It turns out that our mind is not always useful to us. Reflection, reflections on the unjust structure of the world and the meaningless play of associations drain strength and divert attention from what surrounds us. Raptitude blog author David Caine wrote about limited attention budgets and constant internal mapping of our experiences - T&P translated his article.

People don't talk much about thinking. We constantly talk about what we think about, but we rarely talk about the process itself. But thinking is a huge part of our life - it is perhaps the most significant part of our experience.

Thinking affects everything in life: your actions, your ideas about yourself, your options, your stress level, and your health. Your way of thinking determines what experience will prevail in your life: whether it is fear or admiration, whether it will be excessive or insufficient.

My life has gotten a hell of a lot better since I started paying attention to the role my thoughts play in it. There was a time when I would have doubted the truth of the following five statements, but now I consider them to be the essential truth of life.

We think almost all the time

Small children are great observers. Most of the time, their attention is occupied by what they see and hear. They can definitely think and reflect, but the momentary sensual world seems more important to them. It is not uncommon to see an adult immersed in thought and not notice anything around, but it is strange to see a two-year-old child with the same glassy, ​​absent gaze.

With maturity, thought comes to the fore in our experience. Even when we pay attention to the sensory world, we are constantly interpreting, predicting and evaluating. As children grow up, they devote more and more attention to their own internal mapping - it becomes more important than immediate fresh observations.

Imagine tourists wandering around with a map in front of them. They see landmarks in the real world, but use them only as references to determine their location and to plan a route to another point. Most adults also interact with the world out of habit: the content of our thoughts and impressions is the main landscape, and momentary sensory experience is secondary.

Most of our thoughts don't really lead to anything.

We need to think: our mind is capable of amazing things. But most thoughts do not lead to any solution or understanding that would be applicable in the real world. We're just throwing up whirlwinds of dust. One thought always leads to another, but keeping track of them is like picking randomly growing flowers rather than following the trail of deliberately scattered bread crumbs.

If you get in the habit of asking yourself exactly what you want to achieve, thinking about something at a certain point, you may find that you do not find the answer. Why is a thought good, is it not pushing you to some kind of decision or action? Of course, thinking also has other goals - for example, to distract yourself from even more distressing thoughts or to indulge in fantasies. But even in this case, the real world comes to an end. More often than not, these thoughts are not intentional, nor are they particularly helpful.

For the most part, thinking is just an unconscious association that tires and consumes our attention. This is a habitual useless work of the mind, capable of consuming as much of your attention as it can until you unplug it.

Thinking is addictive

Who cares about the name of the mediocre actor on that '80s sitcom whose theme has been playing in my head since morning? For some reason, my mind cares. If I had not intervened, I would have had to postpone the rest of my life to resolve this issue.

Reason is happy with any work, even if it has no visible benefit. Just like a salesman who will sell you any gizmos until you stop buying them, your mind tends to work while it can. He really likes to believe, compare and make up.

We can all agree that this is great - that the mind is capable of these things. But to do them, he needs your attention, which is not so much. If the mind knew that it would have to work on the basis of a budget, it would be more judicious about the projects it undertakes.

As adults, we are so used to this constant mental activity that when it stops, we have a strange feeling. For the same reason, it's hard to break away from an unplanned Netflix marathon. It's not necessarily that the show you're watching is that good. The point is that you are more comfortable keeping watching rather than deciding what to do instead.

We often confuse our thoughts with their subject.

We were all absorbed in thoughts so much that we lost the thread of what was happening. You may be completely overwhelmed by your old relationship, or your office schedule across town, or a future where there are no more ocean fish left and you barely notice that you are in the bathroom at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Your emotions in these cases better correspond to what is in your head, but not to what is happening around. This is because all thoughts exist in the present - even thoughts about absent people or non-happening events. So when you think about something that upsets you, you are actually reacting to the thought, but not to its subject. Obviously, it's not your ex-girlfriend who makes you sit in the bathroom and feel sad, it's your thought about this person and this time. She is not there. Generally. There is only a thought.

Your body is constantly being led by the nose. As soon as you think of a plate of French fries, the salivary glands are already starting a party in your mouth, not yet knowing that there are no fries. Or just think about sex, and the genitals will immediately begin to rearrange, moving fluids back and forth and preparing to welcome a guest who does not come. If you indulge in the delusions of your body, it may even try to have a child on its own.

