Thursday, March 07, 2013

2013-03-07 Thursday - On Creativity


I've been pondering the proceses of creativity and inspiration lately...and happened to stumble upon the excellent  brainpickings.org - where I found these two gems:


John Cleese on the 5 Factors to Make Your Life More Creative [link]

...which ties in nicely with this quote...
"A wise man once said that all human activity is a form of play. And the highest form of play is the search for Truth, Beauty and Love. What more is needed? Should there be a ‘meaning’ as well, that will be a bonus?
If we waste time looking for life’s meaning, we may have no time to live — or to play."
- Arthur C. Clarke [link]

Some of the 'triggers' I usually find helpful in stimulating my own creative thought processes:

  • A long drive.  Some of my best thinking - and innovative breakthroughs to problems - have occured while driving along the coast, or through the countryside
  • Walking through a museum or gallery.  When I lived in the Washington D.C. area - a favorite Sunday activity was to walk through the National Gallery of Art - where I fell in love with one particular painting [Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast], by Ludolf Backhuysen, a Dutch painter who lived from 1631-1708. 
  • Quiet Contemplative Meditation after a vigorous workout or 
  • A long run.
  • A long hot shower
  • A professional one hour massage, followed by a sauna
  • Reading  deeply on a complex, subject completely unrelated to the problem at hand.  Somehow the mind finds the tangents and serendipity spreads her magic dust - and Viola! - inspiration arrives with a grand entrance.
  • Music. Vivalidi's Four Seasons, for some reason, has the power to inspire me in ways that are hard to describe.




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