The Easy Way To Boost Creativity — Trust The Universe
How can you boost creativity? It’s summer 2022 — I’m sitting in the pedestrian zone at a restaurant table. At this point, I already feel that something needs to change. However, I’m not clear on what that is.
I’m one of those people who sit alone in a restaurant with their headphones, a notebook, and a book, enjoying some time to themselves. The hustle and bustle around me motivates me and gently distracts my attention. If I’m not writing or reading, I can look around and observe the world. For me, it’s like a vacation every time.
I’m reading the book “Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All”. The authors, Tom and David Kelley, believe that everyone is creative. As I sit there eating, this idea inspires me. The word “creativity” creates a sound in my head that I can hardly resist. It’s as if every cell in my body is resonating with this concept.
The word creativity triggered something in me
Unfortunately, I’m not creative. But the idea doesn’t leave me for the next few months. It triggered something in me.
In the following weeks, I consciously and unconsciously dealt with the topic of creativity. By chance, I see an article on a website about the book “The Artist Way” — unfortunately behind a paywall. But something draws me to it so magically that I absolutely have to buy this book.
5 minutes later, I buy the book and start reading it. The author, Julia Cameron, also believes that everyone is creative. Hope begins to sprout. For her, creativity is an expression of God.
“God? Oh man, I have absolutely nothing to do with that,” comes to my mind. It all sounds a bit too much like New Age or religion to me. But I like her thoughts: “See it all as an exercise in open-mindedness,” she writes. “God is just a metaphor here, you can use any other model that works for you.”
The part of me that resonates with creativity becomes more excited: “Could it be that I am creative after all?” I ask myself.
Throughout the book, my connection to something greater causes me problems. How can I remove God from the equation — do I even need Him to believe in her strategies? I’m so drawn to the book that I want to believe her.
One reason why I like the idea of the connection between creativity and God so much: if I believe in it, then creativity is something I receive and not something that originates within me alone. This thought takes some responsibility off my shoulders.
Suddenly, I don’t have to be a creative person anymore, but I have to be good at “letting go” and receiving. A whole new challenge! Becoming a good receiver is something I can definitely learn!
Boost creativity through intuition
I review my past life: working in data science, molecular biology, blogging, being self-employed — I realize that all of these activities have a creative core. Anyone who has done exploratory data analysis will know what I mean. When huge tables suddenly start taking shape and a “feeling” for the data emerges. It’s a magic that’s hard to describe. Now I know that it’s more intuition than creativity, but at that time, it was creativity for me. It took me more time to realize how important intuition is for me.
The solution to my dilemma should come into my life through another coincidence. Through a friend, I come across the book “Tao Te Ching” — the basis of Taoist philosophy. I had only known it in basic terms through the yin-yang symbol that everyone somehow knows.
Taoism — more a philosophy than a religion
Taoism is a fairly simple philosophy (read more here). Its influence on Hinduism and Buddhism is great and has extensively shaped Asia. The basic idea is simple:
There is the Tao, some kind of force that forms the universe. It grows and is not controlled by anyone. We cannot understand this Tao and its rules. Everything you see is a manifestation of this Tao and is called Te. The Ching stands for the Chinese “book”. This gives the name of the Tao Te Ching.
How can the whole thing be explained more tangibly? There is a simple metaphor:
Imagine the ocean — big and wide. Waves arise and disappear everywhere on the ocean. Each wave is a manifestation in itself for a short time but always remains a part of the ocean. That’s exactly how it is with us humans too: we appear briefly, remain part of the larger and then disappear again.
You and I are waves of a huge ocean. The only rule that Taoism has is: live according to your nature.
Live according to Nature makes your life easier
Or translated: Do what you enjoy and what feels right to you. Whether your life as a movie lover often ends up in front of the TV, as an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, as a shepherd in the Himalayas: If it feels right to you, then it is right.
Live according to your nature because then life feels like “flow”.
Here, the circle closes with Julia Cameron’s “God”: Instead of a God, I can accept that my subconscious somehow works and as a manifestation of the universe holds infinite potential.
You don’t have to believe in my image of the universe. Maybe you already have your own idea of where the “unexplainable” things like intuition come from. However, I believe that one factor is crucial: the explanation should help you to give up some responsibility and build trust.
After I had said goodbye to the voice in my head’s desire for “genius”, I was free to create. I no longer want to impress, not stand out extremely — instead, I am simple and say what I think more bluntly. With an authentic appearance without fear, we can have an extreme lever in the world.
Trust your nature and your intuition. Because this trust is the basis for you to fully utilize your intuition later. In the end, every model is right that feels right to you.
What to do next?
- Explore the topic of creativity: Take some time to reflect on what creativity means to you and explore different resources such as books, articles, or podcasts to learn more about creativity and how to tap into it.
- Practice letting go: Instead of feeling the pressure to be a creative genius, focus on becoming a good receiver and letting creativity flow naturally. Embrace your intuition and do what feels right to you.
- Trust your nature: Live according to your nature and do what you enjoy. Whether it’s working in data science or being a shepherd in the Himalayas, trust that following your passion will lead to a flow state where creativity thrives. Trusting the universe and your authentic self is the key to unlocking your full creative potential.
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