When you lie in bed and cannot fall asleep due to political violence, it is not an imperfect structure of the world that keeps you awake. This is the thought that you have right now, right here in your bedroom. Otherwise, why hasn't the "structure of the world" bothered you from the moment you were born? We can only react to what is in the present.

We can live less inside our head

I am not trying to demonize thought. Thoughts are absolutely essential for our functioning. But the ratio of pure signal to interference will overwhelm you if you get in the habit of paying attention to it from time to time. Knowing that most of our thoughts don't really serve us, we can figure out how to reclaim our attention and turn it to what is happening in the moment.

Your attention is drawn either to your thoughts, or to the rest of what is happening - to the sensory world of images, sounds, smells, sensations and tastes. He simply has nowhere else to be. So a reduction in the life lived inside the head is equivalent to an increase in the life lived in the material world. Sometimes the world around is so beautiful that it distracts our attention from our thoughts, but the rest of the time we need to direct it manually.

It is not particularly difficult to do this - it is difficult to remember that it is necessary. Attention management should become a habit, because as adults, we know how to Live In Our Heads Without Even Noticing It, better than doing anything else.

Icons: 1) Anne-Marie Nguyen, 2) Ásgeir Vísir, 3) Luis Prado, 4) Jhun Capaya, 5) Acider C Balandrano.

A person feels more successful and happy only when his brain is busy with something.

We all know that psychology is the science of the totality of psychological phenomena and human behavior, higher animals, which is explained on the basis of these phenomena. So, the object of science is man, the being is endowed with consciousness and an inner subjective world. Psychology can be attributed to one of the most interesting sciences.

If you still want to know more, then interesting facts about psychology will help you.

56 facts about human psychology

1. Brain activity continues even when we are resting. At this moment, there is a filtering of what really needs to be stored in memory, and what should be removed "in reserve". When you wake up in the morning, you will never forget what is really important to you, but you will not remember what you stopped your attention on yesterday.

2. A person feels more successful and happy only when his brain is busy with something. Moreover, the gray matter is not interested in monotonous work - it is just about the constant fuss of concentration and switching from one job to another. Only at such moments does a person feel happy.

3. You can't help but pay attention to food, sex, and dangers. Have you noticed that people always stop to look at the accident scenes? In fact, we cannot ignore the danger situation. Each person has a special part of the brain that is responsible for survival and asks: “Can I eat this? Can you have sex with this? Could it kill me? ".

4. Researchers have shown that if in his youth a person knew how to give up what he really wanted, life trials are given easier and with minimal losses.

5. In order to get used to something, you need no more than 2 months, or rather 66 days. It is such a period that a person will need in order to form and bring any action to automatism. For example, if you want to switch to proper nutrition, then you may need a little less - about 55 days. But it will take longer to get used to sports - up to 75 days.

6. If you think that you can have an unlimited number of friends, you are deeply mistaken. It turns out that a person can be friends up to 150 times in his entire life.

7. There are times when you want to please the girl by giving a gift, but you don’t know what she needs. There is a solution! Tell her that you bought a gift and offer to guess what it is. She will list what she wants.

8. If you have nightmares at night, you may be freezing in your sleep. Scientific fact- the colder it is in the bedroom, the more likely you are to have a bad dream.

9. Even positive events such as graduating from university, getting married, or new job can lead to depression.

10. The best remedy from worries, anxiety and stress is reading. This activity has a faster effect on the body. Surprisingly, this method is much better reception alcohol is much more effective than walking, drinking tea or listening to music.

11. In psychology, there is a principle: the more expectations about an event, the higher the likelihood of crushing disappointment. The more you wait, the less you get, the less you wait, the more you get.

12 ... Most people in an unfamiliar place keep to the right. If you do not want to be in the crowd or stand in line for a long time, then knowing this fact, feel free to go to the left or take the line that is to the left.

13. According to experts, people with blue eyes can fall in love in just a few minutes, while people with brown eyes can love two at the same time. It takes a long time to fall in love with green-eyed people, sometimes it takes years. People with all colors can fall in love in just an hour.

