Many paths of exploring ideas around this have led me to the writings of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of psychology who is very well-known for his work into "flow", including "human strengths such as optimism, creativity, intrinsic motivation, and responsibility". (his work was referenced in Dan Pink's recent book Drive)
(Side note: According to the articles I've read, you pronounce his name as "Mee-high CHICK-sent-me-high-ee". Apparently those that know Csikszentmihalyi, call him 'Mike'. )
In one of the articles I read, Csikszentmihalyi shared some suggestions on how to live a more creative life. And I'm thinking too, that through practising these tips, those connections we look for might be found also. So here they are:
Enhancing your creativity and happiness
- Try to be surprised by something every day.
- Try to surprise at least one person every day.
- Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others.
- When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it.
- Recognize that if you do anything well it becomes enjoyable.
- To keep enjoying something, increase its complexity.
- Make time for reflection and relaxation.
- Find out what you like and what you hate about life.
- Start doing more of what you love and less of what you hate.
- Find a way to express what moves you.
- Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible.
- Produce as many ideas as possible.
- Have as many different ideas as possible.
- Try to produce unlikely ideas.
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