Australian_Yoga_Journal_2016_08_09_downmagaz.com

expose yourself to situations or ideas that
don’t feel easy. For example, you might
volunteer to go first when presenting
ideas at a work meeting even though you
hate public speaking or fear that your
co-workers will judge you. Or you could
say “yes” when your best friend invites
you to their favourite Saturdaymorning
dance class instead of going
to your usual yoga class. When you
feel uncomfortable or a little out of
your element, remind yourself that
your efforts are ultimately broadening
your current comfort zone, outside of
which new ideas await.
7
Repack your baggage.
“Life is a journey, and the stuff you needed
in your bag to get to where you are now
may not be the stuff you need on the
journey going forward,” says Whelan. That
means it’s time to dump it all out and really
assess what’s there: material possessions,
your friends, your emotions, your job, and
so on. Then, ask yourself: “What’s serving
me and what’s not?” And: “What’s helping
me break free of my negative samskaras
and strengthen the positive ones?” Once
you have assessed everything in front of
you, you’ll be in a better position to decide
what stays and what goes.
suprising
ways to spur
innovation
Eat more fruit …
and soy and seeds and any other
food that contains high levels of
tyrosine, an amino acid
that is assumed to
increase your ability
to think harder and
more creatively,
reports a study in
3
the Journal
Psychological
Research.
Let yourself be bored
Turns out that mundane tasks may not be as useless as you
might think: In one recent study, participants who were
assigned to copy numbers out of a phone directory for 15 minutes
(yawn!) were more creative on the next task (coming up with
new uses for a pair of Styrofoam cups) than people who
went straight to the cup challenge.
5
four
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1
There’s a reason you come up
with your best ideas while you’re
exercising: going for a casual walk
fosters more creative thinking than
sitting, according to a Stanford
University study. Experts think it’s
because walking makes the heart
pump more quickly, which circulates
more fresh, oxygenated (read:
energising) blood to all your
organs, including your brain.
two
Do a quick body scan.
six
Leave your desk messy
Finally, a good excuse not to
tidy up! A study at the University of
Minnesota found that people forced to
work in messy offices came up with
more creative and interesting ideas
than those in neater spaces.
This style of meditation is more than simply relaxing; it can also help you tap
your creativity to solve problems. One study published in the journal
Mindfulness found that a meditation practice during which participants were
receptive to every thought and sensation in their body made them better at
divergent thinking – the creative process of coming up with numerous possible
solutions to a problem – than when their meditation involved focusing on a
single thought, mantra, or object.
Travel can be a wonderful way to enhance
your creativity, according to research by
Adam Galinsky, PhD, a professor at
Columbia Business School, especially
when you immerse yourself in the local
culture (rather than, say, opting for the
all-inclusive beach resort). Galinsky has
found that foreign travel in particular
boosts the flexibility of your
7
thinking, sparking new ideas.
Start doodling
Next time you’re stuck in a long meeting,
pick up your pen and go to town in the
margins of the paper in front of you.
Doodling improves your focus and memory,
according to research published in the journal
Applied Cognitive Psychology, and can also
fire up your creative juices, solidify ideas,
and inspire new notions.
PHOTO: XDIMITRIOS STEFANIDIS; BOGDANHODA; SEB_RA; SILVIAJANSEN; STOCKFINLAND; MISCHOKO /ISTOCKPHOTO.COM