Why is it that an afternoon spent cleaning up is considered more productive than an a few hours at the art table? Creativity isn’t a requirement of most everyday tasks however, it is vital to train your brain in the more free-flowing sides of life. Here’s how being more creative will benefit you and your family.
It teaches you how to problem-solve
Being straight-forward and logical is good to a point, but it won’t be the right technique for every kind of problem. Psychologist Dr. Brooklyn Storme from Cerebellum Consulting says creativity is the key to good problem solving skills:
“Being creative is super important not just because it's fun to release your inner artist but because did you know that being creative also helps to develop cognitive ability? It's true. Creativity helps us to problem-solve by getting us to think outside of the box. We wouldn't have innovation without creativity either. Where would Apple Computers be if their guru didn't in exciting ways, challenge the status quo and flip convention on its head?”
Dr. Storme also says it doesn’t have to be a complex activity to reap the creative rewards;
“If you want to be more creative everyday and boost your cognitive ability, try finding different ways to do simple things. Maybe find a new route to travel to work. Maybe ask yourself what you could swap something for (i.e. if i didn't have bread for this sandwich, what would i use instead?)”
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It’s great for stress relief
Studies show that creative activities are good for relieving stress so it’s important that you are engaging your creativity, or that of your child in a way that is fun and easy. For hands-on kids indulge their imagination with pretend kitchen toys and ask them to share with you their secret recipes. A more visually inspired child would enjoy drawing or reading from the comfort of their MyDeal play tent.
For an adult exercise, Shayen De Silva from Web Profits enjoys writing as a creative outlet and offers his advice for when the words won’t flow.
“I have a small dinosaur on my desk, and when I'm struggling to write I begin writing a short story about the dinosaur. His name is Balthazar. He has an older brother. He likes skateboarding and ice cream sandwiches.
It doesn't matter what I write about, what counts is that I'm writing. It may sound silly but this is a great exercise for your creative thinking and it gets your brain back into the routine of writing. Importantly, it alleviates the stress of trying to force yourself to write.”
Find more from Shayen on LinkedIn.
It provides the building blocks to success
There is strong scientific evidence that being creative makes you happier and getting into a serious creative flow will make you happier for longer than any quick fix like eating a sugary cookie. Kate Attfield from Sew, Craft, Cook believes in the power of creativity for fostering success and happiness in children.
“Creativity invokes problem solving intertwined with emotion, so it opens up the brain to loads of neural functioning. When we use the left and right sides of the brain we learn about our immediate environment, which could be the piece we are creating and we also learn to problem solve in a lateral manner about the wider world. We believe creativity is also very important to assist in empowering both children and adults, giving them a sense of success and in turn self love.”
She believes we should access our creativity daily to make the most of its benefits.
“In short, creativity assists us with brain functioning, exploring emotions and most importantly makes us feel good, and if it makes you feel good, doing it daily has got to be good for us.”
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Variety is the spice of life as they say, and our advice is to spice up your day with something creative. Whether it’s painting, drawing, cooking or dancing you’ll benefit widely from even a few moments of expression.
