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Creativity and Conquering Creative Limitations

info@bergreenphotography.com — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 13:37:00 +0000

Do you consider yourself a creative person? Do you enjoy the creative process? Today I’m going to start by defining creativity and then walk you through a process to embrace your creative abilities and tap into your creative potential.

Maybe creative thinking is something you’re striving for in your work or you’re simply searching for creative solutions to specific problems. Creative people tend to struggle with shutting down the inner critic and believing in their own novel ideas. Often, there are limiting beliefs or environmental factors that stand in our way of fostering creativity.

This article will help you identify the hangups in your creative process whether thats too much pressure on your creative performance or a lack of supportive creative individuals in your corner. After over a decade as a professional creative where creative output isn’t optional, I’ve learned that creativity requires resilience.

Creativity Definition

Creativity is making something new and original, often from the imagination. And creativity is often associated with an artistic pursuit. One of my favorite explanations of creativity is by Mary Lou Cook who says, “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

I love how Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi connects creativity to flow and flow to happiness. Many artists also feel creativity is their connection to something outside of themselves whether that is God or nature or love. Put this way, when we connect to our creativity we’re connecting to flow, happiness, joy, and something greater.

Also, we can understand creativity by where we don’t find it. We don’t find it when we’re resigned to having a closed mind in a place where we don’t see any possible solutions or ways out. We don’t find creativity when we’re feeling resistant, stuck, inflexible, or hopeless. However, sometimes creativity does come out of boredom, chaos, or even pain and failure.

Why is Creativity Important

Creativity is attributed to helping you have a more flexible mind, increased problem-solving skills, and mastery over your craft. Creativity also teaches us that there are benefits of adversity. Since creativity often comes from challenges, it can lead to more beauty, purpose, and joy in our lives.

In the above definitions, I talked about how for many an act of creativity is a connection to something greater. Creativity is related to being in a flow state which can lead to positive mental health and even happiness.

It’s not just creatives that have decided this based on their feelings, the research backs it up. “The large and growing body of research pertaining to creativity and mental health suggests that, overall, creativity is related to positive mental health.” (Kaufman and Sternberh 212) “People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy. (Csikszentmihalyi 2)

Creativity is in Nature… it’s In Our Nature

Nature is the place where many of us look to for the standards of creativity or life lessons on being creative. We see creativity in the way a tree grows year after year or a wildflower grows high up in the harsh alpine environment. The problem is that the beautiful things aren’t always the easy things.

One of my favorite Children’s books, The Little Tree by Loren Long tells a story about a little tree who is afraid to let his leaves go. But only when he lets his leaves go embracing the season of fall can he grow into the tree he’s supposed to be.

Children’s books are filled with stories from nature about the importance of resilience, exploration, and lessons learned from struggle. We have to continue to believe that creativity is a part of us and that we are connected to it. Here’s the truth, not only are we capable of it and connected to it, it grows.

Lessons from Children’s Books

The only true failure can come if you quit.” Rosie Revere Engineer
“Sometimes when you’re different you just need a different song.” Giraffes Can’t Dance
“Happiness is all around.” The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth
Read more in my post on how Childrens books teach us to be more creative.

Creativity Grows and is Learnable

As the great Maya Angelou says, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maybe you don’t feel creative right now. Maybe there’s something in your way such as a distraction or some past trauma or you simply don’t have the time.

But creativity is learnable and it’s all about having a growth mindset and cultivating the personality traits of creatives. One of my favorite personality traits of creative people is an openness to new experiences. Feeling stuck? Try something new!

Research shows that creativity is learnable. Two of my favorite books on the subject are Growth Mindset and Personality isn’t Permanent. Benjamin Hardy reminds us that, “Your goals, not some predetermined set of fixed traits, shape your identity. Over time, and through repeated behavior, your identity becomes your personality.”

New identity: You are creative!

So far we’ve determined that creativity has multiple benefits that make it work incorporating into our lives. We also know that creativity is in our nature and even if we’ve lost your connection to it over the years. Like so many things in life, it comes down to choosing who we are going to be and then setting goals and shaping our identity accordingly.

It’s a choice though. It’ll require you to be open to experiences and adventure. You’ll have to lean into fear, failure, and flexibility. You might have to get unstuck from patterns, reframe your trauma, and more.

You might have to look around your environment and decide if it supports the old you or the you that you want to become. Let’s just pretend you’re all willing, you’re signing up for this climb. Now we need to address the challenges ahead of us.

What Limits Our Creativity?

Everyone has different circumstances that limit or get in the way of their creativity. For some it’s a problem of our identity and that we haven’t taken the time to know, discover, or understand ourselves. We don’t believe we’re creative because of a negative mindset, rigid thoughts and ideas, old stories, mental blocks, overthinking, or inflexibility.

For others it’s a problem when our physical environment. We have too many distractions with long to-do lists and too much pressure on our time and schedule. This leads to feeling stuck maybe because our surroundings limit our motivation and freedom to create.

And for some it’s our social environment. Maybe we have boundary issues or relationship issues that we need to deal with. It might mean needing the social support and encouragement or to process heavy emotions like grief, rage, or fear that might stand in our way.

Determine What’s Holding You Back

Before we move on, take a minute to think about what is holding you back creatively. Get specific with what you think stands in your way. If you’re like me, you might have some from each catagory so in order to come up with a strategy it’s helpful to get specific.

Identity: Sometimes I doubt if I’m good enough, if I really have something novel to share. Physical environment: Other days I simply neglect my creative pursuits because I’m more worried about making money than art. Social environment: sometimes I spend time with people that don’t support my creative dreams rather than surrounding myself with those that do.

Once we identify the things that stand between us and our creativity, we can start to build a strategy to live a more creative life. It helps to look back to what resonated with us about why creativity matters. What are you goals and reasons for wanting to be more creative? Knowing that will help you tackle the challenges ahead.

Shaping a Creative Identity

Choosing your identity is such a simple yet incredibly challenging task. Many inspirational people encourage us to take control of our thoughts. The meditation teacher Cheri Huber says, “What you practice is what you have.” Tony Robbins says, “Where your thoughts go energy flows.”

The idea is that while we can’t control everything that goes on around us, we can choose our thoughts. If that sounds impossible or unlikely to you, don’t worry. We can learn to use practices such as mindfulness, gratitude, prayer, breathing, and meditation to influence the thoughts, rewire the brain, and get out of our heads.

Practices like meditation and breathing had been studied and linked to focus, calm, concentration, and decreased stress. It may come as no surprise that such practices therefore can lead to greater creativity through innovative thinking and generation of new ideas. The question of shaping our identity comes down to choosing who we want to be and them setting goals that become habits that help us become who we desire.

Fostering a Creative Physical Environment

Once we’ve addressed the inner landscape of our minds by choosing what thoughts we’re focusing on, it’s time to look at the eternal landscape. What do we surround ourselves with? You may have hear the quote that says, “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your calendar and bank account and I’ll show you what you value.”

The first question to ask yourself is if your values equal your priorities. How do you start or end your day? Can we start every day with the most important things and practices? Could we increase our motivation and passion?

Secondly, when it comes to our physical environment I’m a big fan of simplicity and minimalism. I always say that “simple is best” and we should simplify so we can flow. Where can we simplify our life, our schedule, our physical and mental clutter to make room for creative thought?

Daily Input

When it comes to our environment I like to think about our daily input. What are we putting into our bodies from all 5 senses? That would include food, water, social media, books, thoughts, podcasts, TV shows, art on our walls, clutter in our space, and all of our rituals and routines like exercise or meditation.

The question to ask is does it help/hurt my creativity in the long run? If you’re sitting at your desk trying to start a project but you look up and see laundry or a full inbox, it’s hard to be creative. If you’re listening to negativity on the news or feeling aches beause you haven’t moved your body, it’s hard to be creative.

This is where I tell you that creativity involves so much more of your life that you realize. You groan and grab another handful of your favorite candy. But underneath your craving for candy is something that’s limiting your creativity and if you do the hard work of uncovering it, what magic will you create?

Developing a Supportive Social Environment

The last thing that holds us back might be the one that has the biggest opportunity for growth. It’s really hard to be creative alone. It’s lonely pursuing something that people don’t seem to value, or that society doesn’t always value. Maybe it’s your office policies that make it hard to pursue creativity because they don’t encourage risk taking or maybe it’s your family that thinks you should focus on profits.

And unfortunately, creativity for creativity sake and intrinsic motivation produces more original work than creativity linked to a reward. That makes it hard to value creativity. We have to be willing to work hard and let go of the results which is contrary to how the rest of the world works.

In the research on how to increase divergent thinking in the workplace, they discovered that we should be supporting wild ideas and even encouraging emotions. But how often is that how things are set up? “The most typical way to support DT is through training that emphasizes tactics that allow the individual to generate numerous potential solutions, embrace wild ideas, and seek novelty.” (Kaufman and Sternberh 117) “Workers’ creativity was, in fact, highest when the context was supportive and both positive and negative moods were high.” (Kaufman and Sternberh 186)

Final Challenge

The final challenge is to change your limitations to reflect a new positive habit regarding your creative process.

If your limitation was, “I don’t have time for creative thinking,” your new affirmation is something like, “I make time everyday for creativity.” If your limitation was, “My community doesn’t support my creative process,” your new affirmation might be, “I seek and find creative people around me.”

I can’t wait to see how you tend to your creative potential and turn it into creative productivity! Your creative abilities are your super power. They are gifts.

Summary

Creativity requires resilience. It requires that you be willing to try new things, make mistakes, face your fears, and fail. But in a world where convergent thinking is the easier path, divergent thinking and creative thinking feel even more risky than ever before.

Human creativity is important and the creative process has led us far, not just in the visual arts but in science, technology, and even economic growth. The world needs creative people, or at the very least your community needs you. I’d love to hear how you’re tacking your creative limitations, surrounding yourself with other creative people, and increasing your time in that beautiful state of flow.

about the author

I am Brenda Bergreen, one half of a husband and wife photography team specializing in Colorado wedding photography and videography as well as adventure photography. If you need someone to encourage your creativity, I’m here. (*Links to stuff I like may include affiliate links.)

Download our free guide on how to build a creative business and a life you love. Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help!

