopardy show. Crayons is something every creative person should own and when you’re feeling stressed out grab a piece of paper and just play it’s extremely relaxing and fun to do.

Being stressed out, challenges creativity and it can become most debilitating. There’s no magic here for when you feel stressed, but try to find a repetitive task that is easy to do that also refocuses your mind. Sometimes just sitting down and reading recipes in a cookbook can do the trick. If nothing else some of those recipes may cause you to want to create them for yourself.

Water, most people do not drink enough water throughout the day and that can make you sluggish, sleepy. and dulls the senses. Not a good place when you want your mind to be thinking creatively.

Being and staying creative in your mind is just a bunch of simple daily steps some work better than others on any given day but if you don’t overwhelm yourself and let the creative muse flow through you you will always end the day with a peaceful heart and the knowledge that tomorrow will bring fresh new thinking and ideas.

Compete only with yourself. If you are always worrying about what other people are doing and if it’s better than what you can do that will kill your creative energy. It doesn’t matter what others are doing, good, bad or indifferent. To your own self be true, think in terms of your own thoughts. Believe me originality of creativity is born within and with the right amount of nourishing it will give you many years of service.

R: There you have it…this is our top 20 ways to stay creative.

I: And just for fun…try a few this week and see if it doesn’t make you feel less stressed and more creative. We will have a pdf for you to download and print so you can pick 5 or so to start out with…then next week add a couple of more.

R: Thank all of you for tuning in today…what are we going to feature next week Inci?

I: Our next episode is going to be something that many of us can relate to and that’s Creative Chaos. How stress is affecting our creativity.