How To Exercise Your Creativity

This article is a continuation to my previous article, ‘How to think creatively'.

Solve puzzles and brain twisters: Puzzles give good exercise to the brain. When solving a puzzle, make sure you aren't just reading the question followed by the answer. This process is an utter waste of time. Read the question, think of possible answers for a couple of minutes and solve mathematical equations on paper if the problem so demands; give around 3-5 minutes of deep thinking and various creative attempts to solve the problem. If you are still not able to solve it, try for some hints that maybe mentioned in the question and give another attempt. Only in case you fail this time also, should you refer to the solution. Understand the path traveled by the author to solve the puzzle and read it a couple more times. This will make you very familiar with such type of puzzles and you will be able to easily solve similar puzzles that you may come across in the future. It has been proved that puzzle solving can greatly enhance lateral thinking.
Read a lot: Reading enhances creativity and makes our brains more active. Sadly, television has the opposite effect. It makes you tired and less creative. Read, no matter what, a lot. After reading, imagine various ideas conveyed by the author. Think of why the author has conveyed an idea in such a manner. All these greatly enhance creativity.
Take sufficient physical exercises: Only a healthy body can house a healthy mind. Remaining shut in a room and brainstorming continuously over a problem won't give rise to the best solutions. Go out for a walk in a nearby park or have a game of tennis. All these will trim your muscles and make your mind fresh and alert. A brisk walk in a park can fill your lungs with fresh oxygen which is very necessary for proper functioning of the brain. Only when your brain is fully active can it think creatively.
Laugh: Laughing stimulates your brain. It makes it more active and alert. Don't think that great thinkers should always be silent, have a ‘geeky' look and not be fun loving. Enjoy when you are attending a party, laugh when someone cracks a joke and play around with children like children. All these will relax your mind and give it sufficient time and energy to think creatively.
Become more inquisitive: Don't accept things as they are always. There may be situations when we have to accept things without arguing or thinking. But most of the time, we can question the situation and propose or try new ways of handling a problem. For example, if you go to office in a particular route everyday but have always felt there would be shorter and less crowded roads, go ahead and explore such routes, provided you don't have any important meetings that day. Or if you feel like making a dish that you feel would be great, make time during a weekend and try out the dish...give it to your guest, of course only after tasting it yourself.

Don't wait for any problem to arise to apply your creative thinking. Apply creativity in day to day life. Do things differently. Get your brain exposed to a variety of things rather than the monotonous day to day chores. All these freshen up your mind and make it think more creatively. We should make maximum use of our creative talents and make our lives exciting and worth living.
Think like creative people do: We always have people who think differently and creatively and do things which common man doesn't do around us. For some time every day, or every week if you are very busy, try thinking like them; don't transform yourself into them for you would then lose your invaluable identity and ideas. Be yourself always. But thinking like others helps you view the world in different angles and hence see different, sometimes better, solutions for handling a situation.
Read books and articles on creativity: Each book or article on creativity can give you various tips to enhance creativity. They can teach you to think creatively and laterally and give various exercises to smarten up your brains. This ability is not a gift by birth but a virtue by practice. If you want to really be a good creative thinker, you should work on enhancing it everyday for a long period of time.