14. It is interesting that a person remembers good grades many times better than bad ones. With a probability of 89% people will remember the mark "5" and only 29% - the mark "3". As a consequence, it seems that the score was higher than it actually was.

15. It is interesting that judges in sports often punish those teams whose uniforms are black. This is confirmed by the statistics conducted by the NHL, FIFA.

16. Known fact that women, being in a clothing store, focus more on the shelf and hangers, on which disorder reigns. Subconsciously, it seems to them that it is there that there is something better, more interesting.

17. The whole sphere of psychological factors and techniques is used by stores. For example, duplicate items at the checkout, promotions and price tags in different colors. If you write on the price tag instead of "Socks - $ 2." - "STOCK! 5 pairs of socks - $ 10 »Sales can be increased by exactly half.

18. Southeast Asians, primarily Chinese, often observe Koro syndrome - a mental pathology when a person thinks that his penis is shrinking or being pulled into the stomach. At the same time, the "patient" is seriously afraid of the onset of death. This is a cultural feature of the Asians, since cases of Koro syndrome in Africans or Europeans are usually not accompanied by the fear of death. Often, as part of self-medication, men hang some weight from their penis to stop retraction.

19. If glass is broken in a house, then soon not a single whole window will remain in it, and then looting will begin - this is the main idea of ​​the theory of broken windows. In a broader sense, this theory is that people are much more willing to violate the rules and norms of behavior if they see clear signs of disorder around - this has been experimentally proven many times.

20. People are reluctant to contradict a calm, balanced person. On the contrary, when someone fiercely and aggressively defends his opinion, they will resist him and will argue with him.

21. Those who sleep 6-7 hours are less at risk of premature death than those who sleep 8:00. It is worth noting that those who sleep less than 5:00 are three times more likely to suffer from mental disorders than those who sleep 8-9 hours.

22 ... There is no better word for a person than her name. The first thing to remember when meeting is a name. NOT a position, not a profession, but a name. This is the basic rule for establishing good relationship.

23. To fall asleep quickly, you need to lie on your back, stretch out and relax your whole body. Close your eyes and roll your pupils up under closed eyelids. This is a normal eye condition during sleep. Having accepted this position, a person falls asleep quickly, easily and deeply.

24. Psychologists have determined that a woman needs only 45 seconds to evaluate a stranger. Of these, 10 seconds she builds a general impression of the figure, 8 seconds evaluates the eyes, 7 seconds looks at the hair, 10 seconds at the lips and chin, 5 seconds at the shoulders. And the last 5 looks at the ring, if there is one.

25. Knowledge of psychology makes life easier, takes into account the possible reactions of people around, and the use of practical psychology improves mutual understanding, and helps to resolve conflicts in time.

26. People with depression often say they perceive the world in shades of gray. It turned out that this is not just a psychological phenomenon - the dullness of colors in depression has a physiological basis. This conclusion was made by German scientists from the University of Freiburg, who studied the processes in the eyes of patients using an electroretinogram. They found a strong dependence - the stronger the depressive symptoms, the weaker the retina responds to stimulation by displaying contrasting images.

27. Every time you mentally return to an event, you change it, as the neural pathways are activated differently each time. This can be influenced by later events and the desire to fill in the memory gaps. So you, for example, do not remember who else was at the meeting of relatives, but since your aunt is usually present, you can later include her in your impression.

28. Incompetent people often end up higher in the ranks of their more qualified colleagues due to the Dunning-Kruger effect. According to him, people with low level qualifications tend to overestimate their abilities, and when making unsuccessful decisions, they are often unable to realize the fallacy due to, again, weak competence. People with a high level of skill look at things more soberly and, on the contrary, tend to underestimate their abilities, and also believe that others do not appreciate them highly. These findings were experimentally confirmed by psychologists Dunning and Kruger at Cornell University in 1999.

29. An optimistic or pessimistic view of the world of each individual person is genetically programmed. According to research by scientists from the University of Michigan, it is determined by the concentration of neuropeptides Y in the brain: a reduced concentration makes us perceive the environment pessimistic and depressive.

30 Sometimes unrequited love develops into a real obsession and even threatens with mental disorders. Such, for example, as Adelie syndrome. Adele's syndrome is a long-term, painful love obsession with another person without a corresponding one.

