creativity 1

If necessity is the mother of invention, then opportunity is the father.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

What is creativity? 

There have been many definitions of creativity in literature and academia. For example, creativity is the forming of associative elements into new combinations which either meet requirements or

are in some way useful. Creativity denotes a person's capacity to produce new or original ideas, insights, inventions or artistic products which are accepted by experts as being of scientific, aesthetic, social or technical value, and one I particularly like with a modern twist on values that creativity is imagination with responsibility. 

Creativity is often thought to exist on at least two levels, big C versus little c, eminent versus every day. 

Creativity is the ability to imagine or invent something new or value where the value may be personal, societal, financial or some combination of these. Creativity is not the ability to create something out of nothing, but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing or reapplying

existing ideas. Some creative ideas are astonishing and brilliant while others are just simple good practical ideas that no one seems to have thought of yet.

In the consideration of creativity, it's important to think about both body and mind. Attention and stress are intertwined. While stress arousal is useful for real emergency, as an ongoing state, it can be a disaster. If you want people to be able to consider novel ideas, you need to take care of the potential stress response. A stress response can, through the release of endorphins, prevent people from being able to think about new ideas. So we need to create a low stress environment, to encourage creative thinking. Physical and mental environments need to be considered. This can be achieved by protecting participants from the consequences of considering new ideas. Reassurance should be given

that if a new idea is followed, then the whole group will provide support. And will try and solve any problems that arise. Generating high trust is essential.

When do we get ideas? The common feature of the situations when we get ideas is that we are relaxed. And our subconscious is highly active. This aides communication between our consciousness and subconscious. And hence the production and realizations of ideas.

from Coursera MOOC: Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success - Imperial College London