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Photography and Creativity Reading List Recommendations

info@bergreenphotography.com — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 18:30:00 +0000

Below I’ve compiled our reading list recommendations for creators, photographers, and entrepreneurs. Being self-employed means continual learning on subjects from creativity, mindset, behavior, attitude, business, marketing, and money. I’ve put together our favorites in each category below.

When we started our business and our journey into entrepreneurship, one of the things we need most was support and inspiration. We were making a big change, taking a leap, and climbing a mountain we had never seen before. A few friends came out of the woodwork to really be our cheerleaders. There have even been a few mentor-types that have given us strength and ideas.

One of the main disadvantages though, to starting your own business, is that you are alone. There is no team, no co-workers, no one that is obligated to help you, train you, or teach you. There is no boss or manager to ask for the answers or for feedback. So we had to find some teachers and set some goals.

Books for Creative Entrepreneurs

One of our goals, one that we’ve been successful at, has been to read more books. It’s made a big difference in our ability to continually learn and grow.

Some mornings, if I’m not feeling motivated it’s best to start the day with a little motivation. I make a cup of coffee, get comfy, and get my inspiration on.

Our Reading List Recommendations by Category

Best Books for Inspiring Creativity:

Creative entrepreneurs need constant inspiration in order to battle self-doubt in the everyday running of a business.

The War of Art – Steve Pressfield
Do the Work – Steve Pressfield
Turning Pro – Steve Pressfield
Creative Calling – Chase Jarvis
Show Your Work – Austin Kleon
Steal Like and Artist – Austin Kleon
Keep Going – Austin Kleon
The Creative Habit – Twyla Tharp
Creativity Inc – Ed Catmull
Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert

must read photography books for beginners:

Below are my must read photography books for beginners. From photography skills to business skills, these photography books for beginners helped us on our journey to becoming creative entrepreneurs.

Vision Mongers – David Duchemin
Photographically Speaking – David Duchemin
Within the Frame – David Duchemin
Fast Track Photographer – Dane Sanders
Fast Track Business Plan – Dane Sanders
Adventure Photography -Michael Clark
Photography Q&A – Zack Arias

books for mindset and behavior:

Once you’ve read all the photography books for beginners above, you still need practical tips to overcome self doubt. From goal setting to developing good habits, your mindset and daily actions are keys to succeed as a creative entrepreneur.

Mindset – Carol Dweck
The Rock Warrior’s Way – Arno Ilgner
The Gifts of Imperfection – Brene Brown
Daring Greatly – Brene Brown
Rising Strong – Brene Brown
Braving the Wilderness – Brene Brown
The Five Second Rule – Mel Robbins
You are a Badass – Jen Sincero
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Boundaries – Dr Henry Cloud

books on stress and health

Whether you want to believe it or not, your health if a game changer for working smarter. Being a creative entrepreneur can be stressful so it’s important to have a plan for dealing with stress and taking care of yourself.

The Nature Fix – Florence Williams
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers – Robert Sapolsky

best books on finding your calling:

There is something about entrepreneurship that makes us care about things like meaning, purpose, and calling. Part of being successful is being on the right path with your creative business. These books are great if your’re just getting started with your small businesses or are looking at where you are.

The Art of Work – Jeff Goins
The Happiness of Pursuit – Chris Guillebeau
Start – Jon Acuff
Quitter – Jon Acuff
Do Over – Jon Acuff
Finish – Jon Acuff
Die Empty – Todd Henry
48 Days to the Work You Love – Dan Miller

business books every entrepreneur should read:

Even though we think operating a creative business is all about creative, it’s actually a lot about business too. Your business development requires that you look at what the industry experts are saying even if you think they’re talking to businesses that are bigger than yours. Creative entrepreneurs can benefit from tips from any industry.

Tribes – Seth Godin
Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
Tell to Win – Peter Gruber
Good to Great – Jim Collins
3 Work Rebellion – Dr. Michelle Mazur
Start With Why – Simon Sinek

best books to read on money:

This is the last section but it might just be the most important (even if it doesn’t feel that creative.) Your creative business needs to make money so that you can be sustainable and successful. You need to learn accounting and budget and you might even need to change your relationship to money.

The Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
You are a Badass at Making Money – Jen Sincero
Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki
I Will Teach You to be Rich – Ramit Sethi

Summary

Thanks for checking our our reading list recommendations. What’d I miss?! Let me know if you have any favorite books because I’d love to read them. Whether marketing or money, keep learning!

I really hope these recommendations help move your creative business forward towards your ideal future.

about the author

Download our free guide on how to build a creative business and a life you love. Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help!

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Why I Blog About Creativity & Building a Life

info@bergreenphotography.com — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 21:16:19 +0000

I have a whole category where I blog about creativity and building a life. I’ve been doing so since pretty much the beginning of our photography business. It’s all about finding balance, living the dream, and staying motivated when loving your job is still work!

As a professional photographer, videographer, writer, and all-around creator, creativity is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I’ve read countless books on the topic and have practiced a variety of techniques to enhance my own creativity. I’ve learned that creativity is a practice.

Choosing creative endeavors as a profession is not just about building a business. It’s about building a life. That’s why I blog about creativity.

Favorite Posts on the Blog About Creativity

Below I’ve selected and sorted the posts on our blog about creativity. They were written mostly for myself on topics that I’m exploring on my own. But I also share them as inspiration for other entrepreneurs, photographers, and creators.

I explore topics such as: creativity and mindset. I battle resistance, balance being a business person and a creative, and share my many creative practices. The more I learn, the more I want to learn about how creativity can enhance my life and help me reach my goals.

Photography was a passion that became a business which gave creativity even more importance in my life. Now, being creative isn’t just something for free time but something I have to wake up and do. I love it, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Videos on the YouTube Channel

Reclaim Creativity

Do Your Call Yourself and Artist

10 Minute Guided Meditation for Creativity

Unplug to Recharge

Why I Blog About Creativity

When we became professional photographers we also became entrepreneurs. Ever since that day, we’ve learned the importance of community and continual learning. We enjoy connecting with other business owners, dreamers, and creatives to both inspire and be inspired.

I’m constantly looking for inspiration, not just for my photography but for my life. Therefore, when I find or feel inspiration, I like to share it too. Creativity has become a value which means it has also become a priority.

If I see “creative” as part of my identity, then I want to make sure I am taking steps to cultivate my creative skills. That means exploring everything from creative photography techniques to writing creative posts for this blog. Some people expect to just see photography on a photography blog, but I see creativity as an important angle. (Pun intended.)

What is building a life?

Building a life is the ultimate creative pursuit. It’s creating life.

It’s choosing to create our future by choosing what we do and how we do it.

We can choose our job, our direction, and how we spend our time.

Download on free guide on how to build your life!

Creativity and Photography

Photography is pretty technical with things like mastering manual focus and motion blur, but it’s also creative. I feel like it’s important to enhance both our hard and soft skills. Photography is more than just the click of a shutter and the capturing of images.

Photography is storytelling which is creating something new from the way we see the world. Through our lens, both literal and figurative.

By discussing and celebrating creativity on the blog, I strive to offer insights and inspiration into the creative life beyond the pictures I take. Together, we can embark on a continuous quest for creativity, pushing the boundaries of our visual storytelling and contributing to the evolution of the art form.

Finding Inspiration

Finding inspiration is crucial for photographers as it serves as the catalyst for innovation and growth in their craft. In a highly competitive field like photography, where standing out is imperative, drawing inspiration from various sources helps photographers break away from clichés and predictable styles. It provides a practical advantage by enabling them to discover new perspectives, techniques, and approaches that set their work apart.

about the author

Download our free guide on how to build a creative business and a life you love. Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help!

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I gave up social media and this is what happened

info@bergreenphotography.com — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 23:10:57 +0000

I deleted my social media from my phone and our business had the best financial year yet.

I deleted my email app too.

Prior to deleting the apps I justified that I needed it for work. I’m a business owner after all, I need to do my marketing. The trouble was I scheduled my social media posts from my desktop computer and rarely interacted with other businesses online so that argument wasn’t exactly valid.

So why did I need social media on my phone? I needed to be able to compare myself to the world, judge myself and everyone else by a single soundbite. (Not even a soundbite… just a byte or a pixel.) And, I needed something to distract me and help me procrastinate too.

Work-life boundaries

The truth is I had poor work-life boundaries at the time. If I wasn’t stressed about my business all I had to do was pick up my phone and check e-mail. And if that didn’t do the trick I could scroll through all the people in the world that were reaching their goals and living their best lives.

I was anxious and angry all the time. I was surrounded by anxious and angry people (no surprise there since this is a post 2020/21 life I’m talking about.) And the worst part was I had reached some big goals. I had built my dream life.

But comparison keeps moving the happiness bar on us when contentment would allow us to feel gratitude for all we have.

The worst part was that I had few people to talk about it. Most of the people in my life were worse than me. Maybe they weren’t as anxious or angry but their phones were running their lives.

People had become addicted to their news outlets which fueled their outrage and disconnected their empathy. The more connected we grew the more disconnected we were becoming. And the more we listened to our phones, the less we listened to our friends. Cue the loneliness.

The Plan

The plan was to get an ipad or work phone that I would put the work apps on and leave in the office. Instead, I just deleted the apps. I ended up using the ipad to read books from the library and completely neglected my social media accounts. Periodically I would share if I had something to be shared or connect with a new client on LinkedIn but mostly I just took social media out of my job description.

Eventually I deleted email from my phone too. I decided I didn’t want to read e-mail right after my workout, right before bed, or while I was playing with my kids. Reading emails led to me feeling anxious about something I had to do and often I couldn’t stop thinking about it until I did something about it.

But what happens when I can’t do anything about it? I decided I would only check email when I was in my office and could do something about it. In that case, I didn’t need email on my phone.

Next, I decided we would only talk about work in the office. Marc and I make a great team and we’ve been working together for over a decade but when I took a hard look at it I realized work was seeping into every aspect of our lives. And not the creative, joyful, passion side of work but mostly the stressful stuff.

I created crazy boundaries with my work and boy was she (work) pissed. Think about a time you created boundaries with your mother-in-law or your own mother, they hate it. They make it terrible for you.

Peace

Only that’s not what happened. The truth? Peace.

It wasn’t instant. I had more work to do on reframing my thoughts and dealing with my anger and anxiety. I learned that it wasn’t just social media but all the inputs I was allowing to impact my day.

Then I had to find something to fill that mindless scrolling time. I read a ton of books, I wrote millions of words (that will hopefully be a book one day), and I played legos with my kids.

