Can altering your consciousness increase creativity?

If you write fiction and/or poetry, then chances are you are always looking for ways to be more creative. And being creative can be difficult in the modern world we live in, especially if you are constantly bombarded by ‘real world’ anxiety from keeping your job, paying bills, putting food on the table, and the innumerable other minutia of everyday life.

I believe a lot of creativity just comes naturally to us, and most people are creative in one way or another. But you can also work at being creative, and that’s where this post comes in. I’m going to list a few ways that you can increase your creativity, without having to be a born creative genius.

First off, I should mention that I’m not an expert, doctor, scientist, or even a ‘guru’ of what I’m talking about in this post. Everything I write about here is based on my own personal experience. Everyone is different, so your own results may vary.

1. Meditation

This is by far the most practiced way of altering your consciousness (not including drugs). I have been dabbling with meditation lately and I have found that even sitting quiet, with my eyes closed and concentrating on deep breathing for 10 minutes can go a long way in cleaning out the cobwebs in my brain.

Best of all, as you meditate, focused on your breathing, you might get insights into that short story you’ve been working on. Or those insights might come after you meditate while you’re basking in the glow of a relaxed body and clear mind.

Meditation is such a vast field of practice, it’s probably best to buy a few good books on meditation, written for beginners, when beginning this journey. Even if you’ve never meditated a day in your life, a few minutes of peace and quiet each day can really have a positive effect on your creativity.

2. That state between sleep and wakefulness

This method is a little harder to pin down. I usually find this state easiest to achieve when I’m in a place where I’m tired, but can’t fall asleep (i.e. like when I took the train home from school, I would never really fall asleep for fear of missing my stop). I guess this is kind of like dozing off.

But I always add one more ingredient to this step. Music! I’ll put on my earphones and listen to something with slightly odd lyrics (the Grateful Dead are perfect for this). When I reach this state successfully, I’ll still be a little conscious of what is going on around me, but my mind will be in a dreamy place that is influenced by the music, my own thoughts and external stimuli. I have come up with some pretty wild story ideas this way!

The trick is not to fall all the way asleep. So getting comfortable in your warm bed might not be a good idea. I found sitting in a comfortable chair, or even just sitting up, is enough to keep me at least partially awake. And always start these little ‘naps’ with the intention of opening your mind to help increase creativity.

You will also want to have some paper and a pen handy as well. Ideas are fleeting. You might remember them for a little while. But as more time passes after you ‘wake up’, the chances of clearly remembering any ideas/moments of inspiration is reduced drastically.

3. Dreams

I’m just starting to use the dreams I have at night to help me with my writing. A lot of times, dreams don’t produce full-blown story ideas, rather, they give me inspiration for a character, plot device, setting, etc. Remembering dreams is crucial. I can remember dreams fairly easily, but I know a lot of people who can’t. The best way to overcome this is to write them down as soon as you wake up. Heck, even if you do remember your dreams, writing your dreams down has numerous benefits.

Of all the methods, this is probably the least reliable for many people to boast creativity. Unless you’re a seasoned lucid dreamer, most people can’t control what they dream about. The best you can do is keep an open mind about your dreams and think about them in terms of your writing – you might find some real gems while you’re asleep!

Can altered states of consciousness really increase creativity?

Yes and no. I say yes because the above methods have yielded me some great story ideas and great inspiration for works already in progress. I also say no because no amount of meditating, sleeping, drugs, music and whatever else you do can be a substitute for good old fashioned hard work.

Inspiration and ideas, and even creativity itself becomes totally useless if you don’t sit down and pound out that story, novel, or poem. Then you still have to revise, edit, revise and edit some more until it’s perfect. A lot of work goes into creating a great work of art.

Even John Lennon, the creative mastermind behind The Beatles, had to work hard, as I wrote about in this earlier post. There’s just no substitute for getting your hands dirty.

How do you increase your creativity? Leave a comment below with your answer!

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• What can John Lennon Teach Us About Creativity?
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