Can't be creative if you are bored?

[LovecraftianMonstrosity]

Boredom seems more or less inversely correlated to creativity no? Why is that?

Other things that I think stifle creativity:

Too much routine

Fear for safety (physical, economic, emotional, etc)

An environment that does not foster freedom of expression

Being controlled

Any others? What makes you become more/less creative?

 

[Smilephantomhive]

Anxiety of any form.

 

[Hiraeth]

For me, boredom doesn't stifle my creativity. If anything, it gives me a reason to do something creative. I agree with the rest of your list though.

Also, something I find personally that helps me creatively is having a lot of ornamental objects around me. If the room I'm in is minimalistic and bland with no interesting knick-knacks around, then my mind tends to be stagnant. My imagination flourishes when I can look around my environment for inspiration while at the same time having a safe haven to work in.

 

[Forever]

Meditation helps me stay focused so in a way that's going to make me more creative.

Seeing contradictions and what that could implicate stirs my imagination.

Watching too much TV kills my creativity.

Reading books can also help build creativity.

Being too sad kills creativity. (Although I think those who are suicidal after they start agreeing with suicide is the answer and get optimistic in a dark morbid way)
^ not endorsing this, just a thought.
Just my eccentric enneatype 5 part of me

Infatuation with women kills my creativity. Getting stuck on issue for too long with little knowledge is bad

I dunno

 

[Obfuscate]

i have trouble creating when i am satisfied... my creative process is based in being unhappy with something external or internal... if i am satisfied and engaged, why would i feel the need? i have no real reply to my own question, so i become stagnant (creatively speaking) in those circumstances...

 

[Dreamer]

Creativity hits me most obviously in two ways, when I have limitations and have to solve a problem within narrow confines, or when my emotions speak loud enough where not expressing them in some way feels like a sin.

Creativity is such a broad and loose term though. In reality I use it every day in the way I think and do things, but the above mentioned circumstances are when my creativity feels more like a tool and sits at the forefront of my consciousness.

Actually... Hmm, I'm starting to wonder what IS creativity? Is it strictly a tool? Something more innate and natural?? Questions...

 

[LovecraftianMonstrosity]

i have trouble creating when i am satisfied... my creative process is based in being unhappy with something external or internal... if i am satisfied and engaged, why would i feel the need? i have no real reply to my own question, so i become stagnant (creatively speaking) in those circumstances...

That actually seems a bit insane to me. The reason to create for me is because of the beauty or elegance of the thing itself. That fills me with wonder and awe. Don't get me wrong I can be creative when bullshit arises, but I think of that as more like troubleshooting. It seems like work to me not something fun

For me, boredom doesn't stifle my creativity. If anything, it gives me a reason to do something creative. I agree with the rest of your list though.

Also, something I find personally that helps me creatively is having a lot of ornamental objects around me. If the room I'm in is minimalistic and bland with no interesting knick-knacks around, then my mind tends to be stagnant. My imagination flourishes when I can look around my environment for inspiration while at the same time having a safe haven to work in.

That's actually a really interesting observation that never would have occurred to me. I think I know what you're talking about. What I mean by bored is just a low stimulation environment. I feel like nothing is happening. It feels like white noise or just stagnation and it makes me want to either a) find more stimulation or b) if I am tired of have been pushing myself too much meditation can help (but to properly meditate you have to be able to cast aside your problems/drama for a nice chunk of time and these days I find that to be a luxury)

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I think it's worth looking at where the boredom comes from because I think it is the state of losing creativity, because when you are in the zone there is no boredom ever. For me boredom is linked to anxiety, low blood sugar, and just feeling icky enough that my brain can't focus, I need rest, and my body distracts me. When feeling healthy and focused, the creativity comes more naturally. I don't think boredom is a deterrent to creativity, but it is the symptom of something else that deters creativity.

 

[Obfuscate]

That actually seems a bit insane to me. The reason to create for me is because of the beauty or elegance of the thing itself. That fills me with wonder and awe. Don't get me wrong I can be creative when bullshit arises, but I think of that as more like troubleshooting. It seems like work to me not something fun

my primary reason to create is to relate (either to myself or others)... i don't have a lot of internal positive feelings to relate... my creativity is most strongly tied to poetry... i don't often write anything "uplifting", so being frustrated, angry, depressed, lonesome, or "what have you" makes it easier for me... i don't really like most happy/fluffy/romantic poetry, so it isn't appealing to me to write it... my creative process very much like trouble shooting... someone once told me that they would like me to teach their son how to write poetry, because they were having trouble with it (a friend of mine who also writes)... after a lot of explaining that i couldn't, she asked how i do it... the best i could come up with was this: "i look for words that click, and give them purpose"... it's all more analytical than emotional...

post script:

when i called it an analytical process, i may have given the impression that it was withought emotion... that isn't the case... it would be equally accurate to say that interpreting my emotions is an analytical process also... in fact, i often use writing as a tool to figure out how i feel at the moment... i am one of those people that for a long time was convinced that i had turned my emotions off... i managed to get them all functioning again, but i am still "disconnected" from them on some level... sometimes i don't realize how happy/angry/sad/whatever i am until i think about it analytically... so maybe calling it "insane" wasn't entirely off base...

