Have you ever wondered what your Creativity eats? I’ll let you in on the secret.

He/she feeds off your experiences; off the things you interact with or notice as you go about your daily life. And the main source of that food is visual. Yes, your eyes feed your Creativity.

So what interesting morsels are you supplying your Creativity? Are you feeding him/her at all?

Some people are so busy they never let their eyes rest on anything worth ingesting, at least from their Creativity’s point of view. But with a little understanding of your Creativity’s eating habits, you can keep him/her happy and healthy.

Start Eating Right

The first step is to realise your Creativity is relying on you to satisfy his/her needs. So what are you providing?

Are you paying attention to your surroundings? Do you actually take in the sights and people you encounter, or are you so wrapped up in getting from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible that you don’t notice anything else?

You don’t have to go out of your way to find ‘food’ of interest. Look at the passengers you share a bus with. Watch people who walk by. Notice the plants. Read posters. Stare at clouds. Eavesdrop on a nearby conversation. Examine your environment to see what whets your Creativity’s appetite.

How will you know when you’ve hit on something your Creativity wants a bite of? You’ll begin to feel intrigued, curious, excited. You may even have a light bulb moment when the spark of an idea forms. Then you know you’re on the right track.

Provide a Varied Diet

If you just eat the same meal over and over again, life starts to get dull and tasteless, even if the meal used to be your favourite. It’s the same with your Creativity. Once he/she has squeezed all the excitement out of the places you frequent, you need ensure you’re keeping the meals interesting.

Try taking a different route to work, talking to someone you’ve never spoken to before, reading a different book, walking into a strange shop, learning a new subject, travelling to a faraway place, tasting an unexpected dish.

Vary the place, time and mood. Even slight differences can change the whole texture of an experience.

Savour the Flavour

When someone presents you with a beautiful meal, you chew slowly and savour the tastes. When your Creativity is ‘eating,’ the speed with which he/she ‘chews’ is directly proportional to how much attention you invest. If your eyes flit from one thing to the next, your Creativity misses the depth of the experience and ends up with creative gas – and you do not want me to start describing that to you.

So, give your Creativity time to take in the details. Let your eyes, and attention, dwell on each individual experience. Don’t rush. Chewing your food takes time.

Thankfully, China is a country where staring is considered the norm so Jessica uses this cultural quirk to the full. But if you’re in a culture which views staring as impolite, what can you do? Start by practicing your ability to capture detail. You can tell a lot just by a glance. The more you practice this skill, the better you will become. You can then recreate the scene, person and/or object in your Imagination. From there you and your Creativity can stare at it as much as you like.

To keep your Creativity happy and healthy, you need to be feeding him/her a varied and regular diet of interesting experiences. What is your Creativity’s favourite food?

(Mine, in case you were wondering, is subway train rides. The amount of people and conversations crammed into each car is a veritable smorgasbord of new sensations!)

Image credit: freerangestock.com by Chance Agrella.