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Seven Steps To Open Yourself Up To Creativity

By: Fiona Fiore from http://www.newlyjobless.com


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Everyone of us has the ability to become creative. It really is a part of our basic make-up as individuals. The difficulty is that, too often, many of us block our natural creativity and so create errors in thinking and give ourselves a lot more complications than we should. Listed here are 7 ways to open up your natural creativity and keep the channels unblocked.
1. Never Make Assumptions. If we assume, we can make an "ass" out of "u" and "me". Assumptions are usually examples of idle thinking. We simply do not wait to get all the details we need to come to the best conclusions. There is a tale of a customer at a bank who immediately after cashing a cheque and turning to depart, returns and says: "Excuse me, I believe you made a mistake." The cashier responds, "I am sorry but there's nothing I can do. You should have counted it. Once you walk away we are no longer responsible." Whereupon the customer replies: "Well, okay. Bless you for the bonus $20."
Tip: Once you feel yourself looking to draw conclusions, just hang on until you get all the details.
2. Observe Things From Different Points Of View. A truly open mind is willing to acknowledge that, not only do other people possess different equally valid points of perspective from theirs, but that alternative points of perspective might be more valid. A story is told in which the modernist painter Pablo Picasso was traveling on a train through Spain when he got into conversation with a prosperous businessman who was dismissive of modern art. As evidence that modern art didn't adequately represent reality, he produced a photo of his wife and said: "This is how my wife should look, not in some silly stylized rendering." Picasso took the photo, analyzed it for a few moments and inquired: "This is your wife?" The businessman proudly nodded. "She is very small," observed Picasso wryly.
Tip: Don't have a monopoly on how things are. Things are not always what they seem to be. Be prepared to consider other points of perspective.
3. Keep away from Yo-Yo Thinking. Many people tend to swing from a highly positive disposition one minute to a highly negative one the next, all because of what they observe before them. It is just like a yo-yo: up one minute, down the next. It's far more healthy to keep neutral and not let emotions get the better of you.
Tip: Understand that situations are rarely as good - or as bad - as you think they are in the moment you are in them.
4. Get Rid Of Lazy Thinking Routines. Habit can be quite a major stumbling block to clear thinking as well as another example of laziness. Try this experiment. Note down the Scottish surnames Macdonald, Macpherson, and also Macdougall and ask anyone to pronounce them. Now follow these names with the word Machinery and notice what happens. Many people are likely to mis-pronounce it. The reason being we tend to think in habitual ways and do not like what will not fit.
Word of advice: Don't believe that, because things happened in a specific way once before, that they will come about like that again.
5. Don't think Like An Old Person, Think Like A Child. Studies have shown that the volume of synapses, or connections, in the brain is higher in a youngster of two than in an average grownup. The reason for this is that a child of two has no limiting world view, unlike us adults. It is just like a sculptor who begins with a large block of clay, more than he needs, and then steadily takes away the clay as he moulds his sculpture. If we utilize our brain like a youngster, accepting everything without judgment, we can start to halt and reverse the brain ageing process.
Tip: Don't worry about the myth of age. Using the correct stimulus along with an enthusiasm in learning, it is possible to improve your brain's power.
6. See The Detail As Well As The Big Picture. You might know the poem by John Godfrey Saxe named "The Blind Men and the Elephant". This tells how six blind men of Indostan visit an elephant and each try to work out what it is from touching it. One blind man feels the tusk, another the trunk, another the tail, and so on. Naturally, not being able to see the complete elephant, they come to wildly different conclusions.
Tip: Try to maintain the big picture while looking at details. It will help to put everything in its proper place and context.
7. Think For Yourself. Taking time out to think continues to be frowned on in many organizations that prize activity over creativity. People who work in creativity-constrained organizations are likely to think the way they are supposed to think, or as others think, or as has always been the way to think. It's like the blinkered thinking that Hans Christian Anderson describes in his story of "The Emperor's New Clothes". Everyone in the land refuses to see that the emperor is naked and has been duped into believing he is wearing a splendid costume for his coronation. Only a young boy who has been ill and not party to the cultural brainwashing can see the truth and cries out: "Look, everyone, the Emperor is wearing no clothes!"
Tip: Do not let others tell you how to think. When others ask your opinion, tell it to them straight.
Once you make these 7 techniques part of your habitual thinking patterns, you will amaze yourself with how easy it is to come up with fresh, innovative and creative solutions to all of life's problems.

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