Do you ever notice how your biggest ideas or biggest breakthroughs come when you are happy or after having a great day? Creative ideas often spark from moments of joy, love, and curiosity.
According to This Emotional Life on pbs.org, “researchers have found that people are more likely to have a creative breakthrough if they were happy the day before. Creativity is less likely to be present with negative emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, and anxiety. It is positively associated with positive emotions such as joy, love, and curiosity.”
With that being said, how can we harness those moments and turn them into something great? I would like to expound on the three aforementioned points and focus on ways to heighten the creativity that lies inside each of us.
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” – Osho
1. Love
Love exists in many forms. Love for your family. Love for your friends. Love for life in general. Love for nature. I think you get the point by now. If you are feeling those emotions of fear, anger, sadness, or anxiety, I would encourage you to surround yourself with something or someone that you love.
Yesterday, as well as earlier today (it’s Wednesday as I’m writing this) I was having feelings of sadness and inadequacy for no apparent reason. I couldn’t write and all my creative juices felt as if they were drained. And then two of my friends texted me and encouraged my socks off! Neither of them knew what I was dealing with – that’s the crazy part. At that moment I felt loved. After that, I had the idea to write on this very topic, whereas yesterday, I could not think of anything to write on because of the feelings I was having.
Search out what you love. Surround yourself with those you love or those who will encourage you. It works – trust me.
2. Joy
I love roller coaster rides. I have since I was a little boy. They always seem to bring me joy after such an exhilarating and adrenaline wrenching experience. Have you ever noticed you have amazing ideas after something happens that brings you joy? I believe it is our responsibility to create those joyful moments.
“Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.” – Chuck Palahniuk
I challenge you this week to find joy in the simple things, make the best of them, and dig deep to find the value in them.
3. Curiosity
Albert Einstein said it best, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
In an article entitled “How Curiosity Cultivates Creativity”, Faisal Hoque states, “It is a matter of attending to your experience, or staying curious about the world. The less we’re wrapped up in our thinking, the more we notice about the world.”
Become curious about the world around you. Much like Leonardo da Vinci, instead of just looking, see life for something more than what is before your eyes. Question how things are done, what makes them work, how you can improve something, et cetera. In those very moments, creativity is enhanced.
In what ways can you use love, joy, and curiosity to heighten your creativity? Do you have other ideas to share with us in regards to heightening creativity? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below or by clicking here!
Photo by tradewallpaper.com
Love this post Vince! You can incorporate these three things into any aspect of life. You are right on when emotions play into creativity. Happiness and joy bring good. I know when I am not into something, the only thing that brings me to the end is dedication, practice and treating it like work. Products and ideas are so much more enjoyable when I am into it. The way these things heighten creativity is we learn to love everything about life and then want to discover more.
Thanks, Adam! You’re very right – it is much more enjoyable when we are into it. I feel, as I’m sure most do, that my best work is created when it’s something I love doing or am happiest about.
I think curiosity is one of the fundamental tenets of being creative. As you said, if you think about something beyond just what is presented, it encourages you to wonder why it is the way it is and understand how to make it something else, if you are so inclined. That works in writing, building, drawing, you name it.
Also, I believe in exposure to as many new ideas as possible. It helps to prevent us from thinking in the same way we’ve always thought and to delve into the new.
Great thoughts, Vincent. Glad your friends encouraged you when they did.
Thanks for your thoughts and for reading this, Ryan. You’re so right – it does help prevent us from thinking in the same way we’ve always thought. It sometimes can be hard thinking outside the box, but the challenge is fun, nonetheless.