I deleted my social media from my phone and our business had the best financial year yet.

So I guess nothing happened. Nothing. And everything.

about the author

Download our free guide on how to build a creative business and a life you love. Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help!

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Creative Mindset: The First Step to Unlocking Your Creativity

info@bergreenphotography.com — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 11:37:45 +0000

Before we can be more creative, we have to believe we’re capable of creativity which is why this blog post is going to be all about building your creative mindset. Unless you’re new to creativity research you know that many of us struggle to believe in our creativity. Even the creatives.

Mindset is the first step to unlocking your creativity because mindset can be a barrier. Having the wrong mindset can prevent us from even beginning the creative process. Your creative work might sit locked inside of you until you change your mind about how to access it.

Let’s talk through how to develop a creative mindset, question limiting beliefs, and build the right environment to embark on your creative process. Your personal creativity might be untraditional or unexpected. The best part is that once with unlock our mindset we can remove barriers and expand possibilities instead.

Developing a Creative Mindset

To develop a creative mindset we’re going to work through a process. We’re going to talk about our current identity around creativity which likely influences our current mindset. Then we’ll explore ways to change our own minds.

Once we believe it’s possible, we can start building a creative mindset that will allow us to embrace our creativity in unexpected ways. Creativity is more than being struck by inspiration. Creativity involves exploring different perspectives and making new connections.

A creative mindset requires that we always be learning, thinking, growing, challenging, exploring, failing, and discovering. It requires that we look at what’s holding us back and choose to develop the necessary skills. Remember that beautiful things aren’t always easy, like a wildflower growing in a harsh alpine environment.

Qualities of a Creative Mindset

Control what we can and then go with the flow. Set ourselves up for success and then just create, letting go of results and the habit of worry. The best practice for creativity is creativity.
Remember that hard things make us stronger. We can use them as fuel because they teach us lessons and help us grow. We can choose to focus on gratitude for the experience and opportunity for growth.
Take risks, don’t be afraid of failure. Focus on excitement rather than fear. Be open to new experiences and adventure.
Play like a child. No one is watching, judging, or grading us. Remember and reconnect to when we practiced creativity for the sake of creativity rather than some reward.
Process and embrace our emotions, and use them as tools. Practicing non-attachment can help us learn to utilize our emotions such as fear, doubt, and self-judgment, rather than allowing them to cripple our creativity.

Steps We Might Have to Take

As you’ll see throughout this article. developing a creative mindset is a choice. You’ll have to believe in your ability to be creative and be willing to develop the necessary skills. You might have to get unstuck from old mindsets and patterns, reframe your trauma, and more.

It’ll require you to be open to experiences and adventure. You’ll have to lean into fear, failure, and flexibility. You might have to look around your environment and decide if it supports the old you or the you that you want to become.

You’ll have to take control of your mind. You’ll cultivate a creative mind that contains lush soil for your creative work. You’ll embrace the creative process with every first draft full of new ideas and solutions that end up failing.

Identity and Creativity

Let’s talk about creativity. What is it, who has it, does it even matter, and if so how can we cultivate it? The first question to ask yourself is whether or not you identify as a creative person. If so, why, and if not, when did you stop?

Before we can be creative, we have to believe we’re creative. It’s just like before we can break a record we have to believe that we’re capable otherwise we wouldn’t even try. What humans are capable of now is in part due to the people that have pushed the boundaries of human belief.

Are you creative? Would you like to be? What are your current beliefs about what you’re capable of creatively?

What is creativity?

This post isn’t about defining creativity, you can read other posts to dive deeper into that subject. For now, I just want to review creativity so that we’re on the same page.

It’s about creating something new and original. You might think of creativity as inventing, imagination, art, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.

Why is creativity important?

The real question is why does this matter? Creativity is important to our society for a variety of reasons. We can start with what we talked about previously in the human advancements.

Creativity leads to having a flexible mind which helps our problem-solving skills and eventual mastery of our field. Creativity also teaches us that there are benefits of adversity. And for many, creativity is about having more beauty, purpose, and joy, or connecting to something greater than us.

And if none of those reasons are enough, the research shows that creativity is related to positive mental health and happiness. I would also argue that creativity is important because it’s evident all around us in nature. But that subject deserves its own post entirely.

Choosing a New Creative Identity

Let’s just say that based on the definition of creativity and the benefits we know through research or empirically, you’ve decided that being creative is important. Now, the real problems begin. We have to believe in our ability to be creative.

We have to allow creativity to be a part of our identity. That’s the challenge of the creative mindset that we’re tackling in this article. The next section will dive into what limits our creative mindset so that in the following section we can start to develop our new creative mindset and the identity that goes with it.

What Limits Our Creativity and Mindset

Go back to your thoughts or notes on your current beliefs around your creativity.

Creativity Blocks

Creativity isn’t always easy, pain-free, or risk-free. Creativity often involves failure or suffering. Our fear of the risks of creativity often stands in the way of achieving our creative potential.

What are the main things that stand in the way of your creativity? Mindset, identities, motivation, pressure, emotions (grief, rage, old stories), mental blocks, feeling stuck, too much thinking, not knowing/discovering/understanding yourself, fear, inflexibility, distractions, to-do lists, rigid thoughts or ideas, boundaries issues, or relationship issues. Once you can identify the status of your current mindset, you can work towards cultivating a new one.

Tackling Our Limitations

In order to tackle our limiting beliefs around our creativity we have to first understand that creativity is in our nature. Creativity is something we are capable of. Creative is also learnable, see the research of Benjamin Hardy. The key here is to have a growth mindset.

If you’re unfamiliar with a growth mindset you might look into Carol Dweck, it’s about seeing challenges not as impassable barriers but rather as small climbs that will make you stronger. Having a growth mindset is about knowing that you’re capable of growing and developing whereas having a fixed mindset is believing you’re stuck where you are.

As you can imagine, a fixed mindset would completely limit your ability to develop creativity because it would limit new ideas, problem-solving, or risk failure. In contrast, with a growth mindset, we see new challenges as potential solutions to our development of new skills. Having a growth mindset will help us develop our creative mindset.

Creating a Creative Mindset

In this section, we’ve talked about becoming aware of our current mindset and our limiting beliefs so that we can influence our thoughts and beliefs around our creativity. We discussed the benefits of a growth mindset and how that’s a step towards developing a creative mindset. Essentially, we’re looking at our identity and mindset around our creativity and challenging anything that stands in our way.

If we don’t believe we’re creative or we don’t believe we can change, we must first challenge those thoughts with facts. All of the research around growth mindset, personality, and flow, says that creativity is within our ability. We simply have to decide to shift our mindset.

Next Steps Towards a More Creative Mindset

Creative Habits and Practices

If you’re still having trouble with your creative mindset, some practices can help you rewire your brain. You might start with affirmations, mindfulness, and meditation. These are ways to help rewire your brain and ditch limiting beliefs in favor of a new mindset.

You might look at your physical or social environment and see where you can simplify by employing the principles of minimalism that I talk about in another post. Each of these subjects deserves its own deeper study so I’ll link resources below.

Lastly, whenever I’m struggling to prioritize creativity I also take a look closer at my values and priorities. Essentially, I ask myself if my priorities are aligned with my values. Am I spending my time on the things I say are important?

Redefining Fear

As I’ve said, sometimes creativity comes from hard things. Messy things. It’s often the struggle that leads to creative ideas.

Once we’ve changed our mindset, or maybe as a part of that process, we need to change how we look at fear. Instead of suppressing the messy stuff like emotions and hard things, the things that make us human, we can use them to transform, create, and grow. As I always tell my kids, “Hard things make us stronger.”

Pleasure and pain are both natural, it’s the resistance that causes suffering. Lean into the discomfort and see fear or nervousness as excitement. Fear is good, it’s usually a sign we should take a risk. Instead of letting fear keep us from success, we can use the emotions to motivate creative solutions.

Learning More

Below are some of my favorite books about creativity, growth mindset, and identity.

Personality“>Personality Isn’t Permanent – Benjamin Hardy
Mindset: The new Psychology of Success – Carol Dweck
Creative Calling – Chase Jarvis
Flow“>Flow – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Badass“>You are a Badass -Jen Sincero
Creative Schools – Ken Robinson
Lateral Thinking – Edward De Bono

Below are some of my blog posts that dive deeper into these topics:

Adventure, Creativity, and Divergent Thinking: This post talks about how creative thinking and openness to experience are related and why you might need a new experience to lead you to a new idea.
Minimalism is Good for Creativity: This post dives into how minimalism can help you access the intense focus of flow where innovative thinking stems from.
Searching for that State of Flow: Is a job just a job or should we seek the state of flow that comes from doing something at the edge of our creativity zone?
What is creativity?

Just for fun, I did some google translate to look up creative mindset. In Indonesian it’s pola pikir kreatif, in Spanish it is mantalidad creativa, in Irish it’s meon cruthaitheach.

Summary: Your New Creative Mindset

In this post, I’ve talked through how to identify your current mindset and limiting beliefs. Then we explored how building a creative mindset is possible and habits that we can adopt to help us on the path. If we want to be creative, sometimes we need to first change our minds.

There are a plethora of different ways to create your creative mindset. What you’ll discover is that it’s not a problem to solve but a risk to take, creatively. Your brain is capable of learning as long as your heart is willing.

Creative people are adventurous and brave. You are capable of learning the creative thinking skills that will lead to new solutions. But first, you have to be willing to rewire your brain and choose the creative mindset.

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Searching for that State of Flow (or is a Job Just a Job)

info@bergreenphotography.com — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 11:26:32 +0000

Lately, I’ve been wondering about the search for that luxurious state of flow. I’m a professional creative; if you are too, you know how challenging it can be. For one, you must be creative on demand which requires inspiration to strike routinely and not sporatically.

Additionally, you’re trying to make money on something that you’d probably do for free. (Honestly, this one is something that gets a lot of creatives in trouble. And finally, it leads you down unconventional paths that there’s not always a recipe for.

In this article I’m exploring the significance of flow state on our lives and whether it’s a key to happiness or something that will always be out of reach. The desire to love what you do is a great dream but how realistic is it in our society? I can’t wait to share my thoughts and hear yours.

What is flow and why do creatives want it so bad?

