Does travel stimulate more creativity?

Don’t we all yearn for refreshing our brain or blowing our own minds by walking every facet of this great planet we call Earth?

What benefits do people discover through travel? Or, how can people experience culture differently through travel?

This summer, I had the opportunity to travel to both Finland and Denmark. Before attending the 21st World Council for Gifted & Talented Children held in Odense, Denmark, I traveled the nearby country of Finland to explore different cultures, languages, and new stimuli. Guess what? It was a tremendous experience!

While I stayed in Finland, I explored the sweeping, majestic architecture prevalent in many significant landmarks including the Helsinki University Library, Helsinki Central Railway Station, and numerous shopping malls. In the art museum, Ateneum, I had a chance to see expressive northern European art, which is distinctive from that of other cultures. One such series of artwork displayed numerous facets of people living as one with nature.

One of my biggest pleasures was listening to music on every street corner in Helsinki, Finland. Every day, I ambled over to Esplanade park in the city center and listened to street musicians: a violin player that could turn tides with strings alone and a bottle musician who could recreate familiar music into enchanting sounds through his creative process. Hoards of people on the street surrounded this melodic musician playing perfectly harmonious pieces of music using a diverse set of bottle xylophones he creatively designed. He was the most ingenious street musician that I’ve ever seen. He has constantly inspired me in my musical practice ever since. Instead of following every single note, I am slowly able to think about how to creatively improvise when I play the bass guitar. Travel gives us infinite chances to pause from daily routines and immerse ourselves in new surroundings, thought patterns, social energies and experiences.

The article ‘For a More Creative Brain, Travel’ by Brent Crane raised some integral points about the creative benefits of international travel. From a neuroplasticity perspective, anecdotal learning experiences including new sounds, languages, and sights from travel may have the potential to affect mental change and spark new ways of thinking. Famous writers and thinkers such as Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain were introduced as examples of how they were inspired by international travel.

In addition to just being in a country, how we engage or immerse ourselves in the multicultural environment are important points as well. In Crane’s article, these points are supported by Galinsky’s study on connection between creativity and international travel. Galinsky pointed out that creativity can be boosted more when engaging in the local culture to enhance cognitive flexibility.

Going back to the story of my journey in Finland, staying in different local houses gave me rich local cultural experiences. My first host couple introduced me to distinctive Finnish culture, lore, and living styles. Staying on an island called ‘Suomenlinna,’ part of the city of Helsinki, was also a transformative experience. My lovely host provided me with complete rest and abode. The beautiful natural environment boosted my creative intuition and activated my floating thoughts, tapping into creative thinking and motivating me to write.

After leaving Finland, I went to Denmark and stayed in youth hostels in Copenhagen. Staying in youth hostels put me in a multicultural immersion environment of the highest degree. I met throngs of people from all walks of life. Whenever I was lost on the street, I connected with local people and had a nice chat with them. I found infinite stimulation speaking with them, not only in English, but in French, Italian, and Chinese. Numerous studies have indicated the connection between practicing languages and changing cognitive structures in the brain. Speaking different languages enabled me to perceive the world in diverse ways. With this great experience, I am much more motivated to learn and practice different languages.

After staying a week in Copenhagen, I left by train for Odense to attend the 21st World Council for Gifted & Talented Children. Attending this international conference was extremely inspiring. Learning about research and practices in gifted education around the world increased my awareness of my own studies and practice in this field. Sharing novel ideas and abundant resources with scholars from all over the world expanded my area of expertise. I am utterly grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Creativity broadens the spectrum of possibility within one’s total life experience. During travel, people experience a dynamic adaptation to the new through total immersion in fresh environments. They are literally thrown into a boiling melting pot of radical inspiration. Adapting to new environments stimulates infinite cultivation of novel ideas and omnipotent flow of energy within the heart and mind.

Are we more creative when we are less awake?

Are we more creative when we are less awake?

The author of ‘When Fatigue Boosts Creativity’ declares that some types of problems such as insight problems can be better solved when we are less awake or tired. This is somewhat surprising because most of us believe that we are more productive when fully awake or during “optimal” time of day. Personally, it is very difficult for me to focus on any type of task while less awake or in the state of less optimal time. At least, I have to grab a cup of coffee and I need to make an effort to fully wake up in order to truly enjoy and function best at my task. Therefore, when we think about creativity as linked to productivity, we are more productive at a time when we can fully concentrate on the work when fully awake. However, we may experience insights linked with the creative process more often when we are less awake. Think about a time when you were just drifting off to sleep. What imaginary images flashed across the movie screen behind your closed eyelids?

Thinking about ‘Flow,’ Csíkszentmihályi’s notion for the completely focused state of enjoyment or motivation, I wonder when we more intensely experience the state of flow? The link between random thoughts and creativity mentioned in this article creates infinite possibilities for study.

 “You’re having other random thoughts, like ‘I had a fight this morning,’ or ‘I have to pick up milk.’ That random thought can combine with your main thought and come up with something creative,” Wieth says. “At your optimal time of day, you’re not going to have that random thought.”

It makes sense that random thoughts may occur often when we are not concentrating much. Increased connections to ideas floating around us may happen more often. In that case, we may experience illumination or an “a-ha moment” in a sudden instant. In the same vein, we may often have random thoughts and be more creative while walking, as the recent study by Stanford University demonstrates. Also see Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking.

I think the type of random thoughts that one has certainly affects one’s ability to be creative. If you have a working project or problems to be solved, trying to generate associated ideas with the project all the time may stimulate creative process and more opportunities to illuminate it. Both actively drawing from the consciously functioning state and receptively allowing in the unconsciously functioning state maximizes this creative potential.

Walking and Creativity

I read an interesting article today. It was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. The title is, ‘Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking,’ conducted by researchers at Stanford University. It was not surprising to read the results of the research, that walking can boost creativity. In previous research, this relationship of exercise and creativity has been demonstrated that exercise boosts creativity. It is interesting to think about creativity being fostered even while walking for few minutes.

Graham Wallis (1926) introduced, ‘the four stages of creative process,’ preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. We may get through ‘Incubation’ stage or ‘Illumination’ stage while walking. After reading a portion of the article, I walked outdoors for a few minutes to get creative inspiration or the creative juices flowing. The weather was so beautiful today. The sun was shining brightly and with great force. I feel like all my muscles were awakened.

What if we incorporated time in every workday for several brief walks to allow for the creative juices to flow? What would happen if we created time for long walks after work instead of having many short breaks? It would be interesting to compare two conditions if one of the conditions would foster creativity more than the other.