This might sound obvious, but some people have trouble coming up with creative ideas without ingesting LSD.

To give you an example, how many of you could go out into the world for one day without a plan? How about driving off into some random direction without any destination? What would happen if you let yourself wander for an entire day? Would you find an adventure or would you just sit by yourself in a cafe on the internet?

Creativity is closely linked to your relationship with spontaneous thought.

I realize I lie at the extreme end of being highly addicted to spontaneous thoughts and new ideas. I have trouble following directions and doing mundane tasks. My energy lies somewhere inside dreams and fantastical new ideas. Most of my thoughts are based in a surreal narrative that is constantly activated by both external and internal conditions. And at this point, it is automatic, meaning I don't have to consciously try to be creative. My writing, art and videos are just vessels for my creative thinking. I'm not defined by any of them.

Many adults seem to have lost their innate creativity that they possessed as a child, as it was snuffed out of them during school or jobs.

In fact, it's my firm belief that everyone started out as a creative thinker, but through conformity and too much emphasis on rules, it has been snuffed out.

According to Picasso:

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

So, I'll let you know how I let my mind wander and create stories and artwork on its own. It may sound strange to declare that my mind is doing things "on its own", but that is true for me. It's automatic, as long as I am not depressed.

There are definite stages of creative thinking:

INCUBATION PERIOD

Let's take the example of the story I created about Dan's magic coal. His magic coal is an analogy for Steem. I have been thinking for many months about how to simplify the complexity of Steem. It's quite a technical challenge to undertake for most people and I see the great need for simplification of the things that run Steem. Honestly, I had been thinking of a solution to this for 8 months.

BIRTH OF NEW IDEA

While I was trying to explain Busy.org to my mother, I was struggling to find a simple way to explain it. Then the idea of a train emerged to my mind in a flash. Everyone understands how trains work, and a fast-moving locomotive seemed like a decent analogy. Busy is one train, Steemit is another, and they both use the same track (blockchain) and they are also fueled by the same energy source: Steem.

CULTIVATION OF NEW IDEA

This is the stage where most people just lose their ideas and then do nothing with them. The reasons are complex, but it is, I think rooted in the ego. We were conditioned to think our ideas are inherently inferior to "the experts' ideas". We judge our own ideas in a negative light. This is conditioning from school, society, wherever. We have been taught to be cautious in sharing our innermost, original ideas. I was raised this way, too.

But I reject this.

Ideas are meant to live out their entire lives in the open where everyone else can see them. Most of my ideas are bad, but I don't throw them in the closet before they are allowed to roam around. I let my mind roam freely, openly and cultivate the ideas that I think have value. The story of Dan's magic coal emerged in this way. It all just came together as I was writing it and for that reason, it felt effortless. It also gave me a lot of joy to create. Joy is the fuel of creativity. Anger and sadness can also be fuel.

IDEAS FLOURISH WHEN YOU'RE NOT TOO ATTACHED TO THEM

This might sound absurd, but this is how I function nowadays. In order to cultivate the idea of Dan's magic coal, I couldn't be too attached to it. I couldn't say to myself, "This is a great idea! It's going to be something!" I felt almost zero attachment to the magic coal idea, and just went with the flow of having fun with creating the concept. I also didn't have to rush off to work so I had the necessary time to develop my idea at the time it emerged. This is an essential point. Letting go of being attached to your ideas allows you to create them without pressure. It allows your mind to freely create lots of ideas without being attached to outcomes. You don't want to spend a lot of time cultivating bad ideas, and by distancing yourself emotionally from them, you will be able to see which ones are better than the others.

The image below is an example of one of my bad ideas. I used to paint on a unibrow and go out in public. The trend never caught on:

Image Source: photograph by @stellabelle

Pro Tip: You are not defined by your ideas. Ideas come and go and the best way to be creative is to develop the habit of noticing your creative impulses and then bring them into reality. The more you cultivate them, the easier it will be to come up with more. After a while, this will become automatic. Welcome to your new creative mind. Also, you can't care if people laugh at you. If you laugh at you, that's all that matters.

This post is self-identified as HQ