First, let’s talk about flow. Most people can probably identify some flow experiences in their lives. You are fully immersed in what you are doing and time simply disappears or stands still. A flow experience keeps you both in the present moment and at the same time almost unaware of your surroundings. Self-consciousness is not a part of flow.

Flow is often associated with positive emotions because you’re completely absorbed by doing something that you love. You can easily see why creatives seek the flow state. Inspiration is flowing and creative blocks are nonexistent.

When you’re in flow, things come easily and you’re using your skills. You’re not bored but you’re not over-challenged, you’re fully engaged at the edge of your abilities. Being in flow is that time of enjoying your work as well as doing what you’re best at so it makes sense that we would want to spend more of our time doing flow-state work than busy work.

Is it reasonable to tap into a flow state in everyday life?

Here’s where we run into problems. Sure, we would all love to spend our days on tasks that we enjoy enough that we’re constantly experiencing flow. But someone needs to do the busy work too.

As a parent of two small children surrounded by other parents trying to decide how to manage the work-life balance, I’ve come across some interesting discussions about work. As a creative, work is a passion but for many that’s not the case.

For many, work is a way to earn money to pay for passions. A big part of me feels as though work is about finding a calling, but lately, I’m realizing that sometimes it’s not that spiritual. Sometimes work is something we do because we live in a capitalistic society and we need money to buy things.

Flow, Ikagari, Dharma, Plan De Vida, Calling, Vocation, Purpose

When you look around there are a handful of philosophies that tout the idea that being in flow as a profession is a good goal. Somehow when I start researching flow state I end up reading about how people feel like when they are in their flow state they are living their purpose. It’s almost as if when we are in flow, we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? To be in a flow state means to go with the flow of the river of life. To take the path of least resistance.

It’s to become who you are meant to be and share the gifts you were given with the world. That’s how it can feel in a flow state like you are using your skills and your talents to create something new alongside the universe. So let’s dive a little deeper into this idea of purpose.

Another word for purpose:

A vocation or a calling is a strong feeling of suitability toward a specific career or occupation. In a religious context, that strong feeling is considered a calling from God. People are called to serve God through the priesthood or missionary work or even through their marriage.

Ikigi is a Japanese concept regarding a reason for being. It’s where passion, profession, mission, and vocation intersect. The idea that you’re doing something you love, that you’re good at, the world needs, and you can get paid for.

Dharma is a Sanskrit word that has a few different translations or meanings in Indian religions but one of which is related to vocation or calling. It is the idea that you’re being who you are supposed to be.

Plan de Vida is a Costa Rican idea of a life’s purpose or soul purpose. A reason to wake up every day. It also seems to imply that one is supposed to enjoy life and celebrate what they have.

Approach to Life and Work

To me, all of these concepts are different ways of answering the question of why are we here. While in one culture it might be to live and enjoy life and in another, it might be to serve. They are similar concepts in that they have an element of influencing your approach toward life and work.

For example, none of these theories talk about accumulating money to live comfortably or buy more stuff. Most of them are about how we are spending our time, using our talents, or the approach we have towards life. None of these ideas tell you to wake up in a cynical and grumpy mental state and complain about your station in life.

These ideas seem more focused on well-being than wealth. Or maybe they are simply defining wealth differently. Which brings us around to money. So let’s go there.

What would you really do if money wasn’t an obstacle?

People always ask what you would do if you didn’t have to think about money. It’s a good question because it forces us to think about our values, priorities, and interests. But it’s also an unfair question because we do have to think about money.

The reality of our society is that your passion only pays if it has market value. A better question might be, how can you turn your passion into something that someone will pay for? I’ve known a lot of people who burn out on working their passions because they get tired of not being valued.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to intrinsic motivation? With intrinsic motivation, we do something just for the joy of it. That sounds like a flow state but is it unreasonable to want to both enjoy something and be rewarded for it?

Dealing with the Money Issue

So what do you think? How do we deal with the money issue when it comes to our profession, vocation, or simply our desire to be in flow? Flow doesn’t always pay.

You may be in flow painting or writing or riding your mountain bike but if you do that all day you might not be able to buy groceries.

We can work enough to make the money we need and then spend more time in flow state hobbies.
Look for something where you can find that flow state but it pays well. It might not be the perfect fit like writing poetry but you can get paid to write copy for websites.
Create flow in whatever it is you’re doing. Find a way to enjoy your job and challenge yourself a little bit in it so that you’re building a flow state.

What motivates us as creatives?

It’s good to explore the question of what motivates us. Some things are intrinsically rewarding. It’s nice to complete a challenging task that makes us feel like we’re making progress, that we’re capable, or just because it’s fun.

I think creativity in itself is rewarding, finding that state of flow feels great. I think what professional creatives are seeking is permission to spend more time in a flow state. If creativity is my job then I get to make flow experiences a priority.

We want to do art for its own sake, but if we can also do art for work then we get to do it more often. Even if you’re not a professional creative, you need to prioritize incorporating the flow state into your everyday life. Between laundry and picking the kids up from school, do we make time for flow?

Beyond flow state?

Maybe it’s not just about flow state for you, maybe it’s about changing the world or making an impact. It seems like a lot of creatives want to make art but a lot of them also want to share a message. Or they want to serve people or make a difference.

To achieve flow means to be able to create more and thus achieve whatever your creative goals are. So just like we examine motivation, we should examine our goals. Or set them.

Whether you simply seek that optimal experience, want to crank out more work for your audience, or simply want to reap the positive impacts of the flow state, it’s good to set a goal. Then, we’ll know what you are working towards and we’ll be able to plan our actions accordingly.

How do we induce flow?

Inducing flow sounds like we’re attempting to force inspiration to strike, which in some ways we are. But I’d rather think about it as making sure the landscape is ripe and ready. Flow occurs when the circumstances are ready for flow.

One of the things we can do is make sure we have just the right level of perceived challenges. We want challenging tasks that aren’t so frustrating that we’ll have trouble with emotional regulation. The optimal optimal experience will instead help us with our emotional regulation.

The flow research suggests that self-care and creative practices have a positive correlation to achieving flow. If you make creativity a habit then you’ll be able to trigger flow more reliably. Conversely, stress can reduce your ability to achieve a flow state.

Environmental Practices to Help Prepare for a State of Flow

Values = Priorities: I believe it’s important that our values are aligned with our priorities. If you value something, your calendar and bank account should reflect that.
Simplicity & Minimalism: One of our mantras is that simple is best. Where can we simplify so we can flow? Where can we simplify our lives, our schedules, and our physical and mental clutter to make room for creative thought to flow freely?
Daily Input: What is our daily input? And think about all 5 senses. That means our food, social media, books, thoughts, and who or what we surround ourselves with.
Rituals & Routines: What rituals or routines do we have to make physical or emotional space for flow? That might mean things like exercise, mindfulness, and meditation.

Removing Obstacles to Flow State

What stands in the way of flow? Maybe it’s physical clutter but maybe it’s emotional clutter or a poor mindset too. Many of us stopped believing we were creative enough at an early age and that limiting belief is getting in our way.

Two of the daily inputs I listed in the previous section should be given a little extra attention. Your thoughts and the people you surround yourself with. If you want to be creative it’s time to look at the three topics below.

Believe you are creative
Surround yourself with creative people
Redefine fear

Fear and Flow

It seems like it would be hard to experience flow if we’re afraid. But sometimes it’s just about redefining fear. Or at least looking more closely at our fear.

If we’re doing something that is within our skill level, which we already defined as the best way to experience flow, then there’s not that much to be afraid of. Something within our skill level should be less risky and in that case, the feeling of fear might be excitement or anticipation.

It’s hard to be both fully engaged and also afraid. It’s hard to lose track of time while feeling fear. However, hard things make us stronger and anyone that’s achieved that state of flow has also felt the resistance that goes with it.

Resistance

Some messy emotions come along with creativity. You might think you need to push them down so they don’t prevent your flow state. But actually, it’s the hard things that make us stronger.

Think about how many of your positive emotions come on the tail of a challenging one. What we need to do is not avoid hard things but lean into them with curiosity instead of judgment. Control what we can and then let go of the rest.

If we start to see resistance as part of the process we’ll be less resistant to it, as bizarre as that sounds. Maybe then we can go with the flow, pun intended. Think about the craziness of a river, it’s not always a peaceful painless flow.

Summary: Did we Find that Flow State?

As you can see, there are still some questions about the importance of the flow state in our lives as well as the best ways to achieve a flow state. But there are also some answers and some best practices. There is also evidence that whether or not you achieve a flow state has an impact on your well-being.

If you’ve experienced flow, whether on the soccer field or in your profession, you’ve felt the impact on your well-being. You’ve felt in the zone and like you’re where you’re meant to be. Creativity is important to our lives.

Whether you seek a life where your creativity is your work or your work allows you to be creative, I hope you decide to reclaim creativity. When we’re in a flow state we remember our childhood back before self-consciousness prevented us from sharing ideas. We remember back before self-consciousness prevented us from doing what we loved simply because we loved it.

Do what you love and if the money doesn’t follow then go make enough money to keep doing what you love. I hope we can all find ways to value people for their work, even and perhaps especially because they love doing it. A great example is the teachers that keep teaching because they love it even if it’s not one of the most lucrative careers.

People who make less money but love what they do seem pretty happy to me.

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What Children’s Books Teach Us About How to Be More Creative

info@bergreenphotography.com — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 11:49:25 +0000

In this post, I’m going to talk about how to be more creative. But I’m going to talk about it through the lens of the lessons about art we learn from Children’s books. After all, many of us used to be creative as kids so it’s worth exploring what went wrong along the way.

As a parent I want my kids to be creative and if I ask a room full of parents, they want that for their kids too. However, do those same parents view themselves as creative people and value creativity? We teach these things to our kids but don’t seem to believe them about ourselves as easily.

But if we want our kids to be creative, I’m sorry to tell you that we have to lead by example. While we can learn about creativity from children’s books, it’s not just for kids.

Hard Things Make Us Stronger (and more creative)

Little Tree is one of my new favorite kids books. Not only does it teach us about fall and the changing of the seasons, but it also teaches us about how the lessons of change and growth apply to our own lives. There is so much to learn from nature about ourselves and our inner creativity.

In the story, the little tree is afraid to let his leaves go but only when he lets his leaves go can he grow into the tree he’s supposed to be. How often are we afraid to do hard things even though we know that we have to? The only way out is through.