 

[Hiraeth]

That's actually a really interesting observation that never would have occurred to me. I think I know what you're talking about. What I mean by bored is just a low stimulation environment. I feel like nothing is happening. It feels like white noise or just stagnation and it makes me want to either a) find more stimulation or b) if I am tired of have been pushing myself too much meditation can help (but to properly meditate you have to be able to cast aside your problems/drama for a nice chunk of time and these days I find that to be a luxury)

Boredom can be anything for me. I think what you're implying is if life in general feels dull instead of just little bursts of boredom here and there, right? If my life becomes too stagnant, then I would try finding new things to add meaning and value to it. It can be anything big or small. A new job, hobby, or even a change of scenery helps. Sometimes you have to shift areas of your life around in order for it to prosper and creativity would come naturally.

Personally, I can always find something to keep me occupied. Meditation is a great outlet to improve creativity, and even just 5 minutes a day can make a real difference. I am also always searching for new artistic works that I find intriguing. I look up all kinds of different films, music, paintings, photography, and literature and take note of everything I like by either writing stuff down or drawing out ideas in a sketch book so that I don't forget. Additionally, I have various folders of references that I've accumulated over the years to look up when I am out of ideas. What keeps me sane is having a wide variety of interests so that my inner world doesn't become stagnant. That's just what works for me though.

 

[Mole]

Boredom seems more or less inversely correlated to creativity no? Why is that?

Other things that I think stifle creativity:

Too much routine

Fear for safety (physical, economic, emotional, etc)

An environment that does not foster freedom of expression

Being controlled

Any others? What makes you become more/less creative?

Everyone and their dog are today creative and empathic. Why is that?

The reason is that creativity and empathy are the content of the electronic media, just as free speech was the content of the written media.

And the content of the electronic media and the written media are simply to distract our attention, while the media itself entrances us, so we become numb to the changes the media wroughts in us.

For instance, the written media changed us from traditional tribes to literate individuals, and the electronic media is changing us from literate individuals to electronic tribes in the global village.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

For me personally, boredom absolutely kills my creativity or desire to do anything at all. I need a constant stimulation in order to be able to be productive. I usually withdrawn after some time, or when the things become too intense, but I chanel my creativity and passion from the outside sources so I need things to happen around me in order to feel active and healthy.

 

[Lord Lavender]

Personally for me boredom saps me of any creativity and general joy for life that I have. For me to be creative i need a outer source of interest to help me bounce and stimulate my ideas around. It can be as simple as a piece of paper to write things down for me though. When I am bored I just become a blank state basically.

 

[Mademoiselle]

Everybody comes with different packages,
find your creative botton, press on it.
That's what it takes to be creative.
Otherwise the idea of routine = boredom is just another bias,
and at the same time the idea of "no pain no gain" >> practice >> plan >> routine
is a common method.
In short,
Ways vary and differ to get to be creative.

 

[Mole]

We no longer live in scarcity, we live in plenty, in particular, plenty of information.

And as scarce information is valuable, plentiful information is cheap, so cheap it is free.

And with this abundance of free information our temptation is to repeat it. And repetition is the death of creativity.

However repetition entrances us, and our ego thinks this free information is enhances our image.

On the other hand, creativity is original, it requires moral courage, it requires we put our ego aside for a while, and allow the creative impulse to express itself.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Bored can be creative all right. You don't need to be excited. Being in a mentally dull state doesn't help though and I differentiate between dull and bored.

 

[cascadeco]

I think it will vary by person, and that is because as [MENTION=14857]labyrinthine[/MENTION] mentioned, there can be different underlying things leading to boredom from one person to the next. I think the same goes for other emotions, where one person may put out great work when feeling that, another person might not be able to do so at all.

I know many people cite that negative moods/being in a bad place can foster good creations. For me it's totally the opposite. My best work is when I am feeling positive and inspired, and have a desire to create something beautiful -- and with that comes a vision and intuitive ability to execute.

For me, boredom goes hand in hand with feeling blah and uninspired about things. Thus I'm not going to be able to create anything I like. I'll sometimes try painting when bored, just because, well, I'm bored, and so I try to force myself to paint. I'm pretty much never satisfied with it, and usually stop quite soon after trying/starting, because my heart's just not in it and ultimately I don't feel like doing it (I'm just 'trying' to do it). ie if I felt like doing it / felt inspired, I wouldn't be bored.

The best I can hope for when being bored and attempting to create something is to just treat it as practice - practice, experiment, know nothing amazing is going to result from any of it.

 

[Mole]

Anger and Boredom

On a psychological site I am surprised no one has mentioned the psychological truism that boredom is repressed anger.

Of course we repress the anger for good reasons, usually for reasons of survival in the face of powerful figures on whom we depend for our survival.

But nevertheless our anger is repressed, and passes out of our consciousness, and all we are conscious of is our boredom.

And interestingly, once we get in touch with our anger in therapy, boredom disappears like mist in the noonday sun.

 

[LovecraftianMonstrosity]

Who is there to be angry at?

There is no one