31. After analyzing more than a billion tweets published during major sporting events, scientists have found that the louder and more confident the statements of the disputant, the more chances he has to win the discussion. In other words, speak confidently even if you know you are wrong.

32. If a person tries to remember something, but at the same time continues to look you in the eye, be sure that you are being deceived.

33. Women feel loved when they communicate face-to-face with their partner; in contrast, men experience emotional closeness in communication when they work, play, or talk while sitting next to their partner.

34. The average man claims to have had sex with 7 women. The average woman ascribes 4 partners to herself. The fact is that men and women have different motivations. For men, having a lot of partners is considered a plus, while for women it is the opposite. Therefore, they "remember" the number of partners in different ways. In fact, the amount is about the same.

35. Between appearance and there is a direct relationship with crime. Criminals are less attractive than the average person. And people who are more attractive are much less likely to commit crimes.

36. Male and female witnesses remember the details of crimes differently. When the perpetrator snatches out a purse, for example, female bystanders memorize the victim's facial expression. Male witnesses, on the other hand, remember the robber.

37. According to psychologists, we all love to dream. The researchers argue that people who like to daydream tend to be more resourceful and better at solving various problems.

38. There is a psychic phenomenon, the opposite of déjà vu, called jamevu. It consists in the sudden feeling that you are facing a situation or a person for the first time, although in fact it is well known to you. But if almost every one of us has experienced deja vu at least once, jamevu is much less common and can be a sign of a serious mental disorder. On a par with them, you can put the phenomenon of preskevue - a well-known state to many, when you cannot remember a familiar word that "spins on the tongue."

39. The most famous example of "deception through honesty". A person who voices his evil intentions will look more honest in the eyes of others than a person who has these intentions completely absent or she hides them.

40. Inattention blindness effect. The idea is that we are often blind to what is happening literally "under our noses" if we are focused on some other task.

41. You can only memorize 3-4 items at a time. There is a rule of "magic number 7 plus or minus 2", according to which a person cannot store more than 5-9 blocks of information at the same time. Most of the information in short-term memory is stored for 20-30 seconds, after which we quickly forget it, only if we do not repeat it over and over again.

42. You see things differently than you perceive them. According to a study by the University of Cambridge, "it is unimportant in the order of revenge in the word." The main thing is that the first and last letters are in place. Even if other letters are jumbled, you will be able to read the sentences. This is because the human brain does not read every letter, word as a whole. It constantly processes the information it receives from the senses and the way you perceive information (words), as a rule, differs from what you see (letters are mixed up).

43. You know how to do things you've never done before. Imagine that you have never seen an iPad, but they gave you one and offered to read books on it. Even before you turn on the iPad and start using it, you already have a model in your head of how to read books with it. You will have an idea of ​​how the book will look on the screen, what functions you can use, and how you will do it.

44. A child begins to perceive his separate "I" only after two years of birth, and before that he feels one with the whole world around him. Just as you and I consider our hand, leg "ourselves", so the baby considers the whole world around him to be a part of himself.

45. 90% of all diseases are psychological in nature, and a person can be finally cured only when his mental balance is restored.

46. It has been proven that a child deprived of physical contact with people for a long time degrades and may die. As a consequence, the lack of physical emotional connections can be fatal for a person. This is a kind of sensory hunger that needs to be stimulated in a person's life.

47. The observation of psychologists shows that during personal contacts the interlocutors are not able to look at each other constantly, but only no more than 60% of the total time. However, the time of eye contact can go beyond these limits in two cases: in lovers and in aggressive people. Therefore, if an unfamiliar person looks at you for a long time and intently, most often this speaks of hidden aggression.

48. The duration of eye contact depends on the distance between the interlocutors. The greater the distance, the longer eye contact is possible between them. Therefore, communication will be more effective if the partners are sitting on opposite sides of the table - in this case, the increase in the distance between them will be compensated by the increase in the duration of eye contact.

49. Women look longer at those they like, and men look at those who sympathize with them. Observations show that women are more likely than men to use direct gaze, and therefore they are less likely to perceive gaze as a threat.

50. You should not think that a direct look is a sign of honesty and openness. A person who knows how to lie can fix his gaze in the eyes of the interlocutor, as well as control his hands, not allowing them to come close to his face.