It’s easy in hindsight to see that hard things make us stronger, but that doesn’t always make doing hard things easy. I find that it’s important to celebrate a success and notice how it feels after the fact. While you’re climbing a mountain you’re often wondering why you’re doing so, but after you finish and feel the elation of accomplishment you immediately start planning your next climb.

Failure is Great for Creativity

“The only true failure can come if you quit,” Rosie Revere Engineer teaches us. I love this book about the pain of dreaming big and then failing. While it hurts to fail, we must redefine failure as a necessary part of growing as creatives.

The fact is that there is no imagination and no creativity if there’s no failure. In the story, Rosie Revere creates new inventions that don’t always work out. Her great-great Aunt Rose helps her learn that big flops can be raging successes because we have so much to learn from them.

We know that we can’t succeed if we don’t try but the fear of failure often prevents us from trying anyway. It’s unrealistic to think that we’ll get it on the first try and yet for some reason we’re disappointed when we don’t. We think everyone is watching and judging us when they’re probably too focused on their failures or successes to worry about ours.

Comparison Kills Creativity, Being Yourself is the Answer

I think it can be beneficial to be inspired by other creators but I also know it can be detrimental to fall into the comparison trap. In Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, we learn that “Sometimes when you’re different you just need a different song.” Creativity is about putting together our experiences and ideas in a new way and we can’t do that if we’re trying to be someone else.

In the story, Gerald is embarrassed by his dancing because it’s different than the other animals. Eventually, spending time alone he finds his own song and his own dance. The animals come to admire him. But by that point, he doesn’t what they think because he’s so immersed in the flow of his own creativity.

Sometimes we’re so focused outwardly that we can’t flow, we can’t access our creativity. If we focus and we remember that creativity isn’t for everyone else, we can immerse ourselves in the joy of discovery. Creativity is more powerful and wild when we focus on our own intrinsic motivation.

Get Outside, Have New Experiences and Adventures

I’m a true believer that both nature and adventure enhance and inspire our creativity. This is both because of my own experience and because of the research that I’ve read. In The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth, we watch a boy go searching high and low for happiness and eventually learn that “Happiness is all around.”

Nature teaches us about flow through its rivers, it teaches us about struggle in the way a tree grows in wind-blown terrain, and it teaches us about change in the changing of the seasons. When we get outside and allow ourselves to be more present in nature we start to see beauty and possibility everywhere. We don’t have to wait for rare inspiration to strike, we simply have to immerse ourselves in it.

Additionally, we know from the research that being open to experiences is a personality trait that leads to being a more creative person. So heading out and exploring the world through experiences and adventures helps us expand our thinking and our comfort zone. Have an adventure every day, be more creative, not a bad recipe.

Creativity is Important

In What do you do with an idea? we meet a kid who feels burdened worried or embarrassed by ideas. Eventually, however, the kid realizes that ideas have the power to create something. This is a powerful message because sometimes creativity feels less exciting than we think it should.

Creating something new is more work than just checking things off our to-do list. We risk failure, judgment, embarrassment, and investing time in something for no reason. It’s no wonder that sometimes creativity seems like it’s not worth it.

But without creativity, we can get stuck. We don’t find new solutions or best ideas to problems or new answers to questions. Who will be the brave one who takes risks for the potential rewards?

Being Sensitive, Empathetic, or Different Can be a Creative Super Power

There are probably a lot of children’s books that take on the challenge of showing why someone different is awesome. I recently read one of the Upside Down Magic school books to my kids and I loved the life lessons I was able to use as teaching moments without forcing them. This is a great reminder to all of us about the parts of ourselves that we try to hide or stuff down to fit in.

In reality, it’s our differences that make us special. In the story, there’s a group of kids who have upside-down magic, meaning their magic doesn’t work how it’s supposed to. Initially, there’s a lot of shame or frustration around that but eventually, they realize that just because the magic doesn’t work how it’s supposed to doesn’t mean it’s not amazing and beneficial to the world.

In the above section, I talked about the challenges around the impact comparison can have on creativity. What if we focused instead on what makes us unique, special, or who we are? Being overly sensitive isn’t something we should try to stomp out of us but rather embrace because it can lead to different ideas, new connections, and innovative solutions.

Creativity is Learnable: Have a Growth Mindset

In Elephants Can’t Fly, everyone tells Ellie that Elephants can’t fly. How often do others tell us that our creative writing, painting, or photography pursuits are unrealistic or our ideas are too far-fetched? The problem is that creative thinking requires that we generate creative ideas, not reject them.

This reminds me of the importance of a growth mindset. When I asked my daughter what she knows about a growth mindset she put it simply and elegantly. A fixed mindset is when you tell yourself you can’t do something but a growth mindset is when you tell yourself you can.

A creative person has to have a growth mindset otherwise they’ll shut themself off to new ideas for creative pursuits. Sometimes we just need to expand and develop our creative skills and learn something new to accomplish a creative project. All the research shows that creativity is learnable and takes practice.

Creativity is in Our Nature

Finding Wild is a beautiful and creative book about the challenge of finding nature in the modern world. The characters start to look a little further to find what they’re looking for but it’s there hidden in a crack or crevice. The same goes for our creativity.

Sometimes we have to look beneath the surface and remind ourselves who we are. Our connection to nature and creativity is sometimes hard to access but the first step might be reminding ourselves that we are creative and challenging our identity around our creativity. I often say that the first step when discovering how to be more creative is looking at your mindset and limiting beliefs.

If you want to get your creative juices flowing, you might simply need to remind yourself that you’re capable of the sweetest fruit or most fragrant flower even if it’s been dormant for a long winter season. As you build confidence around your creativity, you’ll start to feel more at home with your creative side.

Say Yes to Magic and Imaginative People

I feel like I can’t talk about lessons about creativity from Children’s books without a shout-out to Harry Potter. Magical thinking is the ultimate divergent thinking and we know that divergent thinking is a key to being a more creative person. If anything is possible then new ideas are easier to come by which is why imagination is so important and why it’s unfortunate that we struggle to celebrate it.

Another thing I love about Harry Potter is that a boy who felt like he never belonged finds other magical and innovative people to be friends with. I’ve always said that one of the keys to a creative life is surrounding ourselves with more supportive people. Finding someone else who believes in our dreams strengthens our resolve and ability to make creative thinking part of our everyday lives.

Summary of Tips for Being More Creative People

Speaking of children’s books, we wrote ABCs of Adventure to be a different kind of ABCs book. Based on what we know about creativity, adventure, and nature, we wanted to let kids know that adventure is for everyone and that it can have a positive impact on our lives. We want to inspire more Adventure, Bravery, and Creativity.

From what I know about creativity and how to be more creative, the following themes are seen and explored in our book as well as in the examples above. Creativity is a practice, it’s something we do every day through exploring new ideas, spending time in nature, moving our body, or sitting still. I hope some of these tips help get your creative juices flowing for your future creative projects.

Hard things make us stronger and more creative
Failure is great for creativity
Comparison kills creativity, be yourself
Get outside, learn from nature, have new experiences and adventures
Know that creativity is important
Being sensitive, empathetic, or different can be a creative superpower
Creativity is learnable: have a growth mindset
Creativity is in our nature
Say yes to magic and imaginative people

Creative habits to practice:

Brainstorm as many ideas as possible until you find a fresh perspective even if it’s a magical and imaginative one. Be a divergent thinker and maybe an adventurer if you’re inspired!
Make sure you take care of your physical and emotional health because even though we all know some tortured artists, healthy creativity requires mental clarity. Hard things make us stronger but only if we learn and grow from the suffering instead of burying it deep down.
Spend time with more creative people and make new connections with communities that support your imagination.
Pay attention to your daily inputs. Explore healthy habits like reading inspirational books, meditating, yoga, exercise, time in nature, cooking creative nutritious food, getting enough rest, and having fun with your community or hobbies.

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Adventure, Creativity, and Divergent Thinking

info@bergreenphotography.com — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 11:21:59 +0000

Openness to experiences is a personality trait that is correlated to creativity and divergent thinking. Essentially that means that the more you’re willing to try new experiences and go on adventures, the more you’ll be able to practice creative thinking. Let’s talk about the reasons why.

The more open we are to try something new, the more likely we are to create something new. Openness to experience is similar to a growth mindset, being willing to expand the mind. Experiences and adventures expand our knowledge of the world. The more we get out of our comfort zone, the more comfortable we are out there where new ideas float around waiting for us to shape them.

Your creative potential is limitless as long as you develop a learning mindset, a growth mindset, or a limitless mindset. Even if you don’t currently believe adventure is your thing, you can choose to open your mind to it and the divergent thinking it might inspire. Let’s explore and find out the how.

How Adventure Leads to Divergent Thinking and Creativity

Let’s talk about how adventure can stimulate divergent thinking and lead to creative ideas. If you’re an adventurous person you likely respect multiple perspectives because there are so many things outside our control. When we don’t know what lies ahead on the path, we’re less likely to be attached to one correct answer and rather look for multiple answers in a free-flowing manner.

Let me pause for a moment and introduce myself. I’m a professional photographer and an avid adventurer with over a decade of experience working in this risky world of entrepreneurship where my day job is creativity. I also rock-climb, backcountry ski, mountain bike, and engage in a variety of other adventures.

I am not fearless. I’m fairly cautious and risk-averse but the more I study creativity and strive to be more creative, the more I know that fear and failure are lessons. With that in mind, let’s talk about why I think you should seek to be a divergent thinker.

What is thinking divergently?

Divergent thinking or lateral thinking is free-flowing, non-linear, unrestricted thinking that allows one to come up with multiple solutions or ideas. In contrast, convergent thinking is focused on coming up with one solution. Think of divergent thinking as following multiple trains of thought to a variety of possible destinations and convergent thinking as all trains lead to one destination.

Convergent thinking is not a bad thing. It is logical and rational thinking requires it. However, if our goal is creativity you can see how divergent thinking becomes our aim.

Divergent thinking is the type of thinking that leads to many possible solutions to a problem. Divergent thinkers know that there is more than one way to get to an answer or that there may even be more than one answer. Divergent thinking leads to more creative problem-solving because it encourages you to generate ideas.

Lessons from Adventure

Adventure is about exploring the unknown. It can be exciting and hazardous and is generally outside of normal activity. Adventure by definition is going to require flexibility because there’s only so much you can prepare for.

