chapter 14 - enhancing personal creativity

introduction

• most of the suggestions derived from the study of creative lives can be implemented by anybody regardless of age, gender, or social condition. some of the steps, however, are more appropriate to parents or other adults who want to provide optimal conditions for developing the creativity of children.we cannot change conditions in our own shildhood that would make us more curious and hence enhance creativity; but we can change conditions for the next generation.

the acquisition of creative energy

• in terms of using mental energy creatively, perhaps the most fundamental difference between people consists in how much uncommitted attention they have left over to deal with novelty. in too many cases, attention is restricted by external necessity. but the fact is that there are real limits to how many things a person can attend to at the same time, and when survival needs require all of one's attention, none is left over for being creative
• but often the obstacles are internal. in a person concerned with protecting his or her self, practically all the attention is invested in monitoring threats to the ego. taken to the extreme, a sense of being too vulnerable results in the form of neurosis known as paranoia, where everything that happens is interpreted as a threatening conspiracy against the self. the person who suffers from it usually cannot afford to become interested in the world from an objectiv, impartial viewpoint, and therefore is unable to learn much that is new
• another limitation on the free use of mental energy is an excessive investment of attenion in selfish goals. of course, we all must first ad foremost take care of our own needs. but for  some people the concept of "need" is inflated to the point that it becomes an obsession that devours every waking moment.when everything a person sees,t hinks, or does must serve self-interest, there is no attention left over to learn about anything else.
• to free up creative energy we need to let go a divert some attenion from the pursuit of the predictable goals that genes and memes have programmed in our minds and use it instead to explore the world around us on its own terms

curiosity and interest

• with age most of us lose the sense of wonder, the feeling of awe in confronting the majesty and variety of the world. yet without awe life becomes routine. creative individuals are childlike in that their curiosity remains fresh even at ninety years of age; they delight in the strane and the unknown. and because there is no end to the unknown, there delight also is endless
• at first, curiosity is diffuse and generic. with time, interest usually becomes channeled into a specific domain.
  • try to be surprized by something every day - it could be something you see, hear or read about. what is its essence. life is nothing more than a stream of experiences - the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be
  • try to surprize at least one person everyday - instead of being your predictable self, say something unexpected, express an opinion that you have not dared to reveal, ask a question you wouldn't ordinarily ask.
  • write down each day what surprsed you and how you surprised others - most creative peoepl keep a diary, or notes, or lab records to make their experiences more concrete and enduring. one of the surest ways to enrich life is to make experiences less fleeting, so that the most memorable, itneresting, and important events are not lost forever a few hours after they occurred.
  • when something strikes a spark of interest, follow it -the world is our business, and we can't know which part of it is best suited to our selves, to out potentialities, unless we make a serious effort to learn about as many aspects of it as possible
• it is the gathering of creative energy, the rebirth of curiosity that has been atrophies since childhood

cultivating flow in everyday life

• the rebirth of curiosity doesn't last long, however, unless we learn to enjoy being curious. when there is nothing specific to do, our thougts soon return to the most predictable state, which is randomness or confusion. on the other hand, when we learn to enjoy using our latent creative energy so that it generates its own internal force to keep concentrin focused, we not only avoid depression but also increase the complexity of our capacities to relate to the world.
  • wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to - creative individuals don't have to be dragged out of bed; they are eager to start the day.. they believe that there is something meaningful to accomplish each day, and they can't wait to get started on it. eventually most of the day should consist of tasks you look forward to, until you feel that getting up in the morning is a privilege, not a chore
  • if you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable -the conditions that make flow possible suggest how to transform everyday activities so that they are more enjoyable. having clear goals and expectations for whatever we do, paying attention tot he consequences of our actions, adjusting skills to the opportunities for action in the environment, concentrating on the task at hand without distractions - these are the simple rules tthat can make the difference between an unpleasant and an enjoyable experience. take the simplest of these routines and experiement with engineering its flow potential. after you have practiced improving the quality of experience in a few everyday activites, you might feel ready to tackle something more difficult - such as a hobby or new interest. eventually you will master the most important skill of all, the metaskill that consists in being able to turn any activity into an occasion of flow. if the autotelic metaskill is developed enough, you should be able to enjoy any new challenge and be on the way to the self-sustaining chain reactivity of creativity
  • to keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity - most somains are so complex that they cannot be exhausted in a lifetime, not even the lifetime of the human race. it is always possible to find a better way to do anything. that is why creativity - the attempt to expand the boundaries of a domain - makes a lifetime of enjoyment possible