51. The constriction and dilation of the pupils is NOT subject to consciousness, so their reaction very clearly shows the partner's interest in you. The dilation of the pupils shows an increase in interest in you, their narrowing will tell about hostility. However, such phenomena should be observed in dynamics, since the size of the pupil also depends on the illumination. In the bright sun, the pupils of a person are narrow, in a dark room the pupils dilate.

52. The theory of neuro-linguistic programming claims that by the movement of the interlocutor's eyes, one can find out exactly which images are now in the person's mind and what he is doing at the moment: coming up with or remembering.

53. If the interlocutor looks up to the left or just up, most likely he is immersed in visual memories. Such a look can be observed in a person who answers the question "Who is depicted on a five-dollar bill?"

54. Looking upwards to the right reveals visual construction. The person tries to imagine what he has never seen. For example, try to imagine your close friend wearing an astronaut's spacesuit.

55. Looking to the left to the side speaks of auditory memories. For example, think of piano sounds. If the gaze is directed from the right to the side, this is a sign of auditory construction. For example, imagine how aliens talk.

56. Looking down to the left is an internal conversation with oneself. The ability to naturally and discreetly observe the eyes of the interlocutor, analyzing him, will provide you with invaluable help, both in daily conversations and in the case of an important business conversation. published

The saying that “all our thoughts materialize” is not just empty words, but a fact proven by scientists and psychologists, which they directly associate with the law of attraction.
If you think about it, then each of us, having thought about something, soon noticed that the thought was "embodied" in life. For example, a woman, dreaming of the attention of a certain man, noticed that he really began to show her attention ...
If you look at the power of thought from the other side, it turns out that we ourselves attract all troubles, problems and ordinary troubles into our lives: while complaining about poverty, we will not get out of debt; complaining about failure in personal life, we remain lonely; thinking about poor health, we constantly "catch" sores and viruses, etc.
Of course, all this can be attributed to ordinary coincidences, but ... Studying the subconscious of a person, scientists have long come to the conclusion that our thoughts are a kind of magnet that attracts what we want and makes it real.
Proceeding from this, many psychologists are seriously engaged in the development of techniques, having mastered which, most people achieve what they want in the shortest possible time: they become more successful, better off in material terms, make progress in their careers and create happy families. How does this happen? A long formulation boils down to a simple conclusion: to become more successful, it is enough to learn to think and wish correctly!
Wish carefully!
Because the first rule of the law of attraction is that our desires, correctly formulated, will certainly come true. True, not right away. Probably, many girls had to notice this pattern: you dream of a boyfriend, you pour tears into your pillow inconsolably, you try to attract the attention of sweethearts to no avail. Time passes, the girl forgets about her hobby, and here you get: the once adored passion appears on the horizon.
And all because (and this has been proven by the research of scientists!) That we, according to the law of attraction, ourselves attract into our life everything that we eventually have in it. That is, the subconsciously desired sooner or later becomes valid. This applies to almost all spheres of life: health, career, wealth, relationships with the opposite sex.
Remember our thoughts are our desires
Our subconscious is inextricably linked with the Universe, which fixes our thoughts, perceiving them as our desires. This is where the greatest danger lies. While a woman laments that she is lonely, the Universe takes the complaint for ... desire, and materializes thought. As a result, years pass, fans change, but the woman is still lonely ... Because with the help of the force of gravity, SAMA attracted loneliness into her life, and she cannot start thinking differently or does not want to. After all, it is not so easy to eradicate the habit of thinking about the bad - for most of us it is easier to complain about fate and grumble that life does not work out.
And it turns out a vicious circle: we complain - the Universe records "complaints" as "desires" - "desires" are fulfilled - we complain even more ... The same can be said about our fears. It is not for nothing that they say that what we are most afraid of happens to us.
Think right!
The above raises the question: how to learn to think correctly - so as to change fate in better side and attract the desired benefits into your life?
The answer is simple: you need to learn how to formulate your desires correctly! And before that, it will not hurt to get rid of the old, negative thoughts with which we are used to living. They need to be thrown away like old trash, reconsider the past, determine a happy future, and from now on think only positively about it! Our own beliefs, painted in black tones, are the key to the same hopeless life with a bunch of problems and a lack of bright prospects. It's time to change!
Visualize your desires!
This is the most effective and efficient method for materializing your own thoughts. To make what you want come true, you need to understand and clearly imagine what you want and think over all the details.

