Chronicles of Creativity: the ultimate muse for rediscovering lost creativity

When I was 12 my dream was to write a historical fiction novel taking place during World War II. My favorite book at the time took place during this time period (Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman), so I attempted.

As a slightly antisocial kid, the isolated aspect of writing appealed to me. I have felt drawn to writing for as long as I can remember. I wrote roughly 140 pages that fall of my 7^th grade year.

After 7^th grade ended, I abandoned the project and instead devoted a lot of my efforts to fitting in at school (a futile attempt; I wish I had stuck to writing).

Since then I have not written anything longer than 40 pages. The inner editor, the perfectionist within me, the train stuck at procrastination station, my inability to imagine a world outside of my own—whatever you want to call it—halted my progress. Suddenly, the task became Herculean, and the beautiful flow I recalled having as a preteen where I could sit and write for hours completely eluded me. Flow state and creativity often go hand in hand.

I unearthed my historical fiction manuscript about four years ago on a flash drive long since lost.

At 12 years old, I produced some truly crappy writing–what else could you expect? The storyline stumbled along, tangled and half-formed. But, despite its shortcomings, I had conjured a whole other world that felt very real to me at the time. The magnitude of such a project didn’t scare me away. I was engrossed in the creative endeavor (until I wasn’t).

I am not alone in feeling like I’ve lost or am missing out on some of my creative potential: only 25% of individuals think they use their full creative potential.

This reflection caused me to ask multiple questions.

What is “creativity”, and does it decrease as you age and try to assimilate into the world? Do you start to judge yourself in proportion to the way you perceive the world is judging you? Most importantly, can you re-attain that uninhibited child-like creativity you once had?

This is part I of the Chronicles of Creativity, a multi-part deep dive into the creative processes.

Understanding Creativity

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

Oscar Wilde

According to multiple studies, two core definers of creativity remain consistent: originality and effectiveness/usefulness.

Originality cannot stand on its own because new and original ideas can often lack practicality. For instance, if you put a toddler in front of a computer and allow the toddler to type away, the resulting gibberish they produce may be original, yet utterly devoid of usefulness. For this reason, the string of letters and symbols would not qualify as creative. It would only be considered a byproduct of random key-pressing (unless the toddler is a genius, I suppose).

However, some people push back on the utility aspect. They question how art could be deemed useful. Furthermore, if it does meet the criteria of utility, who exactly decides what constitutes utility? Isn’t art supposed to be “subjective” with beauty being in “the eye of the beholder” and all that artsy fartsy stuff?

However, substituting usefulness with value in the definition of creative endeavors that serve no practical utility helps solve the issue. This checks out economically as well since highly creative pieces tend to receive a market value based on the number of people who deem the piece highly creative (and would back up their appreciation with their wallets).

In other fields, the word “creativity” is often substituted with “innovation”. Innovation or creativity varies widely depending on the field: creativity in science = a new technological advancement; creativity in writing = the next great American novel; creativity in art = a redefining art period.

While some are naturally inclined to be more creative, enacting stimulative creative practices can increase your creativity.

Where does creativity come from?

From a study done looking at the relationship between creativity in jazz guitar improvisation and brain activity, experienced jazz musicians and novices were analyzed playing as creatively as they could muster. Skilled jazz instructors rated the improvisations for creativity, and researchers analyzed the neural processes to pinpoint primary brain activity.

The experienced musicians thought less, relying on a more natural ebb and flow that can only come with years and years of intuiting an instrument. The primary activation spots were posterior brain regions associated with automated processing. Novices, on the other hand, derived a more analytical process from the right frontal region, leading to more deliberated musical decisions.

For the experienced players, the reduced reliance on executive control may have enhanced creativity by freeing up cognitive resources for spontaneous ideation. The experienced players had flow-related brain activity.

In other words, you could say creativity has two key triggers: extensive experience and release of control. You don’t have to let the intricacies of practicing the skill bog you down while you come up with innovative ideas on the spot.

To push the point further, accessing a creative flow state happens more often when practicing a task you’ve previously practiced.

Creativity in Sports

Sports can also associate with creative flow.

For instance, a highly trained MMA fighter does not need to think as hard about how to disarm an opponent. The moves come naturally to the fighter allowing him/her to create unique combinations on the spot.

A seasoned climber doesn’t need to waste energy thinking about foot and hand placement on a challenging route. Naturally attuned climbers use body weight and balance to their advantage, leading to creative beta on a problem that another climber might overlook.

A freestyling dancer with an arsenal of movements under their belt can simply move to the music and dance beautifully.

All of this can occur because the creator took the time to hone various aspects of their field until they could intuitively reorder and recreate them in original ways.

Why do we have the urge to create?

Humans place high value on creative practices and have for all of recorded history.

Society places creative geniuses on pedestals long after death. We will never forget Shakespeare and Michelangelo.

We seem wired to take pleasure in creative thoughts. There are neural rewards for thinking in a creative fashion, and that may be adaptive for our species.

Dr. John Kounios, psychologist and professor at Drexel University focused on researching creativity

Biologically, the human brain craves novelty and connecting seemingly unrelated ideas. To underpin this, “aha” moments or lightbulb moments when we seize upon an idea cause a drastic influx of dopamine.

As previously established, even in fields where being creative isn’t practically useful, we still reward creative outputs and place fantastical value on them.

All of this points to an innate desire humanity has to create. Curiously, some humans have deeper inclinations to certain creative practices than others. Some feel born with a purpose to create something. Some, myself included, believe these aspects of the uniqueness of humans point to a higher power.

So, does creativity decrease with age?

We should view the evolution of creativity throughout our lives as a transformation rather than a plunge. Certainly, one who does not use their creative muscles may allow them to atrophy, but creativity doesn’t decrease with age as much as inhibition increases with age. Thus, the way we best access our creativity changes.

Children have a greater imagination because they lack the experience that constrains reality.

Humans have a brain adept at recognizing patterns over time of what has worked for them based on experience. From an evolutionary perspective, this mitigates risky situations. However, our pattern recognizing and preference for the known options can keep us from exploring new ideas.

We must undergo much of this mental growing up–it’s essential. We can’t go our whole lives believing in the Easter Bunny and running around with our imaginary friends (in adults, that’s called mental instability).

Additionally, childhood imagination doesn’t always fit the definition of true creativity because it lacks that utility aspect. The real world can’t use nonsensical imagination.

All in all, the accumulation of knowledge and lifetime experiences can become our reservoir for accessing our most creative ideas and discovering our deepest creative flow.

Key Takeaway

The adult-alternative to child-like creativity is extensive experience that allows you to “let go”.

Perhaps we can never attain such unbridled imagination that a child has because that would require us to revert our life experience. We can utilize the other extreme: extensive experience. This withdraws conscious control while in a creative task, allowing for creative combinations, associations and behaviors.

Thank you for reading the first part in the creativity series. Part II will discuss science-based tools to access deeper creativity.