As I mentioned above, I’m fairly risk-averse. I don’t like getting hurt. However, every time that I’ve gone and done something I wasn’t sure I was capable of, I’ve learned something new about life and myself. The moment I’m done climbing a mountain, I’m excited and inspired to start looking for the next one.

Let’s talk about how and why adventure can stimulate divergent thinking. As you can imagine, for convergent thinking tasks, thinkers who felt risk-averse would logically choose to avoid risk. Why then, am I telling you to take it on?

Learning from Fear

Adventures can be hazardous. Risk is a part of most adventures even if that can occur at many different levels of risk. Typically when you’re taking on a risk, you’re feeling an exposure to danger which can illicit fear.

Fear is an incredible teacher if we allow it to be. Sometimes our instinct is to avoid fear, avoid risk, and therefore avoid adventure. What if instead, we see what there is to be learned from fear? What if we redefine fear as excitement or the opportunity to see what’s going to happen?

Creativity is similar to adventure in the potential risk of failure. Failure is part of creativity. If we’re unwilling to fail we’ll be unwilling to try something new because of the risk that it won’t work.

Rerouting and Finding Another Path

Adventure is unpredictable. We might encounter unexpected weather or obstacles in our way. You can see how convergent thinking might not work that well if an adventure blocks the path to the one solution we thought was the only solution. It’s in those moments that we have to be willing to look for other ways around and other possible solutions.

Think about how we solve problems. If our thought process is logical it will lead us to one solution. While that solution may be awesome and perfect sometimes, what happens when it’s not? That’s when we need new ideas, creative thinking, and divergent thinking.

That’s when we need people who can come up with many ideas, unique ideas, and fresh ideas. Innovative solutions aren’t generally logical. Innovative solutions usually come from the necessity of more ideas because the best idea doesn’t always work.

Dealing with the Unexpected

Openness to experiences means that you’re ready and willing to handle the unexpected. While we plan for adventures we can’t always predict how things will go. It’s in those moments when unexpected things happen that we have the opportunity to grow.

I’m not saying you have to be good at dealing with the unexpected. It’s something I’m fairly unsuccessful at. I get stressed when the plan goes wrong and things get out of control.

However, I always appreciate the lesson. I learned what I need to do better next time or even how to be better at planning and preparing. The next time that unexpected thing happens, it’s not unexpected anymore.

Preparing for the Controllable

Even though I’m talking about adventure as though there’s nothing we can control, that’s not exactly true. Just like we can have a rain jacket in case of inclement weather, we can set ourselves up for success. This is a great way to use both convergent and divergent thinking together.

We can use convergent thinking to help us come up with a logical plan and divergent thinking to deal with any unexpected deviations from that plan. Creative problem-solving is easier when we have a working knowledge of the potential risks and pitfalls of our situation. As I mentioned above when talking about dealing with the unexpected, we can get better at preparing.

The more experiences we have the more exposure we have to all the craziness of life. Can you see how that could make us divergent thinkers? Can you see how that would lead us to be better at finding many solutions to a problem?

Getting Better Every Time

Every time you go on an adventure, you get better at it. That doesn’t mean the adventures go better, because that’s not something we can always control. Instead, we get better at handling the ups, downs, and sharp right turns.

In the beginning of this article, I mentioned that I don’t always love risks. However, I’m at the point now where I don’t view certain things as risky anymore. Now, I almost see not taking risks as the greatest risk of all.

The first time you rock climb it’s hard and awkward and scary. Your body and mind don’t know what to do. But after over a decade of climbing it feels natural and comfortable.

Flexibility and Creativity

So we’ve talked about adventure and the lessons we can learn about creativity. Let’s dive deeper into how being more flexible and open to adventure can help us. Think of the most stubborn and opinionated person that you know.

Often inflexible people are unwilling to try something new because they believe they have the answers. How sad would it be if you were unwilling to try a burger from a famous chef because you were convinced that there’s no way anyone could beat your recipe? In contrast, think of the people who would take that experience to improve on their recipe.

Flexibility allows us to be open to a new idea. It allows ideas to flow freely which is the only way to come up with a unique solution. Inflexibility leaves us stuck and puts a wall between us and innovation.

Constraints and Design

Just because I’m obsessed with creativity doesn’t mean I don’t love constraints. Constraints are a brilliant way to help you focus and be more creative. It’s actually like combining convergent and divergent thinking.

With the combination of convergent and divergent thinking, we can use exploration and adventure to help us come up with many possible solutions. Then, we can use logic and constraints to select the best one. Because sometimes we do want one answer, otherwise we’ll never finish any creative project.

In photography sometimes we challenge ourselves to use only one focal length to create an image. While we could get even more creative by using all of our lenses, sometimes limiting ourselves can deepen and focus our creativity to be more aligned with our goals. More ideas aren’t always better but more of the right ideas usually are.

Support Strange and Unusual Ideas

If you want to inspire more creativity, we need to support the strange and usual ideas. We don’t need to act on them or invest money in them. That may be the very wrong thing to do, the wrong risk to take.

There are such things as bad ideas. But bad ideas are often the gateway to brilliant ones. Sometimes a bad idea is the spark of inspiration and opens the door to the creative process. Divergent thinkers need to be supported throughout their creative process even if many of their creative ideas aren’t any good.

Ask yourself if you’re willing to hear ten bad ideas to find the best idea. I’m not saying you have to do those bad ideas, I’m just saying you have to be willing to hear them. And I’ll go one step further and say you have to be willing to support and encourage them in yourself, your friends, your employees, whomever.

Summary of Adventurous Divergent Thinkers

I hope this post gave you a better understanding of divergent and convergent thinking and how they impact creativity. But more importantly, I hope that this article poked a small openness in your willingness to be open to new experiences. Whether you currently consider yourself a convergent thinker or divergent thinker, I hope you believe me when I tell you that you can grow.

My challenge for you is to try one new adventure. Say yes to one new experience. And then pay attention to what you learn about yourself and life.

Even if you’re already a fairly adventurous person, what is one area of your life that you tend to be fairly stubborn and inflexible around? What if you attempt to expand your knowledge of that area and consider that there are other possible ideas, other solutions to problems, or creative ways to do things the way you’ve always done them? And don’t forget to reach out and let me know how it goes.

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Why Minimalism is Good for Creativity

info@bergreenphotography.com — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 19:13:51 +0000

Today’s post is going to address why minimalism is good for creativity. I’ve often said that it’s important to simplify so that we can flow. I want to dive deeper into the benefits of minimalism specifically in how it pertains to creativity.

I’ve been a professional creator for over a decade which means creativity isn’t just a hobby but a job. Essentially, I have to be creative on demand. But really, I want to be.

Therefore, I’m always reading books and trying practices that might enhance my creativity and give me better access to flow. One of my favorites, is the idea of minimalism. The the minimalist lifestyle is beneficial for a lot of reasons so I figured it would be a good topic to dive deeper into on the blog.

How Minimalism Improves Creativity

To answer why minimalism is good for creativity, we have to look at the general benefits of minimalism. Why you might think that more material possessions is a status of more success, more stuff sometimes is just how we cope with our stress. Think about your attachment to stuff and what it actually means.

Sometimes our attachment to stuff is a distraction from what we actually want to be doing. We might be holding on to the past or living in an imagined future. It’s hard to be present when there’s so much to do and take care of.

Whenever I take the time to declutter my life, I notice a sense of peace and freedom. Not only do I have more physical space to create but I have more mental space as well. Let’s get specific.

Minimalism Improves Focus and Removes Distractions

With minimalism, fewer distractions leads to deeper more focused play. Think of it from the perspective of children. If they are surrounded by too many toys and too many choices they are likely to bounce around from activity to activity. In contrast, if they choose one thing and really dial in their focus, they’re building lego castles complete with the surrounding territories.

What little I know about the Montessori principles includes the idea that keeping kids toys minimal and organized helps them to have deeper focused play on the items they choose to engage with. Why would it not be the same with us?

Haven’t we all heard the idea that multi-tasking isn’t good for us? Choosing to focus on one thing leads to increased productivity. The more we remove distractions the more we can be present and focused on our current project.

Simplify So We Can Flow

Now, if we think about creativity in general, we’re trying to access a state of flow. In a previous article I wrote about how we can’t always wait for inspiration to strike but rather it’s important to practice our creativity. In order to have creativity as a habit we need to have both physical and mental space for creativity.

We also need to remove distractions, as I discussed in the above section. Getting into the zone can be hard, but it’s even harder when we see our stuff out of the corner of our eye. This might be anything from laundry that needs to be folded to a new gadget we want to try out.

Think about sitting down to write, sketch, paint, or get into your creative zone, whatever it may be. What causes you to get up and give up? What in your environment is adding physical or mental clutter and interrupting your ability to flow?

Reduce Decision Fatigue and Increase Creativity

The minimalist lifestyle improves creativity because it simplifies your life and removes distractions. While those may sound insignificant, picture the peace you feel when you close your eyes for a mental break. Just the act of closing our eyes and reducing the stimulation from all the things in our visual field can bring us peace.

Now, minimalism is not just about clutter we see. It’s also about how that clutter impacts our daily life. If we have too much stuff then everything takes longer because everything requires a lot of thought.

Think about how simple life is on vacation when you have three pairs of paints, five shirts, and one pair of shoes. You don’t spend that much time thinking about getting ready because there aren’t that many decisions. You only have with you the things you actually need and that’s actually part of why vacations are so relaxing.

Making Room for Creativity

When you simplify your life with a more minimalist lifestyle, you make room for other things you want. Have you heard the sayings about saying yes to something is saying no to something else because you won’t have time or room for it? If creativity is a priority, we have to create space for creativity.

An example I always use in regards to photography specifically is around camera gear. Some photographers buy all the gizmos and gadgets and stuff that they think will make them better photographers when fewer things might be better. Instead, they spend all their time moving, organizing, and trying to figure out how their stuff works and it gets in the way of creating art.

What if they simplified their camera bag to only include the things they need and know how to use. Then, they wouldn’t get distracted or weighed down (literally and mentally) by all of their stuff. Simple is best and it goes back to the idea of multi-tasking and trying to do so much that you end up doing nothing at all.

Reasons We Have So Much Stuff

Before we go on, it’s important to address the reasons that we have so much stuff. This might vary from person to person so try to think of who you might be. I’ll do my best to provide some solutions as we go through these based on my own experience.