habits of strength

• after creative energy is awakened, it is necessary to protect it. we must erect barriers against distractions, dig channels so that energy can flow more freely, find ways to escape outside temptations and interrupts. if we do not, entropy is sure to break down the concentration that the pursuit of an interest requires. then thought returns to its baseline state - the vague, unfocused, constantly distracted condition of the normal mind
• it is often surprising to hear extremel successful, productive people claim that they are basically lazy. yet the calim is believable. it is not that they have more energy and discipline than you or Il but they do develop habits of discipline that allow them to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks.
• the reason it is not a contradiction to be open and focused at the same time is that these contrary ways of using psychic energy share a similarity that is more important than their differences. they require you to decide whether at this point it is better to be open or to be focused. they are both expressions of your ability to control attention, and it is this, not whether you are open or focused, that matters.
• a few more words may be needed here concerning the concept of "control" as applied to attention. it should be realized that one way of controlling is to relinquish control. people who meditate expand their being by letting go of focused thought. this way they aim to achieve a spiritual union with the energy behind the world of appearances, the force that drives the universe. but this way of giving up control is itself directed, controlled by the mind.
  • take charge of your schedule - our cirdadian rhythms are to a large extentcontrolled by outside factors. if it works for you, it makes perfect sense to abandon yourself to these markers so taht you don't have to decide what to do when. to regain this knowledge we have to pay attention to how well the schedule we follow fits our inner states - when we feel best eating, sleeping, working, and so forth. once we have identified the ideal patterns, we can being the task of changing things around so that we can do things when it is most suitable. yet time is more flexible than most of su think
  • make time for reflection and relaxation - these are times when you should not expect any task to be done, any decision to be reached. you should just indulge in the luxury of reflection for its own sake. typical activieis that facilitate subconscious creative processes are walking, showering, swimming, driving, gardening, weaving, and carpentry. you should alternate stress with periods of relaxation. but remember that the best relaxation is not doing nothing. it usually involved doing something very different from your usual tasks. learning to control one's sleep pattersn can also be very important. what you lose in waking time will probably be made up in terms of the quality of experience while you are awake.
  • shape your space -at the macro level, the question may be whether you feel you would be happiest if living at the seashore, surrounded by mountains or plains, or in the bustle of a big city. at the midlevel, determine what sort of community you want to sink roots in. at the micro level the choices are much more readily available to everyone we all can decide what kind of environment to create in out home. another way space can help creativity is by following the maxim "a place for everything, and everything in its place" the kind of objects you fill your space with also either help or hinder the allocation of creative energies and then there are the objects that we carry and that help create a personalized, portable psychic space. another space that is important to personalize is out car.
  • find out what you like and what you hate about life - it is astonishing how little most people know about their feelings. the first thing is to keep a careful record of what you did each day and how you felt about it. be creative and invent your own method of self-analysis. the first step toward self-knowledge involves having a clear idea of what you spend your life doing and how you feel while doing it
  • start doing more of what you love, less of what you hate - the point is that ones you know what your daily life is like and how you experience it, it is easier to begin getting control over it. the important thing is to make sure that you spend your psychic energy in such a way that it brings back the highest returns in terms of the quality of experience
• the only way to stay creative is to oppose the wear and tear of existence with technique that organize time, space, and activity to your advantage.

internal traits

• the next step, after learning to liberate the creative energy of wonder and awe, and then learning to protect it by managin time, space, and activity, is to internalize as many of these supporting structures nto your personality as possible
• by the time we are out of our teens, many of these habits are strongly set, and it is difficult to invest attention - to think, feel, or act - in any other way than what our traits allow.
• to change personality means to learn new patterns of attention. to look at different things, and to look at them differently; to learn to think new thoughts, have new feelings about wha we expereince.
  • develop what you lack - to start, it makes sense to identify your most obvious characteristic, the one that your friends would use to describe you. when you have identified a central trait, you can begin to try it opposite. at first it won't be easy and will seem like a waste of time.
  • shift often from openness to closure -perhaps the most important duality that creative persons are able to integrate is being open and receptive on the one hand, and focused and hard-driving on the other. because this is such a central trait, it is particularly important to practice it. take some task you often do at your job.
    • start with relaxing your mind.
    • now try to grasp what are the most important issues about the project. then start jotting down some words on a pad, or o the computer. any word that somes to mind concerning your feelings about the project or the movie in your mind.
    • when you have a few words down, see if you can string them together into a story. the story you glimpse at this stage represents your strongest feelings about what is happening on the project.
    • it is at this point that the emphasis might shift from openness to discipline. begin to choose worlds carefuly, keeping in mind the goals of yourdepartment, division, or the corporation as a whole, as well as the interests, tastes, and prejudices of the bosses who will read the report. you want to be effective and convincing. so muster all your skills to write a report that conveys your beliefs as clearly and as succintly as possible.
  • shifting from one of these poles to the other is important also in relationships.
    • it is essentail to change perspectives when necessary, to compromise, to understand the world and to act differently, because this is what the other person's reality requires.
    • yet it is just as important to remain in touch with our own beliefs and perspectives.
  • aim for complexity - the ability to move from one trait to its opposite is part of the more general condition of psychic complexity. when we say that something is complex we mean that it is a very differentiated system - it has many distinctive parts - and also that it is a very integrated system - the several parts work together smoothly. complexity is also a feature of human personality. as we have seen, creative individuals seem to have relatively complex personalities. a creative person is highly individualized. complexity is the result of the fruitful interaction between these two opposing tendencies. but psychological complexity is not just a luxury reserved for creative individuals.

