The beauty of a person is first and foremost the beauty of his mind. The beautiful mind makes flexibility, the mobility of thought and the ability to find solutions to problems and come up with brilliant ideas. In the book "The Flexible Mind", Estanislao Bakhrakh, a molecular biologist, Ph.D., a specialist in the development of creativity in a simple and accessible form, talks about the features of the brain and explains how to use our gray matter most effectively.
Here are 5 exercises that will help develop the flexibility of thinking.
1. A novel of two words
Our ideas are organized in a certain, predictable way and represent a limited set of categories and concepts. Creative thinking requires the ability to create associations and links between two or more different topics, and hence new categories and concepts.
Select any two words. With their help, create an introduction to a novel, female or erotic, to your taste. Add three more words, chosen at random. Each of them should play a key role in the plot turn of your novel.
2. Technique of abstract drawing
Draw any abstract shapes, whatever. After that, select one of any shapes. Pay attention to its main properties and distinctive features. For example, it can be drawn with intermittent, thin lines, can be rhomboid and colored, etc. What does this figure look like? Think about how you can apply these properties and images to your creative task.
3. The essence in six words
Everyone reads articles on the Internet. The ability to concisely formulate the idea of a text is one of the criteria of a flexible mind. Practice after each article read to formulate the main idea using only 6 words. You can practice already on this article.
4. Lists of ideas
We are used to making decisions based on past experience. But in order to creatively approach the task, it is necessary to look at it from different angles. The goal is to come up with as many solutions as possible, including non-template ones. In order for thinking to become more free (quantity) and more flexible (ingenuity), make up lists. The compilation of lists is an unusually effective way to increase the free flow of thoughts.
For example, in a few minutes make a list of all possible uses of the plug. You probably will have a lot of ideas coming to mind, but you will also censor some of them and record only the most obvious ones. To end this censorship, you will have to show flexibility. Allow yourself to write down other ideas. Flexibility of thinking means the ability to go beyond mediocrity and traditions, improvise.
5. The image for the mental block
Everyone has situations, called deadlocks - nothing goes on your mind, it seems that the problem is not solvable. It is a stone in the middle of the road, which can not be removed by force of will. We all sometimes come across these blocks. When it is necessary to show creativity, it is very important to overcome or avoid them.
Imagine an obstacle in the form of a physical object that can be put on: shoes, jacket, cloak, mittens. Remove this object and you will feel freer and calmer. Look for associations with this subject and your problem - how can you get rid of it?
6. Inverted beliefs
Sometimes we find ourselves in a dead end and do not find a new solution to the problem, or we can not come up with something unusual, somehow change our life. It's all about our beliefs. New perspectives open up opportunities that are not of value to us, because they are not connected or not combined with our experience. When the Wright brothers decided that not only birds could fly, they laid the foundation for the creation of the first aircraft.
Prejudice is what is said by all that is known and generally accepted. Write down all the prejudices associated with the creative task, and then look at them from a different perspective. Turn your beliefs upside down. Expand your prospects, break the boundaries in your head. What did you do?
7. Feelings develop the brain
One of the foundations of creativity is the impact on the senses. You can not awaken and develop your creative abilities without openness to the new and the ability to see things like the first time. Exploring the world, we operate with sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. All stimuli are used by the brain to formulate ideas and judgments, assess the situation, form reactions and record the memory of the experience gained.
Try to dress, wash your head and brush your teeth with your eyes closed. During dinner try to communicate with the interlocutor only with your eyes, without words. Eat something unusual. Listen to music while sniffing flowers. Listen to the rain, tapping the rhythm of the falling drops with your fingers. Mold figures from plasticine, looking at the clouds. All week go to work or study in different ways. Transfer the plug to the other hand. Buy products in another supermarket or go to another bakery.
Based on the book "Flexible Mind".