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How to create a positive work environment
Techniques for cultivating gratitude and mindfulness at work
How to find purpose in your work
Your brain is continually striving for predictability, and it can get pretty set in its ways. When a novelty appears, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) part of your brain is wired to review old rules and apply them to this new situation. It does not want to invent new ways if it can help it. This can hinder your creativity.
Combinatory play can help with quieting this part of the brain by relaxing your mind.
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Doing something boring, like showering, doesn’t require substantial cognitive effort, so our brains are free to wander.
And a brain “at rest” isn’t really resting at all. Mind-wandering may allow the conscious to give way to the subconscious, so the brain can connect disparate ideas...
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If you’re feeling stuck on a problem, try going to bed. You just might have a more creative solution in the morning.
When we’re in REM, our brains are better able to integrate unassociated information, which is essential to creative thinking (and can explain why dreams are so bizarre...
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... use combinatory play to give your brain a boost:
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Get inspired by someone else’s creations:
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We’ve all experienced that flash of insight, that fleeting moment when a solution we’ve been grinding away at reveals itself in an unexpected place.
Einstein, for example, was known to play violin whenever he was stuck on a tough problem and often spoke of how music influenced the...
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Try a new activity within your field or related to it; you’ll expand your neural connections and strengthen your brain overall.
If you’re a novelist, try your hand at poetry. If you’re a painter, dabble in sculpting. If you’re a computer scientist, play around with web design....
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The brain’s building blocks are neurons: nerve cells that receive and transmit signals along neural pathways. Certain pathways are forged at birth. Others can be manipulated by learning.
So when you’re stuck in a rut, your brain’s neurons could literally be stuck on a neural pathway...
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While applying old lessons to new situations can limit your creativity, the brain’s inclination for seeking patterns can encourage innovation, too.
This will serve you well in creative thinking as long as you question your assumptions and try to find patterns where there aren't any.
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When new neurons are born from stem cells within the brain, which can then form new circuits. Neurogenesis surprisingly only happens in a few areas in the brain. One area is the hippocampus which needs a lot of new neurons because it encodes
During periods of panic, anxiety or confusion, one of the best strategies is to slow down and focus on your breath. Yes this is not new, and many people know about this, and still are not able to implement.
Our brains’ dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the thinking and planning depa...
The whole brain can be considered an NCC because it generates experience continually.
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