It’s the time of year when we see people’s creativity all around us. They decorate their homes with lights, colorful figures and greenery. Who wants to get all techie and ruin the mood? I say, embrace your creative side these last weeks of the year and get more done than ever. Unleash your creativity and boost your cognition. We already know that exercising helps boost your memory power. But we can also solve more problems as we get more artsy. And I’m not the only one saying this.
Your brain becomes more flexible
Fostering your creativity trains your brain to be more adaptable and flexible in dealing with all sorts of problems. Not just how to get that pot completely balanced and smooth, for example, but how to solve that problem with a work project or a relationship or a career issue. As I work on a knitting project, for example, my stitches start out uneven and the yarn tension is unbalanced. But as I work through my knitting issues, other problems are also being worked on in the back of my brain.
Being creative takes you out of the linear thinking mode and the confines of regular logic. Options stop being only black and white. Your mind can look at problems from many different angles and see potential solutions that you otherwise might miss.
All parts of the brain are involved
We used to think that creativity came from just one part of the brain. But scientists have debunked that theory. Multiple parts of the brain are involved, along with neurotransmitters and other cognitive processes. The temporal lobe which is used for processing memories and emotions, the parietal lobe which is mostly for sensory processing, and even the prefrontal cortex, used mostly for high-level cognitive tasks, gets involved when you’re doing some creative thinking.
Cognition involves many mental processes we use to learn and understand things. Processes like attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving. Creative thinking uses all of these processes as well.
So, get smart and get creative. Go take up a new hobby. Or dust off that scarf you started knitting last year.
By the way, getting creative can also boost your healthy aging. Creative hobbies can reduce stress and help us be more optimistic. Finishing a creative project will also boost our confidence and our resilience.
