Creativity

Happy New Year and while we celebrate the new Mayan calendar and our own new year, lets take some time to look ahead and my hope for you is that you  have a creative, bright, and wonderful new year.

You have probably had two types of experiences with creativity.  Perhaps while talking to a friend, going for a walk or reading a  magazine article, you find yourself suddenly inspired with an idea  that solves a problem totally unrelated to the conversation, scenery  or article.

On the other hand, creativity can occur in brainstorming sessions where you are actively generating ideas; while mind mapping; when you are sitting at your desks trying to figure out how to make a business presentation more compelling to a client; and in any other situation where you are actively trying to solve a problem. 

The first type of creativity has been called passive and the second active, and there is a relationship, active creativity and passive creativity are closely related. You cannot have passive creativity without some element of active creativity. 

In fact, one could argue that all passive creativity is the result of previous efforts at active creativity. The author who dreams up an idea for a novel may not have actively been looking for a new novel idea. However, since her profession is writing, you can be sure she frequently does actively seek new ideas. 

Likewise, the scientist who, through sudden inspiration, invents a new chemical or technology or theory, will almost certainly have been actively looking for such solutions in the past. Indeed, passive creativity seems to be one approach our mind takes towards solving problems. 

Research carried out by the University of Luebeck in Germany found that sleep seems to be an essential ingredient for passive creativity (although they didn't call it 'passive' creativity in the experiments - just creativity), which confirmed what many people have long suspected: sleeping on a problem can help you solve it more creatively. 

Although the exact process is not clear, it seems that the biochemical process of the brain restructures memories before storing them during the night. This restructuring most likely allows our minds to see problems in new ways and so bring new solutions to them. (Ref: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.creativity.ap/index.html )

Likewise, walking, talking, reading and otherwise absorbing new input gives our minds new material, which may be applied to existing problems for which are seeking solutions.

What this all means is that passive creativity cannot exist without active creativity. Inspiration alone will not give you ideas. You need to break down your problems into creative challenges and actively try to solve them. However, if the solution does not come through the usual idea generation channels, one of the best creativity tools you have available is to put the problem to the side of your mind, so to speak, and give your mind a chance to add new input and surprise you with passively creative ideas. A good night's sleep along the way will only help.