Boosting creativity with hypnosis and 16 other tips
Creativity is very important in our daily lives. We need it to solve problems, the more creative you are the faster and better you can solve problems. This is kind of why many entrepreneurs look for people who think "out-of-the-box." In addition, creativity is also an outlet for frustrations and to have fun.
It is not for nothing that many people in creative professions, such as artists and comedians, use their creativity to expose social problems.
To make sure you improve your creativity, in this blog I will discuss ways to boost your creativity.
What is creativity?
Creativity is the process of forming something new that adds value. This does not necessarily have to be a new product. It can also be an idea, a scientific theory, art or even a joke.
They often turn something that already exists into something better.
Creativity, therefore, is often a system we use to solve problems. After all, we need ideas to do that.
This makes creativity more than being able to write cute stories or draw pretty pictures. Creativity is something we have to deal with on a daily basis, if only to decide what to eat next each day.
Creativity in the brain
Problem solving is something generally done in the frontal lobe of the brain, but that's not quite how our brains work. In fact, the left brain is concerned with logic and the right brain is more concerned with art and beauty.
So some forms of creativity require both halves and other forms of creativity require only the right hemisphere of the brain.
Research shows that when you need to find a solution to something or tackle a creative task—such as writing a text—people often consciously begin the creative process. They then switch to doing something completely different, during which the subconscious takes over the “solution” part of the creative process, after which they actually get to work translating their creativity into text.
So for creativity, you are both conscious and unconscious.
Exercise to stimulate creativity
There are ways to stimulate your creativity. Research shows, for example, that people who are highly suggestible effortlessly follow certain hypnotic suggestions, even when creativity is required.
This can be caused by the fact that creativity and hypnosis both work on and in our subconscious.
Hypnosis can also enhance creativity by changing the beliefs and thoughts that hinder creative thinking.
Hypnosis exercise for creativity
To improve your creative thinking, it's important to let go of any beliefs you have about "how things should be."
For example, if you need creativity for your work and are prevented from doing so because you are concerned about what your colleagues think, it is important to let go of those beliefs.
By repeating hypnotic suggestions, you can make these types of social fears smaller.
Get other people's opinions
Another way to improve your creativity is to ask other people's opinions on the topic you are working on in the creative process.
Just the view of someone with a fresh perspective can give you new perspectives and give you a creative boost.
Writing exercise
Another way to improve your creativity is through writing. Keeping a blog, informative or otherwise, ensures that you make it clear to yourself and other people how you think about certain issues.
This also often makes you think more deeply about certain issues.
Writing by hand especially helps to stimulate creativity (besides, it's better for your eyes than a screen).
Movement Exercise
Several studies have also shown that exercise helps improve creativity. A company that rents out meeting rooms compared a number of activities and assessed the extent to which they promoted creativity during meetings.
Exercising in a group, such as Zumba, performed much better in this regard than watching an hour of Netflix.
So get exercising to unleash your creativity.
Social practice
Participants in the study also reported that exercising in groups made them feel connected to each other, making them more creative with each other.
Performing something social, such as a team sport, going to an escape room or another activity you can do together.
Meditate
Meditating daily also helps improve your creativity. Meditation reduces stress and distracting thoughts, making it easier for you to focus on your task.
Meditating for 10 minutes daily works wonders!
Play a game
Board games, video games it doesn't matter. Playing games and trying to win gets you into the solution mode that also helps you be more creative in everyday life.
Research even shows that playing commercial computer games can be good for children with ADHD.
In the process, playing with other people is another fun social activity to engage in.
Take a nap
Yes an afternoon nap can also be a good activity to boost your creativity for the rest of the afternoon. If you have a private office with room for a chaise longue, it's not a bad idea to use it during your break to doze off for half an hour.
You'll be refreshed and ready to go again afterwards.
Go to work in a cafe
Many self-employed entrepreneurs who have the freedom to work wherever they want can attest to this. Working in a café for a change can unexpectedly provide new insights and give your creativity a boost.
Change of scene makes one eat and perhaps a change of scene makes one think.
Listen to Music
If you’re unable to go to a different location for work, calm music can help boost your creativity while you’re working. On social media platforms like YouTube and services like Spotify, you can often find playlists specifically designed as background music for work.
There is even the option to listen to "Coffeeshop music." From a cafe then, not the Dutch Coffeeshop 😉.
Take a notebook with you anytime, anywhere
Precisely because creativity can be an unconscious process, you can sometimes have the "solution" to your problem at the most awkward times. Remembering that solution is not always easy. Because of the notebook, you won't forget and you can even go deeper into it later.
You can also use the notebook to just write down problems so that your subconscious creativity can work on them.
Don't worry about how you write something down, as long as it's there.
Believe me, even Richard Branson uses notebooks for all his ideas and reflections.
Stay positive
A positive mindset often makes you more creative than when you’re pessimistic. To stay positive, it’s important to practice mindfulness. With this technique, you monitor your thoughts to live in the here and now.
An added benefit is that you can quickly put a stop to negative and pessimistic thoughts so that they cannot block your creativity.
Visualize
Visualizing your goals or positive emotional states also ensures that you know what you are doing something for. This benefits your creativity.
To visualize, you don't just see in front of you what something looks like. You also feel how you will feel. You visualize the smell. For example, you can smell the sea when you visualize a beach vacation. You visualize the heat or cold and the movements you make.
Try to make your visualization as complete as possible.
Remember that someone else needs to build on your work
Experiments show that if you think your work is going to be used by others it causes you to become more creative. So imagining that someone else is going to look at your work to build on it can cause you to get additional ideas and thus make you more creative with the work.
Remember that you don't have to be creative
There’s so much you have to do in life that almost everything starts to feel like an obligation. By letting go of the “have to,” you put much less pressure on yourself. By thinking that everything is “allowed” rather than “required,” you create more freedom in your thinking, which benefits your creativity.
Do something new
New situations require you to look at everything with fresh eyes. By doing something daily or at least weekly for the first time, you train your brain to stay flexible. This can also give you new insights to do something new and creative in daily activities that you have been doing for years.
Would you like to learn more about mental techniques? Then come to a seminar or workshop and check out the courses offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.
Sources:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rethinking-mental-health/201708/whats-more-likely-increase-creativity-netflix-or-zumba
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1985.tb00640.x/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3990058/
https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=219960669928648;res=IELHEA
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207147808409320
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1087054705278771
http://99u.com/articles/16136/7-ways-to-boost-your-creativity
https://greatist.com/happiness/ways-to-boost-creativity