Creativity Exercise – Image Streaming

Are you keen to find ways to increase your creativity?

If so, you might like this exercise. I find it really gets you into a habit of thinking creatively, noticing rich details and really engaging your senses.

You can do this exercise with a friend, or make a voice recording on your phone. I often do this exercise when I’m in the car on my own – no one knows I’m talking to myself then.

Close your eyes (obviously skip the eye closing if you’re driving) and asks yourself a question like “what am I experiencing right now?”, or “what are my senses experiencing?”.

Then describe out loud your mental visual imagery out loud. Describing of the mental images should be flowing and streaming. In the process of describing the images you see in your mind, you should concentrate on sensory details. For example, “I feel the softness of the fresh laundry”, “my feet are pressed against the cold tiles”, “I smell the rain-soaked air.”

You should aim to make your real or pretend listener vividly experience what you see. In order to develop and maintain the flow of streaming imagery, you should ask yourself new questions as to the nature of objects you seer in your mind and explore them in detail. For example “how does the rain make me feel?”, “what are the colours that are reflected from the lights?”, or “what does ___ smell like?”

Relaying the mental images should be done in a hastened pace to avoid judgment and critical thinking. Image streaming is to be exercised for at least 10 minutes each time. Over time, this exercise improves your creativity and your ability to think quickly and deeply.

Let me know how you go with this creativity exercise.