Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind

The findings demonstrated that creativity is not merely expertise or knowledge but is instead informed by a whole suite of intellectual, emotional, motivational, and ethical characteristics.19 The common strands that seemed to transcend all creative fields was an openness to one’s inner life, a preference for complexity and ambiguity, an unusually

Psychologist Robert Vallerand and his colleagues make a distinction between harmonious and obsessive passion, which are most importantly distinguished by how a passion has been internalized in the person’s identity.

correlated with creativity: plasticity, divergence, and convergence.

What does an inspired person look like? People who enjoy a high frequency and intensity of inspiration in their daily lives tend to be more open to new experiences and report feeling greater absorption and flow in their activities.

Many highly creative people can vividly remember a “moment, an encounter, a book that they read, a performance that they attended, that spoke to them and led them to say, “This is the real me, this is what I would like to do, to devote my life to, going forward,” says psychologist Howard Gardner.10 That moment of memorable, dramatic contact with an

There are many benefits, creative and otherwise, to being an easily inspired person. One study found that inspiration leads to increased optimism, belief in one’s capabilities, self-determination, and self-esteem.

But as two prominent psychologists recently noted, “Not all minds who wander are lost”—in fact, the mind’s wandering is vital to imagination and creative thought.

Some studies have found that direct instruction in the earliest years of life can backfire, making children less curious, less likely to discover new information, and less likely to make new, unexpected connections.

People who engage in a creative lifestyle—perhaps by drifting off in daydreams, taking photographs just for fun, talking passionately about personal goals, writing thoughtful cards or letters to friends and family, keeping a journal, or starting their own business—tend to be more open minded, imaginative, intellectually curious, energetic, outgoing