Everything is interconnected, operating under the same rules. The more perspectives you bring to a problem, the more expansive and divergent your thinking is. While we discuss rules and guidelines for creativity, the truth is, the best way to develop expansive thinking is to actively engage in interdisciplinary domains and consciously apply problem-solving approaches from specific disciplines to your scenarios.
Creativity isn’t a unique talent or a special gift; it’s a mindset, a lifestyle, and, more importantly than that, a trainable muscle. Practically speaking, adopting a creative thinking approach is about cultivating an open-mindedness towards various interpretations of a problem and the ability to perceive things from multiple perspectives, and making different decisions.
Exploring interdisciplinary domains is arguably the best way to naturally broaden your thinking horizons. The key aspect about interdisciplinary activities is realising that every facet of our learning journey, whether in school, college, university, in the workplace, is an additional perspective to perceive the world. Each domain you engage in, is just another prism to think about things. The interconnected nature of everything only emphasises the fact that, the more perspectives you can get tackling the problem, the more expansive and divergent your thinking will be. And if we engage in interdisciplinary activities and consciously apply problem-solving methodologies in that discipline, we have a better chance at being creatively fluent.
Throwing a retrospective look at my life, here are some of the prisms I developed engaging in different domains since childhood that I believe formed my thinking processes. In this article, I’ll particularly focus on painting, photography and foreign languages and their impact on my thinking.
Painting
In the world of painting, I’ve learnt the importance of trusting the process, following instincts, and embracing the unknown. And to be completely honest, that’s pretty much how I function in life. Painting encourages you to go a journey where the destination may remain unclear, and decisions are made on the fly. Painting is about being playful with lights and shadows, creating depth, or confidently skipping that step, and choosing a color palette. And every mistake or imperfection that occurs is not a detour that will become an opportunity to create something entirely different—it’s an integral part of the entire journey.
If you’d like to practically see, what I mean, give this process-oriented drawing exercise a try.
Set a timer for 5 minutes. Make random marks, little dots on a paper with a pen or pencil, then start connecting them with different shapes and lines. As you progress, build a composition, fill in some areas with color, others with patterns. Play with it for 5 minutes, allowing yourself to follow the process without any plan and see where it takes you.
Photography
In the realm of photography, I’ve learned to appreciate the world of small, intricate details. Photography taught me to notice subtle nuances that (though almost invisible to untrained eye) make a significant difference in the final image. Photography has the wonderful capacity to transform the familiar, encouraging you to see your own surroundings in a new light and capturing things that might have eluded your attention before.
If you are eager to see what I mean in practice, explore shadows as subjects for your photography.
Choose a location with interesting lighting, either natural or artificial, and dedicate 5-10 minutes to capturing the interplay between lights and shadows. Pay attention to the shapes and patterns they create and use them as the main subjects of your photos. Alternatively, dedicate a whole day to finding, observing, capturing lights and shadows and be surprised at the results.
Foreign Languages
The languages we speak shape our mindset, influence belief systems, and shift perspectives. Speaking multiple languages not only deepens our understanding of the language itself but also connects us to diverse cultures. Learning a language involves more than just speech; it’s an immersion in cuisine, music, cinema, literature, culture and the mindset of people.
I’ve always found it fascinating how people engage in their day-to-day conversations in any foreign language. If you look at it, I find there is a lot of poetry in the daily exchange of greetings or sayings or commenting on familiar situations.
Let’s take the word hello and deep-dive into some of the language constructs and cultural insights that it holds.
The term “hello” has a diverse linguistic history, potentially originating from the Old English verb “hǽlan,” meaning to heal or greet or Middle French holá (from ho! “ahoy” and la “there”). But it wasn’t until 1827 that “hello” was first published, gaining prominence with the advent of the telephone and Thomas Edison’s recommendation to use it as a standard greeting.
Across various languages and cultures, the exchange of greetings holds immense beauty and depth.
“Namaste” derived from Sanskrit, meaning “I bow to you” or “I bow to the divine in you.”
“As-salamu alaykum” in Arabic translates to “Peace be upon you,” reflecting the importance of peace in Islamic culture.
“Tashi Delek” means “auspicious blessings” or “may everything be well,” a common greeting in Tibetan culture.
“Sawubona” means “I see you,” with the response “Ngikhona” meaning “I am here”—a beautiful acknowledgment of each other’s presence in Zulu.
Isn’t it beautiful?
The point I’m making here is that the best way to learn something is by doing it. We can read countless books on topics like focus, concentration, creativity, productivity, efficiency and you name it. But I believe exploring various domains in a playful manner and integrating their methods into our daily lives is a much more impactful approach.
Every domain, regardless of its nature, offers a unique perspective on the world—a different prism through which decisions can be made. You don’t need to become the master in any of your selected domains (although, if you do it long enough, mastery will occur naturally). You just need to dedicate 5-10 minutes a day to such activities that will significantly boost your creative thinking abilities.
And since we did speak about greetings in foreign languages, I’ll leave you with the Armenian “Barev“.