Creative thinking activity depends on a brain that is energized. This article will show you how to enliven the brain using the five senses.
Aerobic exercises get life-sustaining oxygen into parts of the body often starved. Aerobics for your senses have the same effect, enlivening them, waking them up, which in turn leads to a higher level of creative thinking activity.
Our five senses of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing bombard the brain every second with millions of pieces of information. A mother is barely aware of the noise her children are making until a neighbor says: "How do you put up with it!" The lesson? We quickly get accustomed to our environment so it becomes the norm, which means we fail to take notice of detail and the seeds of creative ideas.
The Challenge
So here is our challenge - to get the senses to break out of the box so we start noticing things again.
Here is an "aerobic brain exercise" to get creative "oxygen" to those senses:
Select in your mind something familiar. For this example we will choose A BOOK. Think of a familiar book you enjoy reading. Now close your eyes and wrap your 5 senses around this object in your imagination and really live the experience.
TOUCH
What does it feel like to pick it up? Is it heavy, light? What is the texture of the cover? Glossy or grainy? As you turn the pages do they feel rough or smooth?
HEARING
What kind of sounds do you the pages make as you turn them? Is it a rustling sound due to fine paper, or a stiff sound caused by thick paper?
SMELL
Does the book have a distinctive smell? When you hold it close to your nose what unique smells come from the mixture of ink and paper?
TASTE
While not suggesting we take a bite, does your imagination suggest a certain taste? Our brains are amazing association factories. Often we associate a certain flavor with an object. What flavor is your book?
SIGHT
What catches your eye as you view the book on the table from the other side of the room? Is it the size? The color? The title? The artwork?
Now after you have run through your 5 senses in this manner, that familiar object, your favorite book, will take on a completely new representation in your mind!
Just Try It
Skeptical? Just try it! It will only take between one and two minutes. The images your brain is left with will stay with you indefinitely. That is the power of concentration.
Where is all this leading us?
When you need to engage in creative thinking activity you depend on a massive input of sensations and thoughts. Linking the most unlikely sometimes produces brilliant ideas! Applying these associations from your imagination to your task in hand can produce great results.
CONCLUSION: Try this aerobic brain exercise for your senses just before your next project such as problem solving or setting goals which requires serious thinking or creative thinking activity! You will never view familiar things the same way again and you might just give birth to a brilliant solution or idea.
