When Are You Most Creative?

So, when is your most creative time? I've discovered that mine is at night. More like the middle of the night. I've found that I do my best thinking and come up with more ideas when I wake up in the middle of the night. It's not then that the ideas percolate, but rather during the time that I am tossing and turning, trying to get back to sleep.

In the past, like most people, I would lie awake worrying. But then last year, I started to use that time more productively. I began actively focusing on ideas I was working through and that's when the real creativity started.

I've come up with some of my best ideas during this time. And of course, I get up and jot down notes, because I know that once morning comes, they might be gone for good.

• Try this fun quiz to see when other people are at their most creative.

How to Think Creatively

(Margan Zajdowicz image)

It's a skill that all of us use, yet a skill all of us could probably improve. Thinking creatively can help us not only create art but guide us through our daily lives. That's why I love this list of 50 Ways to Think Creatively.

Here are my favorites from the list:

1. Be curious - wonder about things
2. Surround yourself with diverse types of people
3. Live in terms of exploration and discovery, not just solutions or right answers
4. Use visual, metaphorical and analogical thinking - not just analytical
5. Embrace, rather than avoid, ambiguity as an essential part of the creative process

Plus some that I plan to explore and experiment with in the new year:

1. Take improv theater classes to feel more comfortable creating in real time
2. Use different types of music in the background while thinking
3. Surround yourself with life-giving and inspiring people, images and objects
4. Meditate - cultivate presence and mindfulness
5. Give your Creative Self space, time and attention

• What are your favorite ways to think creatively?

Keeping a Visual Journal

(Karen Blados Image)

One of things that I am not too good at is keeping a journal. When I have tried to keep one, it usually lasts no more than a few months at a time. That's why I am so impressed with people who are diligent at documenting their lives and even more so with those who keep a visual journal.

This article on local artist/designer Karen Blados gave me new hope and inspiration that even I could start a visual journal. I think I will add this to my list of things I want to try to incorporate into my creative practice in 2009.

• Start your own visual journal today!

Looking for Inspiration?

Writing prompts? Project starters? Story beginnings? and other random idea generators?

• Try the Imagination Prompt Generator!