Creative Thinking and Drinking and Why it Works

I would like to buy a round of drinks for the researchers of a recent Consciousness and Cognition publication, Uncorking the muse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving.

Though the cultural association between creativity and booze is long and storied, science had yet to make a formal connection, at least according to my research (which, admittedly, consisted of little more than Googling mid-Chimay ??god bless you Google Goggles). Continue reading “Creative Thinking and Drinking and Why it Works”

Quotes on Creativity: Our Pinboard of Creative Wisdom and Wisecracks on Pinterest

Been building a Pinterest pinboard entitled Creative Wisdom and Wisecracks. It’s a repository of aphorisms, insights and observations about leading a creative life, which, thanks to creativity expert Tanner Christensen at, now features the nine Rules of the Creator’s Life. To see more pins, click through to Pinterest. If you’d like to contribute, let’s connect. In the meantime, what’s your favorite of Christensen’s rules? Mine is No. 4, with 5 coming in right behind. Put yours in the comments and tell us why…

Writer?s Block? Take a Shower

Feeling washed up? Creative energy in the tubes? Most creatives will occasionally experience feelings like these. In its extreme form, writers, prone to neurotic narcissism such as we are, call the symptoms ?writer?s block.? Fortunately, neuroscience has found a cure. Behold, the power of the shower.

Writing Exercise: Give Your Prose the Hose



Writing Prompt Idea: Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Eggers was not the first to find his writer?s block washed away by the warm embrace of raining water. Jonah Lehrer, author of excellent new tome on creativity, Imagine: How Creativity Works,?cites several examples of how a warm shower can cleanse both the body and mind. The key is relaxation according to psychologist Joydeep Bhattacharya of Goldsmiths, University of London:

Why is a relaxed state of mind so important for creative insights? When our minds are at ease ? when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain ? we?re more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward, toward that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere. In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be directed outward, toward the details of the problems we?re trying to solve. While this pattern of attention is necessary when solving problems analytically, it actually prevents us from detecting the connections that lead to insights. ?That?s why so many insights happen during warm showers,? Bhattacharya says. ?For many people, it?s the most relaxing part of the day.? It?s not until we?re being massaged by warm water, unable to check our e-mail, that we?re finally able to hear the quiet voices in the backs of our heads telling us about the insight. The answers have been there all along ? we just weren?t listening.

Creative Thinking: Slippery When Wet

In fact, taking a shower tops Lehrer?s list of ways to boost one?s creativity as quoted in Co.CREATE:


  3. Become an outsider. Don?t be afraid to work on problems that you are less familiar with.

Bay Area-based tech blogger Anthony Garcia raises an interesting observation regarding this ?inspiration hack.? What do you do when inspiration strikes and you have neither pen nor paper in the shower caddy? ?You could have a pen and paper handy within arms reach from the shower but you run the risk of water damaging those notes?unless you have Crayola Bathup Markers.?

