In this episode, I explain how the brain engages in creative thinking and, based on that mechanistic understanding, the tools to improve one’s ability to think creatively and innovate in any area. I discuss how convergent and divergent thinking are essential for generating creative ideas and provide three types of meditation tools (open monitoring meditation, focused attention meditation & non-sleep deep rest; NSDR), which improve our ability to engage in these creative thinking patterns in specific and powerful ways. I also discuss how dopamine and mood contribute to the creative process and describe behavioral, nutritional and supplementation-based approaches for increasing dopamine to engage in creative thought and implementation. I explain how movement and storytelling (narrative) approaches can generate novel creative ideas and how substances like alcohol, cannabis, and psilocybin impact our creative ability. Excitingly, creativity is a skill that can be cultivated and enhanced; this episode outlines many tools to help anyone access creativity and apply creative patterns of thought to different domains of life.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00 ) Creativity

(00:04:30 ) ROKA, Thesis, LMNT, Momentous

(00:08:51 ) What is Creativity?

(00:11:16 ) Creativity in Visual Arts, Escher & Banksy

(00:23:37 ) Neural Circuits of Creativity

(00:31:58 ) AG1 (Athletic Greens)

(00:33:13 ) Creative Ideas & Divergent Thinking

(00:42:09 ) Testing Creative Ideas & Convergent Thinking

(00:46:41 ) Dopamine, Convergent & Divergent Thinking Pathways

(00:57:02 ) InsideTracker

(00:58:06 ) Tool: Open Monitoring Meditation & Divergent Thinking

(01:07:38 ) Tool: Focused Attention Meditation & Convergent Thinking

(01:11:06 ) Mood, Creativity & Dopamine

(01:16:00 ) Tool: Mood Calibrating, Caffeine & Dopamine

(01:23:41 ) Dopamine Supplementation; L-Tyrosine, Caffeine

(01:30:15 ) Tool: Non-Sleep Deep Rest, Mesocortical Dopamine & Divergent Thinking

(01:43:13 ) Serotonin, Psylocibin & Creative Thinking

(01:49:13 ) Alcohol & Autobiographical Scripting; Cannabis

(01:52:04 ) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) & Creativity

(01:54:45 ) Tool: Movement & Divergent Thinking

(02:01:02 ) Tool: Narratives & Storytelling for Creativity

(02:14:47 ) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Neural Network Newsletter, Social Media

Disclaimer

Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac