The more input, the more output

To be creative, you need lots of information and mental stimulation. Read widely, Listen, Watch and Be Aware. An idea in an article or book, a snippet on the radio, a conversation on the train, at the gym and just about anywhere, anyhow. Absorb and question what you see, taste, smell, feel and hear. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Read about industries which correspond to beauty and wellness. Whether it is hair care, dermatology, massage, perfume or cosmetics. 

Subscribe to free online newsletters of the big cosmetic and skin care companies like Proctor and Gamble, Shiseido, Estée Lauder, Avon, Murad etc. You will learn about the latest beauty trends, whether it be nano-particles in cosmetics, bio-diversity, or the latest hot ingredients and formulations and you may glean useful insights. You may find inspiration while reading your local paper, a novel, or the Readers Digest. I was reading a local college brochure, which offers an array of short courses. One of courses was a DIY skin care workshop, where you learn to blend your own chemical-free skin care products. I thought, “Why didn’t I think about that.” I thought it was a good idea. I have decided to use this idea and launch a website selling similar information online. You just never know where inspiration will come from. 

Neena Trehan of Spa Fabulous got the business name of her spa from The TV series Sex in the City. The women who star in the prime-time comedy often used the word “fabulous”. This triggered an “a-ha” moment for Neena who had been contemplating a business name for two years. 

Allow your curiosity to take you on a mental trip. When you stumble on a potential concept, indulge it to the max. Here’s what happens in the creative mind. Unconsciously and constantly, the brain combines everything you know and everything you’re thinking with whatever else you know and your current thoughts, making sure that everything gets combined with everything else at least once. (I’m talking about billions of thoughts and ideas and constant, unconscious, images.) Then, every once in a while, your brain hits on a winning combination. In an instantly an exciting new idea pops into my conscious awareness.

Reading all the books in the world won’t make you any smarter unless you think about what you read and apply it to your own life. I use reading as a self-improvement tool, for research and fact finding.

I believe everyone is creative. If you want to be more creative, seek out the minds of people you admire and consider wise, then read their autobiographies. Reading, especially reading poetry sharpens language skills and develops eloquence. Fiction creates experiences that elevate your level of consciousness. Serious fiction also contains a great deal of philosophy, psychology, and history. Science teaches us to understand the outside world; philosophy teaches us to understand ourselves. Reading will make you a better thinker, speaker, writer and conversationalist. 

I’ll leave you with this quote: “Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people in the whole world – I mean everybody – No matter how boring they are on the outside, inside them they’ve got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe.”  Neil Gaiman, Sandman  

© Belinda Meyer http://www.salonprofit.net

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