When we challenge our usual patterns, we wake up our brains to think more creatively and see new possibilities.
Let’s face it: a lot of what we do is repetitive. It’s familiar, and that’s normal. We’ve perfected the most efficient ways to get through our days with limited energy to get everything done. This pattern is what we need and how our brains are designed.
We’re also rewarded for it. When we do things we’re good at, we’re more likely to succeed. We get better grades and even a bigger salary. On a smaller level, we have the satisfaction of checking off our to-do list and are perceived by others as reliable.
But doing what’s familiar is not very creative. If we need to solve problems or find a better way to do something, we need to put in time and effort to step off the hamster wheel of busyness and make space for something new. We have to give ourselves permission to not be productive, to make mistakes, and to go the wrong way. And we can even actively make our brains more flexible by doing what’s unfamiliar—even if it comes at a cost.
What Creative People Do
In fact, many very creative people have developed techniques to push their brains beyond the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary. This may take the form of moving the body in an unusual way or having contact with an unusual object so that many senses and associations are engaged simultaneously. In a way, this simply surprises the brain, getting it out of its rut.
Sometimes, for example, we get our best ideas in the shower or in line at the grocery store, rather than when we are working hard, trying to be creative. Creative ideas rarely come when they “should” because routine and normalcy are the opposite of creativity. Showering and grocery shopping are also ordinary activities, but they do provide a shift in perspective and sensory input away from the typical work environment.
Writers Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, and Truman Capote all lay down to write when they were looking for inspiration. Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and Lewis Carroll all wrote standing up. William Wordsworth sharpened pencils to find inspiration. And many simply went out for a walk—Henry David Thoreau, A. E. Housman, and Charles Dickens, to name a few. These weren’t idle habits or personal quirks. Each was a deliberate way of surprising the brain out of its familiar patterns—because when we change how we move and what we sense, we open the door to thoughts and connections that routine keeps closed. Essentially, these activities open up our brains to new ways of thinking. They take it outside its normal routine so that more original patterns of thought can be encouraged.
Brain Flexibility Exercises
- See Both Sides: Think of something nonhuman in your house that you interact with every day. It could be an object, like a TV or a toaster, or maybe a beloved pet. Now, write a complete description of this thing, telling all about how it looks and acts. Then, write a description of yourself, from the point of view of the object. How do you look from its perspective?
- Rock, Paper, Scissors, Brain: There are a number of different hand-coordination exercises that can challenge your brain and help you grow new brain connections. In fact, when children play hand-clapping games, they are doing a lot to help develop their own brains. There is no reason that this sort of self-development play should take place only in a schoolyard, though. Practicing and mastering a variety of hand-coordination games will help keep you in the habit of growing new connections for brain flexibility. Try this one, which is based on the old Rock, Paper, Scissors game. First, practice making the three motions with both hands until you can do it with either hand very quickly and easily. Then, try doing it with both hands together so that one hand makes the symbol that cancels the other. For example, when the right hand makes the rock symbol, the left hand makes the paper symbol. Continue practicing until you can do this very quickly and fluidly.
- Renaming Game: Look at ordinary objects around you and give them new names. Giving familiar objects new names helps open your awareness by playing with your perceptions and challenging you to see and hear things in new ways. The point is to help you see that the names you have for things can be investigated and challenged—that it’s possible to see everything from a different perspective than the one you’ve held forever. As an additional step, you can imagine alternative uses for them.
- Pay Attention to Detail: Look closer at the subtleties in things and people—the shadings and brushwork in paintings, the fruit flavors in fine wine, or the body language of two people speaking on the other side of the room. Paying attention to minute detail is a spectacular workout for the brain.
- Plan to Be Spontaneous: Change up your regular routine. If you have been following a daily schedule for ten years, break it. If you take an evening walk, occasionally venture along a new route. Once in a while, alter the order of your day.
I would urge us to reconsider anytime we react with, “I can’t do that,” or, “I am no good at that.” If we can’t sing, we can start belting out songs whenever we get the chance. If we have two left feet, we can get out there and start dancing the night away. We can be unabashed about our inability and magnanimous in the face of our own embarrassment. Our brains will thank us for it, and we might just have a whole lot of fun in the process.
Editor’s Note: You can find these and other simple and practical exercises for managing your brain in Ilchi Lee’s books: Principles of Brain Management: A Practical Approach to Making the Most of Your Brain and The Power Brain: Five Steps to Upgrading Your Brain Operating System.
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