Do you have a problem? Any kind of a problem? I thought so! Is it difficult to get what you want? Thinking like an artist may be a solution to enabling you to do creative problem solving.
Problem Solving with Visual Art
Your problem solution could be found while you are working (or playing) with art. Imagine you are solving your issue as you set up a drawing. Make a viewfinder by cutting a small square from the middle of a piece of paper. This serves to narrow your focus. Move your horizon line higher or lower by gazing through your viewfinder. Consider a bird’s eye view. What about a worm’s eye view? Look at the issue from different angles. Try adjusting vanishing points where all your lines of perspective converge. One could even propose that whatever your problem may be could diminish into nothingness, as if disappearing into a vanishing point! As you may be a visual learner, this could help you to see another perspective.
If you are visually inclined, it could help to actually write, “I am satisfied with my solution.” In this case, time is irrelevant. Even if you have not yet experienced the answer to your problem, it serves to announce to your brain that it is receiving an assignment. Your subconscious brain will find a solution when you least expect it. You may even find the answer to your dilemma while dreaming or playing!
John Cleese confirms this with his wisdom, “Creativity is not the possession of some special talent. It’s about the willingness to play.“
If you haven’t yet found your answer, let’s turn on your imagination a bit more. M.C. Escher, the expert draftsman of fanciful, impossible to build structures is a case in point. His work was admired by fellow artists as well as mathematicians. In Relativity https://moa.byu.edu/m-c-eschers-relativity/, he created an elaborately detailed interior scene in which it is difficult to determine which way is up! This illustration, Belvedere https://www.illusionsindex.org/i/belevedere, has a building which would confound any architect as it would be impossible to replicate in three dimensions. M.C. always expands my ideas for what is possible! Here is a research article showing brain scans of people who benefited not only from making art, but also by viewing it. https://www.mic.com/articles/106504/science-shows-that-art-is-having-fantastic-effects-on-our-brains-and-bodies
Music Problem Solving
Imagine pondering your problem as if you were a music composer. Find your musical instrument or voice and begin playing with random notes. What musical mood seems to appear? Experiment with various tempos. How will dynamics play into the piece? Not only does playing music help your brain, but listening to it does as well. This article explores the results of music, visual arts, movement based creative expression and expressive writing on the brain. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/ .
You may be an auditory learner, so hearing could be your way of moving through a problem. Saying out loud, “I am satisfied with my solution, ” could help you. Remember, even though this is in present tense, time is not important. This is merely a device to announce an assignment to your brain.
Not only can music assist us with creative problem solving, but it can also have a profound effect on our moods by enhancing the atmosphere. Be sure to Treat Yourself to Ambience!
Arts Satisfaction
The arts provide different angles to problem solving, providing creative ways to think of solutions to everyday problems. Initially you may think there is no connection, but then a spark of an idea may occur while you are creating art which can inspire answers. The arts fire different parts of the brain compared to non-imaginative thinking. Part of it is the relaxation response that is induced. Just plain having fun and dabbling with the arts can help you in any kind of problem solving.
Perhaps Creativity 101 with 528 Hertz can turn on your creative problem solving!
Your satisfaction in problem solving and acceptance of an answer could be as simple as our son’s re-framing of a common problem for all of us. His bit of advice in a Christmas letter years ago stated, “If you had a smaller glass, it would be full.”
Here is a good old song to help your brain! Perhaps you may not “get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you’ll get what you need”!
