Creativity 101

Creativity is one of those things that is really easy for some of us, and really difficult for others. Sometimes it seems like the ideas won't ever stop, drowning you in a flood of thoughts that eventually cause your hands to cramp from trying to put them on paper; other times it seems like the next idea will never be there, that you've been abandoned by the Muses in some vast wasteland for has-been artists.

So how do you make sure that you always have a free flow of ideas? There are a few ways to do so, but overall, the best and most effective way to ensure creativity is to go out and do something creative. Now I know what you're thinking: who has time for arts and crafts? But creativity isn't just about arts and crafts. Expand your definition of what is creative from physically creating something to menatlly solving a problem or emotionally experiencing something.



A perfect example of this happened to me today (and happens quite often). I decided to go out today and get some excersie (since I ate a deep-fried-bacon-wrapped hot dog this weekend...which was DELICIOUS!!!!!!). Now I hate running. Loathe it. Some people love running for the sake of running: it gives them the runners high, lets them decompress from a days work, whatever. I'm not one of those people.

However, a few months ago I was introduced to a sport that is almost nothing but running (albeit running in a cool way): parkour. Parkour, or free-running as it's known here in America (yes, running is actually part of it's name...go figure) is all about getting around obsticles. Do a youtube search and you'll find it.

Yeah. This beats running any day

Now I love parkour. The idea of overcoming obsticles with nothing but your body is something that just connects with me, and while I was in LA, I went to parkour classes every week. Classes lasted about two hours and was nothing but running and then jumping over stuff. It was almost straight cardio.

So I went out today and played parkour (played is the correct term, at least in my mind. Do suggests something that isn't fun). While I'm out there jumping over fences, benches, getting stung by wasps, and cutting my hands open, I started thinking that parkour is really a great sport because of two things:

One, parkour is nothing but cardio and on top of that, nothing but fun cardio. Who hasn't seen a fence and wanted to climb over it, or a pole and climb up it. I've always had a love for climbing things and parkour lets me do that and get a good workout at the same time.

Two, parkour forces you to look at everyday objects such as fences, benches, poles, railings, etc and formulate a way to get around, over, on top of them. Parkour forces you to come up with a method of getting around something in a non conventional manner. In essence, it's forcing you to get creative.

Now I can hear some of you whining: "What does this have to do with my cards/coins/etc?" Well one thing that you should always strive for is creativity, and engaging in activities such as parkour (which is definitely not arts and crafts) starts getting you thinking about things in a totally unique way. So when your brain starts cranking out creative solutions to how to get over that fence, you can carry that over to magic and performance.

What other things lead to non-standard thinking and creative processes? Listening to a live band is always a great way stimulate the creative centers of the brain (may I suggest some Mumford and Sons videos?) as is taking a step outside your standard movie watching to find a festival winner or foreign film (my suggestion: Lo. You'll probably hate it, but it did all sorts of crazy things on my brain).

Yeah. They're that awesome.

Take activites you do already and give them a twist. Cooking dinner? Try a little flair bartending with those spices or maybe get fancy with the plating. Cleaning your house? Try rearanging things while you do it to give your home a completely new look. It keeps things interesting, and interesting things create creativity.

If IHOP can do it, so can you!

So get out there and try some new things. It's easy to substitute parkour for normal running or to add a bit of the dramatic to preparing food. Go visit interesting places and try interesting things and the creativity from that will rub off on you and soon you'll have a notebook crammed with ideas. I know I do.

~Cameron Rivers, Kings To You Magic