Enhancing Imagination

INTRODUCTION

In this lesson, we will present the differences between Imagination & Inspiration in their essential role for creativity. Additionally, we will show some ideas for enhancing Imagination.

OBJECTIVES

• Understand the concepts of Imagination and Inspiration and how they affect creativity.
• Explore ways to improve inspiration and imagination.
• Develop a childish way of thinking in your everyday life.

IMAGINATION & INSPIRATION

Inspiration and Imagination are essential for creativity.

Imagination is envisioning things that do not exist. Imagination requires curiosity, engagement, and the ability to conceive new ideas in your mind; it requires attention and the ability to envision alternatives

Inspiration is what provokes creativity. Inspiration provides the motivation that helps people believe that they can do something creative; it opens their minds to new possibilities, or inspiration can be an idea that comes suddenly. Inspiration is different for each person.

People often think that it is challenging to create something new or original out of nothing. Through creativity, we value originality. Although it is possible to find a process to improve things that already exist, it is much more challenging to define a method to create something new. Imagination and Inspiration are the drivers to develop new ideas to create something new.

Motivation and inspiration go hand in hand.

By inspiration, you increase your level of creativity. But you shouldn’t wait for inspiration to come, you should find ways to touch what you are passionate about, and that will inspire you. Increasing your inspiration will improve your creativity and enhance your motivation.

Through introspection, a process of self-examination, you can discover and understand what inspires you. People who are used to reflecting are in tune with their feelings and thoughts, which could make clear the real things that motivate their behavior. Genuine introspective individuals are used to questioning themselves in what they want and how they feel, which is difficult in today’s fast-paced society. There are some activities such as meditation or journaling that facilitate the process of introspection. Becoming aware of our thoughts and feelings is an excellent way to increase creativity.

There are some examples to improve inspiration

Reading relax your mind and stimulates your Imagination, and helps improving creativity. It doesn’t matter what book you choose; the important thing is losing yourself in an engaging story that allows escaping from daily life. Look for stories that you might find inspirational, and try to have a little time to read every day constantly.

• Going to galleries and museums

Art inspires art. Looking at pieces of art will inspire your creativity. But it is not simply exposing yourself to random art; there is always some type of art that connects with you. It could be painting, dance, theater, photography…that inspires you and does not need to be related to what you usually do. Once you find which type of art inspires you, immerse yourself in it. Taking the time to connect with your favorite art pieces will help you find the inspiration you need to improve your creativity.

• Daydreaming and meditation

It is natural to daydream. We’ve been taught that daydreaming is a waste of time, which distracts us from important activities. But daydreaming is a helpful tool for enhancing creativity. Thye act of daydreaming is similar to meditating. It helps the mind to relax and wander, and that increases productivity. Daydreaming connects with our goals and desires and moves us to act because we have already pictured the reality we want to achieve.

• Engaging with others

Interacting with people is vital in encouraging your curiosity and increasing creativity. Talking to different people, sharing your expertise in different groups, and taking the time to engage with others building new relationships is good for our physical and mental well-being and increasing creativity.

• Enhancing confidence in creativity

Confidence is crucial to success in any activity. If you believe that you can succeed in something, you will more likely complete it well.  Creative tasks are no exception to that rule. Unfortunately, self-comparison can undermine your confidence in creative ability. Inspiration can help rebuild your creative trust.

• Taking risks

Creativity requires taking risks. In creative activities, success could not be assured; then, there is always some risk involved. Developing creativity requests facing fears and act with confidence. Ignoring external criticism could give you the strength and confidence to take the risks you need to do creative activities.

OPEN THE MIND

Creativity requires facing new ideas, and for doing so, you must have an open mind not to reject directly the views you disagree with. We could think we are open-minded, but the reality is that we usually have strong, negative emotional responses to things that are not aligned with our opinions. Being open-minded demands understanding our belief system and listening to other points of view without automatically rejecting the new ideas. Keeping an open mind is easier ith you have introspection. You can learn a lot from people that disagree or have an opposing point of view.

For keeping an open mind, you need to refrain from making judgments. People usually pass emotional decisions before knowing all the facts. They mostly see the world black and white and do not take the time to appreciate different ideas or points of view and bring people who don’t match their opinions as enemies.

Do not allow personal bias to keep you from taking new ideas into account and learn something new from other people. Developing new relationships will empower your creativity.

• Having a Positive mindset

It is essential to remain positive in everything we do, and positivity is crucial to the creative mindset. It is easier to focus on the negative aspects, but that will only lead to depression and drive to fail prophetically.

• Asking why?

