Generating ideas is your bread and butter as a professional in the creative industry. It is an essential skill that brings you both financial as well as personal rewards. What happens when, as a creative individual, you can no longer come up with original and valuable concepts?
First, There is No Magic Pill
Unlike treating aches and pains, there is no pill for “treating” blocked creativity. Sometimes you might just let it pass, not forcing your mind to think about new and interesting ideas by sleeping it off or doing something else.
Other times, you might get more proactive, stimulating your right hemisphere with art, books, socializing, and maybe even YouTube videos. Some days you also arrange brainstorming sessions to combine creativity and productivity in an efficient manner. And then you might try to search for your muse.
But most of these strategies take time (particularly the last one) and they may even rarely do the job. What you need is a technique known as guided imagery.
Triggering Creativity While Relaxing
Guided imagery is a powerful way to focus and direct your imagination in a positive manner. In contrast to visualization and mental imagery, guided imagery makes use of all your senses so that your body seems like it is experiencing what is in your mind.
Different studies have found its efficacy with strengthening the immune system, with 10 minutes of imagery reportedly leading to reduced blood pressure and lowered cholesterol. It’s also used for reducing stress and anxiety, and managing pain. But guided imagery can also boost creativity and performance.
For starters, it is a right-brained activity so it has the power to enhance functions of this hemisphere, from spirituality to intuition to creativity. The brain structures involved in using guided imagery will heighten your emotions and abstract thinking.
The powerful technique also activates your unconscious and pre-conscious processes to help with your conscious goals—in this case, generating new ideas.
Clearing Your Mind
Creativity will feel out of reach most times because you’re stressed out. Maybe you’re doing too many things at once. Your mind is tired and your body is exhausted. The therapeutic effect of guided imagery can melt away the stress and leave you feeling refreshed after a session.
You can do guided imagery using DVDs or with a licensed practitioner. The key here is to find the ideal space, where you can relax and concentrate—without disturbance. And to make it a routine so that your mind and body are always interconnected, enabling you to generate original and valuable ideas when you need it.
Leave a Reply