Creative Thinking

A daily exercise program for your mind. Creative thinking made easy.

An Easy Approach to Breakthrough Thinking
By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
Pioneer brain/mind researcher
http://www.quantum-self.com
© 2004 All Rights Reserved.

Just like exercising to condition your muscles, your mind also works best if it is challenged frequently with creative thinking exercises.

From my personal experience, the first hours of the morning seem to be a golden time for ideas and insights. Many times, inspirations have come to me while I'm in the shower. And it has been so for many of history's greatest thinkers.

In the early morning hours, our minds are largely uncluttered, free of many problems and concerns -- making our conscious minds especially receptive to hunches, insights and ideas that percolate up from the subconscious.

So how can you develop a daily exercise program to strengthen your brain’s creative faculties? Here’s a simple method that only requires four simple things: an hour alone with a good cup of coffee or tea, a pad of paper, a pencil or pen, and an open mind.

Try this simple brainstorming technique, and see what results you get.

1. Pick a Problem or Opportunity
You’re going to want to give your powerful subconscious mind something to chew on just before you go to sleep. Just before sleep spend a half-hour or so contemplating a current problem, challenge or opportunity. Then when you lay down to sleep, just forget about it.

Your subconscious mind operates 24/7 ­ and is the source of almost all of your truly creative “ah-ha” ideas. Once you have posed the problem and gone to sleep ­ your subconscious mind will go to work sorting through all of the knowledge and insights you’ve collected over your life looking for insights and answers.

2. Carve Out a Creative Time Space
The next morning get up one hour before anyone else. Sit down in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee or tea, a pad of paper, and your favorite pen or pencil.

3. Do a “Brain Dump”
Just relax and let your ideas begin to flow. Write down everything down that occurs to you ­ no matter how “impossible” or unusual these ideas seem. Your immediate job is to let your brain do an "idea dump,” and to capture it on paper" on paper for later evaluation.

The reason this method works so well is that your subconscious mind is actually a giant storehouse of thoughts and ideas ­ all floating around just below your conscious awareness. All of your “hunches” or “intuitions” bubble up directly from the vast resource of your subconscious mind.

4. Analyze Your Material
The last thing to do is playfully analyze your materials. Look for unique combinations or unusual insights. And most of all ­ look for how it all ties together into a single answer. Nine times out of ten you’re going to get a creative new insight.

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