Judgments and rushing for decisions will impede creative thought. It is better to question everything and get as many answers as possible. Questioning will increase creativity. Develop relationships and find different opinions to take into account. Taking the time to ask and find new answers will allow you to see things from different perspectives and improve the creativity in your solutions.

• Ask open-ended questions

Asking open-ended questions improves creative thinking. Closed questions focus on specific correct answers; open-ended questions open divergent thinking and permits exploring new solutions. You can ask questions like: “What are the different ways of looking at the situation?”. These questions develop curiosity and allow you to explore the topic more widely instead of going straight to find the correct answer.

• Making Associations

Making associations is a natural ability for people. Making associations between things that might seem unrelated enhances creative thinking. One standard method for creating new things is creating forced associations in a list of unrelated concepts. The exercise could be challenging at first, but it will become easier with time and practice.

• Question Assumptions

Assumptions are concepts that we believed without doubt. They are based on personal experience and helps make effective and quick decisions but will cause problems if we need to think creatively. Accepting assumptions without question will decrease creativity.

Question assumptions simply asking like the following:

• What is the premise?
• What if it is not true?
• How does this assumption affect my decision-making?

Once you identify your assumptions and how they affect your decision-making skills, it is essential to enhance your points of view and look for other evidence that you might not have considered when creating your assumption.

THINK LIKE A CHILD

Children are naturally creative. We lose this creativity while we grow up. Unfortunately, we forget to play and daydream, and with that our curiosity decreases. Fun and creativity go hand in hand. By remembering to think like a child, we can wake up our creativity.

Although you might think that curiosity is a trait only related to children, the reality is that it is a trait that everyone could have and should cultivate. Curious people are happier and more creative than those who do not. Improving curiosity will also enhance your creative mindset.

Research demonstrates that the human brain responds better when there is a reward. If we don’t see the benefit, it is more unlikely that we repeat the behavior. You can look for intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to spark curiosity. The reward of satisfying curiosity is an example of intrinsic motivation. As an example of extrinsic motivation, for example, gamification could be an external reward for your interest as well.

Curiosity motivates creativity and continuous learning. Curiosity opens the desire to fill the knowledge gap and increase our understanding. It requires mental and creative stimulation to satisfy curiosity. You can:

• Begin by asking questions regularly and enjoy the questioning process. Do not rush to find a conclusion.

• Learn something new every day, and use this information to satisfy curiosity.

• Communicate often with people about topics that interest you to enjoy learning new information and teach.

Activate your curiosity by reflecting on what interests you and why some things work while others do not. Ask the questions a child would do, and your curiosity will increase

• Play games

Playing games is the perfect way to bond with our inner child. Playing games could become a valuable motivator for improving our creativity and reach our goals. Gamification is not the only example; it is essential to participate in various games to stimulate creativity. Chess could develop strategy and logic; videogames could increase creativity; puzzles can enhance spatial vision.

• Experiment

Children like to discover new things. As adults, we develop routines and keep in safe zones. Thinking creatively forces us to take risks. Being open to experiment and try new things could help us expand our horizons. Rather than getting stuck in a controlled environment, we need to learn through new experiences.

Experiment with new food, go to places you don’t usually frequent, take classes, and meet new people. You will not enjoy everything you try, but you will never be bored, and you may discover new inspiration to spark your creativity.

Closing Thoughts

• Sylvia Plath: “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

• Dan Stevens: “The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears.”

• Edward de Bono: “It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong than to be always right by having no ideas at all.”

• John Dewey: “Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of Imagination.”

• Edward de Bono: “Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns to look at things differently.”

CONCLUSIONS

Inspiration and Imagination are essential for creativity. Imagination is envisioning things that do not exist. Inspiration provides the motivation that helps people believe that they can do something creative.

Inspiration could be improved by:

• Reading stories

• Going to art galleries and museums

• Daydreaming and meditation

• Engaging with others

• Enhancing confidence in creativity

Imagination could be improved by:

• Opening the mind

  • Not judging

  • Having a positive mindset

  • Asking open questions

  • Making associations

  • Questioning Assumptions

• Thinking like a child

  • Being curious

  • Playing games

  • Experimenting

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Courseware (2019) Creativity: Thinking out of the box. Courseware.com

Gray, D.; Brown, S,; Macanufo, J. (2010) Gamesorming. A playbook for innovators, Rulebreakers, and changemakers. O’Reilly Media Eds.

Mumaw, S. (2020) Creativity. Generate Ideas in Greater quantity and Quality. LinkedIn Learning.

Seelig, T. (2017) Creativity Rules. Get Ideas Out of your head and into the world. HarperOne Eds.

Here you have the contents of this lesson in pdf: