Creativity exercises

My understanding of creativity and creativity exercises is based on the view that you can’t keep drawing water from the well without replenishing it in some form. So, my thoughts on creativity exercises are informed by a more holistic view of the person, as I firmly believe that being creative is a natural human condition. A condition which, like our physical condition, requires a certain amount of our attention and care if it is to grow and reach its potential.

Many people are forced into creativity exercises and pushing their creative limits purely in the daily act of day to day living and relying on their own resources, to make ends meet financially, or in their attempts to juggle a hectic work life with an equally needy family life and circumstances. Still I’m sure these people would not appreciate this fact, if you were to point out that they were exercising their creative muscles in the mere act of trying to survive.

Then you have the other extreme, where a person might find they have too much time on their hands and they end up in the dreaded position of thinking too much about the nature of the creative act to the point where they find themselves in the unenviable position of the proverbial caterpillar who upon thinking about how he manages to keep all his feet moving in tandem, never manages a step again and remains rooted to the spot. This is the nature of writer’s block. I think the role of creativity exercises is to help you live your life in a very natural way, and the most natural way is the way of balance.

Balance

You can’t remain at a creative peak all day every day. As humans, we simply are not built that way. We all need down time, even from doing something that we clearly love and is our passion. So the first creativity exercise that I would suggest is to take time. Take time for time out. We all have being in the situation where we are working at a problem which demands a degree of creativity and nothing is happening. Each avenue into the problem just leads to a dead end. Take time to see the wood from the trees. Stop a while and replenish the well.

You can do this in a myriad of simple ways, from going for a walk, to phoning up a friend or going off and checking your email. The simple act of diverting your attention can be enough to give your psyche the chance to regenerate and see the problem from a different angle. Forcing the issue never, ever works. You just end up making more work for yourself.

Small steps

I was reading an article recently about the great jazz pianist, Chick Corea. Now most people would have to concede that he is a very creative individual. But one thing in particular resonated with me. He spoke about the notion of ‘small victories’ in relation to his work. It was something I do myself. As I understand it, it’s simply the notion of taking small steps. Of getting one small piece at a time working correctly and then taking a short time-out to regenerate the batteries.

This tactic works particularly well for me with my own paintings. I never, ever, complete a painting in one sitting from start to finish, and I never spent longer than forty-five minutes in front of the canvas at any one time, one hour max. This enables me to keep the work fresh, and keeps me on my toes and engaged with what I’m doing. So this creativity exercise is really an extension of the balance one, - aim for small victories, break your large goal down into smaller more achievable ones, and celebrate the small victories. You’ll find that you can build on a growing confidence.

What if?

Another one of my creativity exercises is to ask “what if” questions. Play with different possibilities and fantasize or imagine different outcomes. For instance, what if I did my next five paintings only in blue and yellow and their attendant combinations? What if I just took my next hundred photographs purely in black and white? What if I painted larger, smaller? You get the point. Exploring various possibilities via the power of your imagination is again like a muscle. Its needs to be worked and reworked to grow and develop. When performing this exercise, give yourself permission to be as outlandish as possible, give your self the freedom to explore the avenues and paths you would never have allowed yourself to consider before. You might be surprised with what comes back.

Tap your Wisdom

This is one of the creativity exercises that I’ve been getting a lot of fun out of recently. Again it’s very simple but can be very powerful if you persist with it. It begins by getting a pen and paper and about thirty minutes of uninterrupted time in a quiet space. You start by writing down in your ordinary dominant hand, a question in relation to a problem that you have been grappling with. You simply pose the question to yourself on paper. And then, taking the pen in your non-dominant writing hand you answer that question in as uncensored way as possible.

At first, especially if your not used to writing with your weaker hand, your words will appear as a scrawl and undecipherable, but persist and keep writing. This powerful practice, seemingly allows you to tap into part of yourself that, for lack of a better term, exists ‘outside the box’. Some would term it your personal wisdom, and would subscribe to the notion that we already know the answers to most of our problems, its just finding a way to access that wisdom. Well, practice this way and see what it brings back for you.

These are just a few of the creativity exercises that I practice sometimes. Remember, creativity can be a very abstract quality. It’s a personal journey, and there is no one route in discovering what works for you. Give yourself time, think about what you do and what your motivations are for doing it. The best way to live creatively is to just learn what’s good for you and by removing those barricades that you may have unwittingly put up over the years for what appeared very good reasons at the time. Practice your creativity in small ways and watch it grow.