Photo: Mario Antonio Pena Zapatería / Flickr

Wandering around the bush, empty dreams, grief and loss - all these things are associated with something bad. But in fact, they can positively influence our creative endeavors. And this is just one of the surprises presented by the study. creativity brain. Scott Kaufman and Carolyn Gregor, in their book Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind, describe a number of such discoveries, very subtle, but very useful in practice. Here are some of the most notable examples.

1.72% of people experience creative inspiration while in the shower

No, this is not a cliché: get under the flow hot water and letting the brain relax is useful in a creative sense. Gregor and Kaufman show that the isolation we find ourselves in when we shower is a great incubator for ideas. In a 2014 study by Kaufman, 72% of respondents from different countries the world admitted that they had new ideas in their souls.

2. The victory of introverts and the power of loneliness

As productively as we work in a team, nothing beats the moments when we work - and think - alone. The more creative, imaginative areas of the brain function better when no one is around. Neurologists call this “constructive internal reflection”, which is essential for generating ideas and creative insights. When you turn down the volume of the outside world, the brain is more successful in making certain connections, forming memories, and processing information.

3. Experimenting makes us more creative

It makes sense that willingness to try new ideas correlates with creativity. Music The beatles changed when they started experimenting with new recording techniques and new instruments. And neuroscientists have established a clear connection between openness to new experiences and creative thinking. The new research is associated with the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which also plays a useful role in motivation and learning, "stimulates psychological plasticity, a penchant for research, flexible interaction with new things," the authors write. The plethora of studies that Kaufman and Gregor analyzed show that seeking to expand the experience can be a critical predictor of creative achievement.

4. Trauma expands creative horizons

Frida Kahlo, Truman Capote, Robin Williams, Jerry Garcia - many people of art in their lives have experienced a great loss or trauma, which seriously affected their creative endeavors. And this is no coincidence: psychologists call this phenomenon "post-traumatic growth." After a serious loss, the brain begins to function more creatively, trying to "rebuild" life as a whole, when our ideas, priorities and ways of thinking change dramatically. There are hundreds of studies on post-traumatic growth. In particular, a paper published in 2004 in the Journal of Traumatic Stress found that 70% of people who went through a traumatic experience then experienced positive psychological changes.

5. Soaking in the clouds is good for the brain

During an important meeting on the budget of your project, you should not be distracted and drift away somewhere in your thoughts. But in general, daydreaming can be very useful for creativity. Imagining your dream home or once again having a pleasant summer vacation sitting at an office desk is seemingly unproductive. But at this time, a lot of interesting things happen in my head. Research shows that these moments are a kind of incubation process that enhances creative thinking, long-term thinking and consciousness. Psychologists have studied these "constructive dreams" for decades and show that they play a key role in the development of imagination and creative work.

6. The best ideas are ridiculed first.

There are many examples of discoveries and ideas in history that were first rejected and then accepted as the norm. Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis first lost his job, and then ended up in a psychiatric hospital - after all, he only assumed that infections could be spread thanks to microbes in the hands of doctors in the hospital. In the 19th century, this idea seemed radical and insane. This resistance to new, non-standard ideas has an understandable psychological basis and still takes place. The paper, published in the journal Scientometrics in 2009, explores examples of Nobel Prize-winning ideas and discoveries that the scientific community first confronted. This systemic phenomenon is skepticism towards theories that challenge the existing paradigm.

How to develop creativity: useful tricks, interesting tips and books

Sometimes being creative in your personal or professional life is like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, not all people know how to think creatively. Many original ideas are rarely visited. How to develop creativity? And is it possible?

Everyone is endowed with creative potential, we are born with it. This is the ability of our brain that can be awakened.

Change habitual thinking to non-standard

We often live and think automatically. So isn't it more convenient? We hesitate to leave our comfort zone and look at things around us from a creative point of view.

After all, you need a chair to sit. But who said that only for this? Out-of-the-box thinking plays an important role in the development of creativity. Try to break stereotypes. Improvise!

Curiosity is not a vice

There is no creativity without curiosity. This quality helps to generate new experiences, ideas and research.

