Business and daydreaming don’t seem like the most congruent pair out there; business at its heart is about profitable productivity whereas daydreaming for most amounts to little more than wasting time. But in the long run, allowing the mind to wander boosts creativity and creative insight, lending itself to the long term success of a […]
Creativity and Nonduality: The Self and the Built Environment
Here is another abstract that my co-host of the Conscious Design Build talks, Hristiyan Atanasov, and I submitted to the 2012 Science and Nonduality Conference: It has been estimated that the construction and operation of buildings consumes over a third of the world’s energy consumption and 40% of all the mined resources. Furthermore, the built […]
Creativity versus the Automated Essay Grader
Here’s an interesting and (somewhat disturbing) article on a new technology from the Education Testing Service, those same folks who’ve invented the SAT’s and other tests and made standardized testing a nation-wide phenomena. Apparently, their new technology can grade some 16,000 essays in under a minute. But what are the consequences for true creative expression […]
Creativity and the Golden Rule
The Golden Rule, which states “do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” is a powerful statement and a good guideline for how to treat others in the world. But when it comes to creativity, its message is subtly limiting, for it asks us to focus on how we would like to […]
When is the optimal time for creativity?
For me, creativity and the creative process is not limited to those times when we are in our so-called right brains or coming up with new and innovative ideas. It also includes those times when we draw upon the skills that we’ve developed over time to bring our creative insights into some sort of fruition. […]
Creativity and Forgiveness: How Releasing Past Hurt Improves Creativity
When you feel yourself being creative, there is a sense of flow. Like the tides moving in and out of an estuary, being in the throws of the creativity has a felt sense of gathering and release, an enlivening exchange with the world around you. When you hold onto resentment or withhold trust from a […]
Creativity and the Luminous Aesthetic of Photographer, Jonathan Mandel
For quite some time, I had been in need of some head shots. Since I work both as an architectural designer and as a creativity expert, I did not want something that was run of the mill. I wanted something that conveyed the dynamic, interdependent, deeply mysterious nature of creativity that I attempt to illicit […]
Slivers of Eternity: One Minute Meditations On The Ground of Creativity, #13
In this clip, filmed at the end of bath time, my two-year-old daughter, Sierra Lucia, watches the strange and hypnotic movements of water going down the drain. Warm bath water, her tiny fingers, the spin of the earth, and the pull of gravity all play their part in this common nighttime ritual for parents of […]
Creativity in Everyday Life
I just wanted to share the simple but beautiful image of a pilaster (a decorative column on a wall) and the surrounding brick facade. Taken in Old Oakland, little details like this are reminders of the creative efforts of all the unknown people who have come before us. Bricks have a special place in my […]
What is the relationship between creativity and problem solving?
Recently, I found myself participating in an interesting exchange on LinkedIn, on the Architecture for Humanity thread. I am sharing it with you today because I believe it unveils some important aspects of our ability to use creativity as a means for positive change or to use creativity for a means of subtly adding to […]