the application of creative energy

• the reason is that if motivations, habits, and personality traits are in place, most of the job is done. nevertheless, it is also useful to considerwhat kind of mental operations expedite novel solutions to problems in the domain of daily life.

problem finding

• they question the obvious - not out of contrariness but because they see the shortcomings of accepted explanations before the rest of us do. they sense problems before they are generally perceived and are able to define what they are.
• problem finding is important in the daily domain because it helps us focus on issues that will affect our experiences but otherwise may go unnoticed.
  • find a way to express what moves you - creative problems generally emerge from areas of life that are personally important. each of these is likely to interfere with the quality of life. but you will not know what ails you unless you can attach a name to it. the first step in solving a problem is to find it, to formulate the vague unease into a concrete problem amenable to solution
  • look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible - creative individuals do not rush to define the nature of problems; they look at the situation from various angles first and leave the formulation undetermined for a long time. they consider different causes an reasons. they test their hunches about what really is going on, first in their own mind and then inreality. they try tentativesolutions and check their success - and they are open to reformulating the problem if the evidence suggests they started out on the wrong path. a good way to learn problem finding in everday life is to stop yourself when you sense you have a problem and give it the best shot at a formulation. nevertheless, it is extremely important to identify the nature of the problem, becase what you will do next depends on it. it is in this sense taht the lives of creative individuals are less determiend that most of our lives. because they paise to consider a greater range of possible explanations for what happens to them, they have a wider and less predictable range of optiosn to choose from.
  • figure out the implications of the problem - creative individuals experiement with a number of alternative solutions until they are certain that they have found the one that will work best. it is good to be quick and consistent. but if you wish to be creative you should be willing to run the risk of sometimes seeming indecisive.
  • implement the solution - such flexibility works only if you keep payin close attention to the process of solution and if you are sensitive enough to the feedback so that you can correct the course as new information becomes available. the reason most people prefer routine, tried-an-true solutions to their problems is that this requires less psychic energy. in fact, we could not afford to be creative all the time because we would soon stretch the limits of attention and collapse.

divergent thinking

• are ways to stimulate people to increase the fluency, flexibility, and originality of their ideas and responses.
  • produce as many ideas as possible - at first go for quality; later you will be critical and edit for quality
  • have as many different ideas as possible - quantity is imporrtant, but try to avoid redundancy.
  • try to produce unlikely ideas - originality is one of the hallmarks of creative thinking. it requires cultivating a taste for quality that is not necessary for it to be fluentor flexible. one exercise involves taking a random paragraph from the paper each day and seeing if you can find unique, more memorable ways of epxressing the same ideas.
• as usual, it takes more energy to be creative than to be a routine thinker. therefore, you must choose when to try for creativity and when not to; otherwise you might burn yourself out in a blaze of intense originality

choosing a special domain

• it is important to try as many domains as possible. start with things you already enjoy and then move to related domains.
• there are two dangers as you become involved in a domain.
  • the first is addiction; some domains are so seductive that you may invest so much attention into it that you have none left for your job and family.
  • the other danger is the opposite: you can become so diffuse, so eclectic, that what you feel in different domains ends up being the same superficial experience.
• when you learn to operate within a domain, your life is certainly going to become more creative.
• the competition among memes is fierce; few survive by being noticed, selected, and added tot he sulture. luck has a huge hand in deciding whose c is capitalized. but if you don't learn to be creative in your personal life, the chances of contributing to the culture drop even closer to zero. and what really matters, in the last account, is not whether your name has been attached to a recognized discovery, but whether you have lived a full and creative life.