Creative Thinking

  If there is any living thing that we must love upon more than technology, device or any instrument - it is our BRAIN. A miraculous piece of muscle that has created so many technological revolutions, one that controls who we are, how we conduct ourselves, the sole guide of our body's physical & physiological actions, our emotions, behavior & so much more - in all it is a complex, sophisticated & advanced piece of living object that we deal with …or to say it deals with us..!!

Human brain is the most important muscle of our body. We all know how important it is to look after our bodies, as suggested by so many diets, exercise & selfcare methods being followed & unfollowed over the decades. But its equally important to look after our brain.

Our brain is constantly learning & it needs training to learn new things. A significant way to train the mind is by doing things in a new or a different way or to learn new things. The constant exercise that our brain requires is THINKING. How often do we subject our core muscle to its most sought after exercise, the way we do for our body. If so, the question is - how often, how long, on what areas, how creative, how do we comprehend & communicate what we think & with whom!. Undoubtedly, our brain needs regular training to stay strong, active & keep us emotionally, socially & spiritually fit, which in turn has considerable impact on our overall well-being personally & professionally.

Unfortunately, we developed this muscle in a very limited way so far. Most of the time, our brain is subjected to strenuous exercises like stress, psychological disturbances of work & life, negative thoughts, influences of to fulfill our desires. While, many of these may be unavoidable & the human brain may well be created to handle these, there is always a capacity to which it could bear these pressures or would need to be given alternate therapies continuously to make it sustain all such pressure of life & work. Hence the brain needs Creative exercise which could be brought through Creative Thinking. Perhaps what we miss on is to explore Creative Thinking as a developmental mechanism for self, community & businesses.

During our school time, we learn new skills, idea & theories that change the way we think & perform. 

Most schools do not reach thinking at all. Some schools teach limited thinking skills as part of analytical subjects but that’s highly insufficient. But, never has been there "an established way of thinking that was ever taught or exposed to us". 

Neither our educational curriculum not most of the upbringing environments have taken up the idea of Creative Thinking. 

There are two reasons, we have stayed away or neglected from Creative Thinking. The first reason is non-belief about it. We have assumed Creative Thinking or being Creative to be a gift to some select humans & others simply don’t have it.

Second is about always finding logic in creative thinking. The assumption has been that every creative idea / thought has to be logical, otherwise it’s a crazy or weird idea. And if the creative idea is logical, we could reach it logically, so there is no need to think creatively or differently !

Another myth that has plagued people for long time is that highly intelligent people are naturally creative thinkers & people with average intelligence cant think creative. In fact, being intelligent or genius at times is a barrier to creative thinking. De Bono says, "intelligence is a potential, while thinking is a skill and for potential to be fully used, we need to develop thinking skills... "

Lastly, we have been consistently taught about What to think, but rarely introduced to How to think. For many, it has been "Tell All" environment than "Seek All" - one which breeds curiosity or reasoning, thus leading to a serious lack of aptitude to think.

  Creative Thinking is a spontaneous mental process. It is driven less by evidence or logic but more by faith, personal opinions, experiences etc. Or to say capacity to challenge the existing order of things, by deliberately forcing ourselves out of our usual way of thinking, to see the status quo from a new and enlightening perspective. 

Creative Thinking is generative, whereas Critical Thinking is selective. Creative Thinking does not select but opens up options. With creative thinking, we generate many alternatives as possible, while in critical thinking helps narrow down on most promising solution to a problem.

Creative thinking is not just an activity in isolation. It revolves around key associated aspects of being able to comprehend and communicate (Interpersonal Communication) and work together (Collaboration) with a diverse set of people & talent 

Creative Thinking requires listening, observing, articulating and communicating be it verbal or non-verbal. Some of the greatest thinkers are great observers  & listeners.  Thinking needs people to come together to think, brainstorm & exchange ideas for them to evolve to a common or even a non-shared goal. 

The interpersonal Communication skills play a definitive role in the overall process of thinking. While, the pen is mightier than the sword, a well-communicated thought proves to be the mightiest!!

As people come together, it becomes imperative to have skills pertaining to working with & through a larger sphere of people. Collaborating across a wide spectrum of people becomes imperative. The spread could be considerably diverse & may vary across gender, geography, demography, creed, language, socio-economic patterns, color, religion, ethnicity & many more aspects to make it a highly diverse environment. This makes thinking challenging as natural unconscious biases add to the cognitive biases that may already exist.

William James, the French philosopher in 1870, realized & noted the ability to choose one thought over the other. In other words, we control what we think. To put it simply - we become what we think about day long. Actions follow thoughts. That means we can’t change our action without changing our thoughts…

The potential impact of Creatie Thinking are manifold & include;

• Positive shift in general ability to think & go viral into a subject to find better solutions
• Changes in behavioral, psychological & emotional levels of an individual
• Ability to appreciate divergent point of view
• Develop / Evolve being more Empathetic
• Improvement on problem solving, crisis management & generate greater possibilities
• Learn to leverage resources better, share scarce resources & help others on their shortcomings
• Be curious, open & better with reasoning to question the conventional or challenge the status-quo
• Evolve as better listener, improve articulation & non-verbal communication
• Being self-aware &  being non-judgmental 
• By being self-aware & empathetic, an area that could get significantly impacted would be the ability & willingness to work with diverse talent & people while achieving personal as well as collective goals & objectives
• Getting away from assumptions & taking things for granted

While, this is not a personality development workshop or finishing school per se, the design & content of the program shall leave significant impact on the overall personality of an individual or a group.