Write down ideas

Let you always have a notebook at hand to write down any thoughts that arise. Much does not remain in the memory. But you can always go back to what was written and use the idea at the right time. Never give up ideas born with the thought: "This is stupid!". Any thought has a right to exist.

Find your source of inspiration

It can be a picture, song, book, poem, film. The world offers ideas that you can use as a basis for creating your designs. Just don't confuse inspiration with plagiarism.

Obstacles are your motivation

Do not confuse “difficult” and “impossible”. If you want to learn how to be creative, then delete the word "impossible." Yes, it can be difficult and difficult. When faced with an obstacle, focus on solving the problem. Overcoming the resulting discomfort and negative feelings becomes a good source of inspiration.

The vast majority of inventions designed to improve comfort are created by those who wanted to overcome the inconvenience.

Create great ideas yourself

It's so easy to enter the desired phrase in the search engine and expect with confidence, as a list of answers to the question will appear. Yes, such inspiration from others is valuable. But if you want to develop creative thinking, then try to come up with ideas on your own.

If the muse does not come ...

If sensible thoughts do not come to mind for a long time, take a break. Take a shower, have a coffee, or take a walk. Sometimes the most creative ideas come to mind at unexpected moments.

How to Develop Creativity - Exercise

Let's start training. But first:

- believe in yourself;

- stop scolding yourself! Creativity is not a secret weapon of the elite, but an ability available to everyone. One has only to want;

- list 10 of your qualities or skills (right now 🙂) that will be useful to you in creating creative ideas. For example, resourcefulness, self-confidence, logical thinking, desire for development and so on. Write whatever comes to mind.

- encourage your imagination and stop self-criticism.

Exercise 1

Here are two groups of words. Your task is to connect words from these columns. Remember, there is no such thing as bad associations 🙂

juice	mail
female	roof of the building
company	children's day
ladybug	Cup of tea
newborn	detective

For example, a woman as a detective - you never know what will happen now.

Exercise 2

Choose any fairy tale from childhood and look at it differently, asking the question "why?" For example, the tale "Three Little Pigs". Why did the piglets live in separate houses? Why was each house built with a different material? Why did the wolf want to destroy the piglets' houses? And so on ... The task of the exercise is to break out of hackneyed schemes and go beyond standard thinking.

Exercise # 3

Answer the questions that begin with the words "What would happen if ...". Exercise develops spontaneous creativity. Come up with the development of the following sentences.

What if ...

... did people walk on the ceiling?

... were the butterflies the size of a cow?

... the water was ice?

... there were no plants growing on the ground?

Exercise 4

Take a blank sheet of paper and draw several small crosses at the same distance from each other. The task is to create something from each cross. It can be a symbol, animal, object, person, and so on. Drawings should not be repeated among themselves.

Exercise 5

Come up with a word. For a start, one that has fewer letters, for example, a dream, is suitable. Now imagine that this is an abbreviation for which you need to come up with a decryption. Let these transcripts seem strange and ridiculous. But the more you train, the better your ingenuity and creativity will develop.

Interesting facts about creative thinking

1. Blue and green stimulate creative ideas, while red stimulates attention to detail.

2. Exercise improves your ability to think creatively.

3. The level of background noise affects creative thinking. Silence is useful for intense problem solving. And for the birth of creative ideas, a noise level of about 70 decibels is suitable (for example, like in a cafe).

4. Dim lighting helps a person feel more free and relaxed, which means that no internal blocks interfere with the creative flow.

5. Travel improves creative thinking.

10 books to develop creativity

2. Edward de Bono - Six Thinking Hats

3. Austin Cleon - "Steal Like an Artist"

4. Natalie Ratkowski - “Profession - illustrator. Learning to think creatively "

5. Hugh McLeod - "Ignore Everyone, or How to Get Creative"

6. Marina Moskvina - "Learn to see"

7. Julia Cameron - “The Artist's Way. Your creative workshop "

8. Yana Frank - "Muse, where are your wings?"

9. Scott Belsky - “Making Ideas Come True. How to bridge the gap between vision and reality "

10. Mihai Csikszentmihalyi - “Creativity. The flow and psychology of discoveries and inventions "

Creative thinking cartoon

A funny pig who has creative ideas to achieve a cherished goal. The main thing is not to give up, even if it seems that there is no way out. 🙂