Very recently i came across the term ‘techfasting’ which has become common nowadays. The term relates to a unique experience where in, whole family will take a break from all the gadgets and technology to spend some days in the lap of nature. The experiences shared was very interesting. In day to day life, most of us will freely admit that we are obsessed with our devices. We brag on our ability to multitask—read, work, email, reply to a text, check Facebook, watch a video clip, Talk on the phone, send a text, drive a car, enjoy family dinner with a glowing smartphone next to our plates. We can do it all, 24/7! Never mind the errors in the email, the near-miss on the road, and the unheard conversation at the table. In most cases, actually we don’t really multitask rather switch rapidly between tasks. Even in this so called ‘fastly developing world’ we need to admit that we live in a world of distractions and possibilities and thats why Iam pretty sure that many of you maybe impatient to read this article fully as your smart phones are calling you ! (joking )
Invading our creative space
Numerous studies and much accepted wisdom suggest that time spent doing nothing, being bored, is beneficial for sparking and sustaining creativity. With our iPhone in hand – or any smartphone, our minds which are engaged and fixed on a tiny screen, may simply never get bored. And our creativity suffers. Spending so much time texting and updating, tweeting and watching, calling and playing at every free moment, from every location, never alone with our thoughts, never allowing our thoughts to drift, impacts our creativity and it can limit our full potential. The constant vibrations of our phone gives a constant feel of crowded place even when we are physically alone. These days, unplugged places are hard to find. Even parks and campgrounds now offer Wi-Fi—the theory being that people just won’t get outdoors if they can’t tweet. What used to be ‘fun’ can become a ‘ joyless compulsion’.
Even Facebook and Instagram are getting a range of new tools to help people spend less time on social networks. They’ve been designed with the help of experts and users, for keeping experiences on the networks positive.
I think the internet has definitely encouraged and elevated some amazing new forms of creativity. I appreciate my ability to Google things for a reference point, but that doesn’t make me more creative. I already had an image in my head and the ability to draw. Agree that our beloved gadget allows us to work during every spare moment, but is the price of increased productivity dramatically lower creativity?
Nature – The balancing agent
Studies reveal that on an average a city kid spend 53 hours a week plugged in to some kind of electronic medium, and I imagine that’s true of adults too. The more high-tech our lives become, the more we need nature as a balancing agent. Numerous studies have shown that spending time in nature is good for our physical and mental health.
Recently a research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that walking in a city park or any green space for as little as 25 minutes is enough to give our brain a rest and boost cognitive functioning. When the prefrontal cortex (the region of the brain involved in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision-making and moderating social behavior) quiets down, the brain’s default mode network kicks in. Suddenly, flashes of insight come to us. it’s activated when we’re not focusing on anything specific, and instead we’re engaged in nontaxing activities, such as walking in the woods. Our minds are allowed to idly wander or to dip into our deep storehouses of emotions, ideas and memories. Modern life is constantly bombarding our mind with information and distractions. This makes it nearly impossible to hear the creative whispers of our inner mule over such mental noise. By removing these distractions, our mind is freed to wander, leading us on exciting new journeys across undiscovered paths. Another interesting experiment results showed that even low ceilings unconsciously activate thoughts of confinement, which causes the brain to think in analytic, concrete ways. Conversely, high ceilings unconsciously activate thoughts of freedom, which causes the brain to think in the abstract and to consider how things are related and integrated. Nature, of course, has no ceiling. So by being out in the open air, it may prime our mind to “think outside of the box” and “shoot for the stars.” Nature acts like a reboot for the overloaded brain.
The mind and body function on opposite laws. On the physical level, more the effort, better the result. Whereas on the mental level or the level of creativity, lesser the effort, greater the result. Creativity need not necessarily mean that we invent something fantastic. Someone can be creative about even how they sweep the floor. If we develop the means to truly observe what is happening within us on all levels of who we are, then we would be enormously creative .Usually when the mind learns to let go and relax, then the ideas spring out. If we have forgotten something, the more effort we put to remember that, the longer it takes for us to remember. The sooner we let go, the faster the ideas come. Perception, observation, and expression -these three aspects which are integral to the success of any activity can blossom when our mind is well-rested. Another aspect is deep silence, which is often called the mother of creativity.
The very basic step in bringing a creativity starts from the process of thinking. So It is very important for us to probe into the source of thought. Often we are called great thinkers, but what is a thought? Thought is nothing but an impulse of energy and intelligence. That impulse of energy and intelligence, for it to arise and a correct thought to come, we need 16 impulses to meet at a point in the cerebral cortex at a certain speed. In that short interval of time, all the 16 impulses in the cerebral cortex, when they meet, is what we call a correct thought. What do we do about it? We need to train our brain, our mind. There is always dialogue going on in our own mind. We all have a filter in our mind through which we listen and we accept only what we already know. Something which doesn’t already fall within our belief system, we straightaway filter out. This tendency in the mind to take things which it already knows and reject that which it doesn’t know, is one of the main blocks of creativity.
Let’s not be too much ambitious ! Lets find the path for us
Not everybody can be a painter – and there is no need also. If everybody is a painter the world will be very ugly; it will be difficult to live. And not everybody can be a dancer, and there is no need. But everybody can be creative. “Whatsoever we do, if we do it joyfully, if we do it lovingly, if our act of doing it is not purely economical, then it is creative. Usually we are told to be ambitious. But when ambition enters, creativity disappears – because an ambitious man cannot be creative, because an ambitious man cannot love any activity for its own sake.
We have to flush out the belief that we are uncreative. we may not have been a gold medalist in the university; we may not have been top in our class; our painting may not have won appreciation – but just because of these things, we don’t have to belief that we are uncreative. That may be because we are imitating others. We have to find out what we can do and what we cannot do. Everybody cannot do everything. One has to search and find the destiny and may find the real ‘you’. Initially maybe you were searching in wrong directions ie, in directions in which we are not creative, but there must be a direction in which we are creative
When we tune ourselves to get connected with the nature, we feel that even trees are creative, rocks are creative and everything else in this universe are creative. We are human beings , the very culmination of this existence. We are at the top, we are conscious. Each man comes into this world with a specific destiny: he has something to fulfill, some message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed. We are not here accidentally, we are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind everyone. Lets Seek and go on searching till we find it.
– Gopakumar P