Attachment to the Past

Attachment. I can get very attached to things because of the memories they evoke. We tend, for some reason, to associate things with memories.

I don’t think that associating things with memories is a bad concept, after all, I’m a photographer and I deal in memories. However, sometimes it’s hard to remember that the things aren’t the memory. And let’s be real, how many High School momentos is enough to remind us of those years?

I love having meaningful art in my house, whether it’s a photo on the wall or a souvenir on the mantel. However, less is more. If it’s important to me, then I should have it where I can appreciate it rather than spend a couple hundred on a storage unit that I never visit filled with boxes that I never open.

What about the clothes that no longer fit that we’re saving for when they do fit?

Trying to Fill a Void

The other problem with stuff is that sometimes it’s not meaningful at all but rather we bought it trying to fill a void. Maybe we do some retail therapy when we’re stressed or sad. Sometimes we buy things to try to handle some of the hard feelings in life.

We feel inadequate so we buy trendy kitchen gadgets, beauty product,s or fitness gear that’s for sure going to make us hit our fitness goals. That marketing works, doesn’t it? So many marketing messages are designed to make us feel as though we’re not enough and that we don’t have enough so that we’ll spend more money on stuff.

This one is hard just like any of our coping mechanisms are hard. Binging some potato chips or Netflix or wine are other ways that we try to avoid our problems and fill a void. Awareness is the trick here, just asking the question of whether this item adds value to my life or why do I want it.

The Expectation that Stuff Equals Success

This might be a continuation of the idea that stuff is trying to fill a void, but sometimes it’s about our mindset. Maybe we didn’t have a lot when we were younger so we buy material things now because we can. It’s our way of rewarding ourselves for our hard work.

I think we deserve a reward, we need to celebrate our success and milestones. But is spending our money the only way? Is filling our lives with clutter a reward?

Writing these sections is hard for me because I feel judgmental. But I’m talking to myself here. You can do what you want but the person I’m trying to be wants a simple peaceful life. (This doesn’t mean we can’t have nice things, see more in the money section.)

More Benefits of Minimalism

That got a little negative for a minute and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like talking about our materialistic culture and some of the harder aspects of it. We live in an amazing time with so many conveniences that make our lives rich and comfortable.

But not everything makes our life better. Some things are distractions or attachments as we talked about. Other things make us lazy, complacent, or selfish.

Minimalism can lead to mental and emotional health. So let’s dive into more benefits of minimalism and how we can use minimalism for peace, creativity, and more.

Less Money Spent Equals Less Money Stress

If we buy less, we spend less. That doesn’t sound very fun. How about if we buy less crap we don’t need we can spend more on the things that we love?

Money is a huge stressor for a lot of people and a lot of people live above their means. What that means is that people spend more than they make. In a minimalist lifestyle, you have fewer material possessions so your consumerism goes way down which results in your spending going way down.

If you reduced your spending you’d have less money stress or more money to spend on the things you love and are making intentional choices to own. Minimalism doesn’t mean you can’t have nice things it just means that the things you have add value to your life. That sounds like having nice things to me.

Minimalism Frees Up Your Time

The less stuff we have, the less cleaning and tidying up we have to do. Minimalism leads to a more organized and clutter-free life. I can’t tell you how much I love right after we’ve decluttered a room because that room becomes easy to maintain and clean.

Fewer items can lead to increased happiness because I get to choose how I’m spending my time. For me, that’s quality time with my family or focused time on my creative pursuits.

Less Environmental Impact

Because I care a lot about the environment, I’ll throw this one in there too. The less stuff we buy and waste, the less stuff we’re contributing to the landfill. I try to buy quality over quantity so that what I have lasts and doesn’t end up in the trash.

Minimalism Offers Peace Of Mind

I’ve talked about peace of mind already. This is one of my favorite benefits of minimalism. A clutter-free environment leads to less stress, less clutter, and less cleaning.

Less stuff, less stress, less clutter, fewer possessions, fewer hours cleaning, more space, more money, more room, more energy, more focus, more creativity. These all sound like positive changes that will lead to greater peace if we practice minimalism.

Improved Health

Minimalism is said to improve our health. It makes sense if you think through everything we talked about. From reducing stress levels to having extra money in your bank account, it’s clear that minimalism benefits can have a huge impact on our health.

A less stressful life is good for both our physical health and our mental health. A mindset shift away from the consumerist and comparison culture would be a benefit to our emotional health. Minimalism might also free up the time and money we need to spend on our physical health through things like exercise or our mental health through things like therapy.

Living Creatively With Minimalism

In this final section, I want to give some practical tips so that this article doesn’t just seem preachy. There are also a lot of great places to find more information on minimalism such as these books by The Minimalists.

Simplify Your Creative Space

The obvious way that minimalism can help your creativity is to simplify your creative space. This is a tip you have probably heard when it comes to how to be more creative. You want to create a space for your creativity.

Don’t make the mistake of just organizing and re-organizing. Sometimes, we just have too much stuff. Narrow down to just the right tools for your trade and remember quality over quantity. You don’t need your creative space to have a minimalist aesthetic, it can be creative, loud, and inspiring as long as it’s not distracting.

Simplify Your Schedule to Maximize Creativity

Sometimes you need to minimize more than your living space, sometimes you need to simplify your schedule. If you say yes to too much, you’re saying no to your creativity. Make space for creativity on your schedule and don’t feel guilty about it.

The minimalist lifestyle isn’t just about having fewer things, it’s about having more intentionality. You’ve probably heard the saying that you can learn a lot about a person by looking at their calendar and their checkbook. One of the major benefits of the minimalist mindset is taking control of your life.

Simplify your schedule and give yourself more freedom to choose the direction of your day. Give yourself more time to focus, play, adventure, discover, and create.

Benefits of Minimalism for Creativity: Final Thoughts

When I decided to write a post on why minimalism is good for creativity, I started with the intention to share some of my values that help my creativity. However, after writing this article, I realized that it’s about more than just creativity. So many of the things that I’ve discovered in researching creativity have led me to a higher quality of life in general.

It comes down to intentionality to live our best life, a purposeful life. Sure, it’s great to save money, create less waste, and have more free time. But more importantly, minimalist living will create room for the things we want to welcome into our lives.

Think about a time you’ve said, “I need to focus?” Why can’t you? What’s distracting or cluttering your mental space? Sometimes, the decluttering process creates more room than we expect.

What did I miss? Have any thoughts on why minimalism is good for creativity? Let me know!

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How to Meditate for Increased Creative Thinking

info@bergreenphotography.com — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:26:00 +0000

Do you want to be more creative? Then it’s time to learn how to meditate. It really is as simple as that, if only diving into your mind through meditation actually felt as simple as it is.

I’m a professional creative, which means I have to be creative on demand not just when inspiration or clarity strikes. I’m also a yoga teacher. In fact, over a decade ago both those statements became true and ever since then the link between my meditation practices and creativity has grown more clear to me.

In this blog post on meditation, for example, I’ll talk about how to meditate as well as the benefits and how it can increase your creativity. There is a growing body of research on the topic supporting my own experiences. If you’re wondering if you should begin meditating, by the end of this article I’m sure you’ll see that there’s not much to lose (maybe 10 minutes or so) and there’s a whole lot to gain!

Can 10 Minutes of Meditation Make You More Creative?

10 minutes of meditation practice is definitely better than zero minutes and it has the potential to make you more creative. Even in a short amount of time to meditate, you can start to notice differences in how you feel. Often meditation practices can remove the clutter from our mental space that prevents us from being creative thereby leaving room for new ideas.

Over time, meditation practice can help you train your brain and mind in the way that physical exercise trains your body. In the short term, it can help you reduce stress so that you brain can think more clearly. Whether you’re looking to enhance creativity temporarily or make it a practice, getting started with just a 10-minute meditation is a low-risk investment.

If you want to get serious then 20 minutes or even 45 minutes are recommended lengths of time. The problem I see is that committing to 20 minutes or more can be hard for some people, especially at first, and the result is that they don’t do it at all. Instead, it’s easy to try just a 10-minute meditation and you can always work towards longer durations as you build your fitness.

Here’s a 10 minute meditation for creativity.

Creativity and Well Being

I have some good news and some good news for you. Research shows that one of the biggest benefits of creativity is increased well-being. And research show additionally, well-being is one of the best answers to being more creative. Therefore, I’m permitting you to sign up for some self-care today!

I’m not just talking about taking a bubble bath to enhance creativity, although good ideas do often come in the shower. I’m talking about reducing your stress, finding stillness, and treating yourself with compassion.

We think creativity is important because it’s growing more popular in the workplace or because it will help change the world. While those things are true, it’s also important because it brings us joy, peace, happiness, and flow. Those are health benefits worth practicing for.

How Mindfulness Enhances Creativity

Mindfulness enhances creativity for a variety of reasons but they may not be what you think. You might think that creative ideas are supposed to come while you’re practicing mindfulness. In reality, you practice mindfulness to create the right environment for creative ideas to exist.

Whenever I teach creativity one of the things I do is talk about the things that limit our creativity. We are often too busy, too stressed, or too afraid to be creative. There are mindset issues such as our identity, environmental issues such as having the time or space, and our old friend Resistance which Steven Pressfield names that familiar voice of self-doubt in his book the War of Art.

Mindfulness and meditation help us with awareness of our mindset and limiting beliefs, the environmental factors that are standing in our way, and how to deal with our fears. What holds you back from being creative? Keep that in mind as we talk through how to deal with some of those factors and how meditation exercise might be just the type of training you need. (Read this post on unlocking your creative mindset.)

Mindset and Limiting Beliefs

Research shows that the older we get the more stuck in our ways we are. We’re less open-minded and less likely to take risks. As you can imagine, that means we’re less creative and we identify less with our sense of creativity.

If you are reading this because you want to be more creative, one of the first things we need to do is shed the limiting belief that we’re not creative enough or that we don’t deserve to be creative. Mindfulness helps us become more mindful, present, and aware of our thought patterns, feelings and desires. If we start to pay attention to how we judge ourselves and talk to ourselves, we can start to engage in activities to change our thought patterns.

By changing our thought patterns around our creativity, we can remove the identity of being uncreative and replace it with something more helpful. It’s the concept of having a growth Mindset from Carol Dweck or of deciding on our personality traits like Benjamin Hardy talks about in Personality isn’t Permanent.

