I call it the Picasso Syndrome.
It’s the myth that creativity is only for the specially talented, genetically gifted, slightly (yet positively) deranged—you know the kind, enormously successful (or dramatically not so), eccentric artistic types who stir up drama, are haunted by trauma and only on occasion spurt artistic expression very painfully and messily. As artist Julia Cameron observed, “We all know how broke-crazy-promiscuous-unreliable artists are.”
The Picasso Syndrome is a tragic cultural myth that says creativity is a synonym for flaky.
Not true.
Daily you engage in life-enriching, problem-solving, and intellect-expanding bouts of creativity. We are all by nature, naturally creative. And we naturally find greater joy, fulfillment and sheer pleasure in life when we engage creatively with the world around us. In the words of Louis Armstrong: “What we play is life!”
Here’s some quick ways to limber up your creativity today, try one or more of these:
1. Feel your emotions. The brain generates emotions based on the almost limitless data it collects and processes moment-by-moment, distilling conclusions based on this data gathering that have an emotional memory to them. Don’t disregard the ‘gut’ feeling you have when you’re making a decision—trust your supercomputer mind and spend some time quietly experiencing and re-experiencing emotional nuances, they can lead to great insights and real breakthroughs. Take time to feel.
2. Do a mental 180. Our minds naturally filter reality by limiting sensory inputs. Proficient poker players know that if you want to be sure your opponent is bluffing, simply speculate how this opponent might act if she weren’t bluffing—and then interpret in reverse. Try the same thing with a problem and you may find a totally new and unexpected answer.
3. Take longer showers. Scientific studies have shown that tremendous insights often occur when your mind is distracted by something other than the issue—taking a shower, walking the beach, waking slowly through that dream state we all know so well. Stress-free disengagement allows the right hemisphere of the brain to generate high frequency wave band activity, the creative flow that surprises us with innovation!
Don’t be a victim of the Picasso Syndrome. Break the myth and enjoy life fully today. Tap your creativity and reignite your sense of awe—live your own personal masterpiece!
BLOG: createbeyondreason.wordpress.com
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