Building a Creative Environment

The more we are mindful of our thoughts we are, the more we will also become mindful of our surroundings. As we develop an awareness of what’s around us we can see what is helping and what is hindering our creativity. Environmental issues might be clutter which might lead us to Minimalism. But environmental issues might also be the people we surround ourselves with.

We need to surround ourselves with a less busy, less stressful environment and we need to surround ourselves with more supportive people. Look around your physical space and look at your calendar too. Is there any stress or clutter that you can remove or reduce to make room for creativity? It comes down to values and priorities.

When our values and priorities are in alignment then our surroundings and our calendar reflect that. Therefore if our sense of creativity is a priority and if our sense of well-being is a priority, then we might need to take a hard look at our environment including the media we consume daily.

Reducing Judgment or Fear

One of the ways that we’re enhancing creativity through mindfulness training is by reducing judgment and fear. For many people, judgment and fear are two of the biggest barriers to creativity. I can’t do this, what if I fail?

Through mindfulness, we become aware of these types of thoughts, desires and feelings so that eventually we can control them rather than allowing them to control us. We’re not going to suppress or stifle emotions, instead, we seek to understand them and direct them. Sometimes frustration will fuel the perfect invention or anger will lead to the most creative problem-solving.

Fear is only a bad thing when it keeps you from doing something you need to do. Instead, if we embrace our fear and see what it has to teach us, that can lead to immense growth.

Training the Mind and Rewiring the Brain

As I mentioned above, meditation is a process of training the mind like physical exercise trains the body. That’s why we call it meditation exercise or meditation practice, we’re building fitness. In a simple meditation instruction, you’ll hear that when the mind wanders your only job is to bring it back to the point of focus.

The trick with focusing and practicing focus is that you’re controlling your mind, you’re choosing what to do with your thoughts as they come in. Mindfulness and focus is different than mind wandering because you are remaining present and aware with focused attention. Instead of letting our mind wander aimlessly for ideas, we’re developing awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and emotions which is a more long-term solution to creative practice.

Emotions aren’t the enemy but by focusing on our breath and being mindful of what’s happening we can train our brain in a more supportive direction.

Supporting Creative Thinking

What exactly are we training the mind to do? We want the mind to support creative thinking so that we can find that beautiful and elusive state of flow. It’s hard to support creative thinking, divergent thinking, and wild or crazy ideas when we’re too stuck in our heads. If we want to enhance creativity we need to decrease stress and preoccupation with success.

It’s hard to have the clarity or stillness to see a solution when we’re listening to and distracted by stress. The ability to train our mind for the present moment

How To Meditate: Tips for Beginners

There are a variety of styles of meditation from mindfulness meditation to transcendental meditation. There’s moving meditation and loving-kindness meditation. As you gain experience and exposure to the benefits of mindfulness you might be interested in exploring different types of meditation.

Mindfulness meditation is a popular style of meditation practice and since the instructions are fairly simple you can practice it alone without too much instruction. Mindfulness meditation asks you to pay attention and be aware. You are an observer.

Mindfulness meditation also comes with the instruction to avoid judging what you notice and it originates from Buddhist philosophy. Below, I’m going to give a few basic tips for beginner mindfulness meditation.

Pick a Time and Space

The most important thing in my opinion is to make meditation practice a habit. To make it a habit it helps to pick a time and a space where you can do it. I liken this to putting your running shoes by your bed so that you run in the morning even if you don’t feel like it.

When you begin meditating you’ll learn that the hardest part is starting, once you’re there you’ve already succeeded because you’ve brought yourself into the present moment. I have had different levels of meditation commitment throughout my life and the most effective way to make it a practice for me has been to have a set time a space.

For example, many meditation students find it helpful to meditate first thing in the morning before life starts to spiral out of control. I love this because you’re capitalizing on the stillness and beauty of the morning. Regardless of when you choose, remember to have compassion if you miss a day.

Comfortable Position

When you think of someone meditating you picture their body in full lotus on a mountaintop and in the snow. While I do think meditating outside is ideal, the most important thing is that you find a comfortable position where your body can be upright and alert. If it hurts your body to sit you might consider adding a few minutes of yoga before your meditation to make your body more comfortable, you might consider it regardless.

The more you find a comfortable and sustainable position for your body, the easier it will be to extend your practice to longer durations. Try stacking your spine and sitting tall. Try elevating your hips by sitting on a pillow or meditation cushion, for example.

If your legs fall asleep or you need to adjust, have awareness and compassion. Everything can be a lesson and a part of the practice and the process including how to deal with a pesky fly or persistent itch.

Focused Attention

Once you are seated in a comfortable position at the time you’ve chosen to meditate, you just start. Everyone is so concerned with how to meditate correctly and how to know if they’re doing it right that they don’t just sit there. Your job is to just sit there.

Obviously, a little more instruction is helpful and you might want to try a guided meditation. Otherwise, a simple process might be as follows: start by noticing your body, then notice your breath, try paying attention in the present moment to your breath and every time your mind wanders notice it and bring your attention back.

Some people prefer to focus on a mantra or a candle. The point of mindfulness meditation is to have the intention to have focused attention on something so that you can notice when your mind wanders. Your mind wandering is not a bad thing and it does not mean you’re doing anything wrong. Instead, this is an expected part of mindful meditation practice and allows us to learn how to refocus our attention.

Non-Judgment

The hardest part of mindfulness meditation in my opinion is actually practicing non-judgment during your meditation. We think that we’re failing if our mind is really busy and we’re hard on ourselves about that. Notice that too, notice the judgment.

For me, this mind wandering always circles us back to our creative identity and our negative self-talk. We listen to these thoughts in our heads that say we aren’t creative and that we aren’t meditating properly even when it’s not true. Mindfulness meditation will teach us to be aware of such destructive mind wandering.

Through practice, we can bring our focus to what we want whether that’s awareness of the present moment, gratitude, or listening to our breath. As we develop the ability to recognize our self-judgment we can transform it or use it as fuel for our creativity.

Beyond Creativity

At the beginning of this article, I talked about how creativity and well-being are linked. Well, mindfulness meditation is linked to health and wellness too. Maybe you are interested in mindfulness practices to increase your creativity or maybe you’re actually just looking for a way to deal with stress and pressure.

Learning how to be present through mindfulness practices might just help us with more than just our creativity. The benefits are only just beginning to be explained in research and I have a feeling they’re going to continue to add up as we continue to research meditation, mindfulness, and creativity.

But benefits might take time and patience, which is why non-judgement is an essential part of the practice.

A Few Words on Breath

If mindfulness meditation practice sounds daunting or overwhelming I suggest starting with a simple breath practice. Meditation can sound intense but if I just ask you to bring awareness to your breath, I imagine you can do that. Teaching my kids about meditation is a much bigger task than teaching them about the power of their breath we do box breathing or cooking breathing or mountain breathing or numerous other playful and kid-friendly breath exercises that help them calm down.

Once you learn to notice your breath you will have a sense of the power of meditation because often just by focusing we impact our bodies. Just by taking a deep breath, we reap the benefits of awareness. In fact, I might argue that simply focusing on your breath is in fact meditation practice so if meditation intimidates you, just breathe instead.

When I’m stressed, sometimes I can’t bring myself to sit on a meditation cushion and do a formal exercise. However, I can count my breaths or lengthen them or deepen them. Being with our breath helps bring us present and puts a stop to negative thought spirals or mind wandering.

Guided Meditation for Creativity

Below is a link to a guided meditation for creativity that I made a while back. If you want something a little more guided than sitting there and noticing what comes up, check it out. I find that part of the process of learning to meditate is learning how to fit it into a life where you will make it both a habit and a practice.

Meditation Apps

You can simply use the timer on your phone. Or Insight Timer has a free version complete with free guided meditations even some by yours truly. I’ve also tried and enjoyed Headspace and have heard great things about Calm

About the author

I am Brenda Bergreen, one half of a husband and wife photography team specializing in Colorado wedding photography and videography and adventure photography. If you need someone to encourage your creativity, I’m here.

Download our free guide on how to build a creative business and a life you love. Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help!

In the meantime, remember to…

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building a life Archives -

Creativity and Conquering Creative Limitations

Creativity Definition

Why is Creativity Important

Creativity is in Nature… it’s In Our Nature

Lessons from Children’s Books

Creativity Grows and is Learnable

New identity: You are creative!

What Limits Our Creativity?

Determine What’s Holding You Back

Shaping a Creative Identity

Fostering a Creative Physical Environment

Daily Input

Developing a Supportive Social Environment

Final Challenge

Summary

about the author

Photography and Creativity Reading List Recommendations

Books for Creative Entrepreneurs

Our Reading List Recommendations by Category

Best Books for Inspiring Creativity:

must read photography books for beginners:

books for mindset and behavior:

books on stress and health

best books on finding your calling:

business books every entrepreneur should read:

best books to read on money:

Summary

More Reading

about the author

Why I Blog About Creativity & Building a Life

Favorite Posts on the Blog About Creativity

Dealing with Resistance

Building Your Creative Business

Creativity Practices

Videos on the YouTube Channel

Reclaim Creativity

Do Your Call Yourself and Artist

10 Minute Guided Meditation for Creativity

Unplug to Recharge

Why I Blog About Creativity

What is building a life?

Creativity and Photography

Finding Inspiration

about the author

I gave up social media and this is what happened

Work-life boundaries

The Plan

Peace

about the author

Creative Mindset: The First Step to Unlocking Your Creativity

Developing a Creative Mindset

Qualities of a Creative Mindset

Steps We Might Have to Take

Identity and Creativity

What is creativity?

Why is creativity important?

Choosing a New Creative Identity

What Limits Our Creativity and Mindset

Creativity Blocks

Tackling Our Limitations

Creating a Creative Mindset

Next Steps Towards a More Creative Mindset

Creative Habits and Practices

Redefining Fear

Learning More

Summary: Your New Creative Mindset

about the author

Searching for that State of Flow (or is a Job Just a Job)

What is flow and why do creatives want it so bad?

Is it reasonable to tap into a flow state in everyday life?

Flow, Ikagari, Dharma, Plan De Vida, Calling, Vocation, Purpose

Another word for purpose:

Approach to Life and Work

What would you really do if money wasn’t an obstacle?

Dealing with the Money Issue

What motivates us as creatives?

Beyond flow state?

How do we induce flow?

Environmental Practices to Help Prepare for a State of Flow