Spoken English, Soft Skills, IELTS, TOEFL: Hone Your Intellect for Creativity in Action

Hone Your Intellect For Creativity In Action

Jaya Row

We live in the age of creativity. Daniel Pink says there are four ages the Agricultural Age, Industrial Age, Information Age and the modern Conceptual Age of creators. Creativity is a skill that can be learnt.

Creativity is the ability to perceive the world in new ways, find hidden patterns, and generate solutions, turning new ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes thinking and producing. If you have ideas but do not act you are imaginative, not creative.

Creativity comes from thinking. Your thinking can be dull, routine, unoriginal. Or you could have robust, but limited thinking. Very few are truly brilliant and effective. Thinking beyond is subtle, pure and transcendental.

To bring ideas to action you need to first identify your svadharma your talent, gift, passion. Fix a higher goal that is unselfish, and work out a plan of action.

The intellect is of prime importance: The ability to think, question, discriminate, discern, weigh the options and arrive at a decision. Whether it was Newton who questioned when an apple fell on his head or Djokovic who thought of an innovative shot, it is intellect that does the job; so develop and sharpen it.

A calm mind is the other prerequisite in life. When the mind is disturbed, the intellect's thinking gets distorted and action is flawed. Become free from desire and ego which create a storm within. Have clear values and a vision of the larger picture beyond your selfish, self-centred interests. Life is not just about you, your spouse and children! When your thinking is limited to just `I, me, myself ' you perform routine, mechanical actions. When you have a powerful emotional motivation you breakthrough your limitations and come up with magical performance. Like a father who started running with a handicapped son on his back to give him the experience of running. He won races! When you have an intellectual ideal you achieve the impossible. The non-violent movement was a brilliant strategy which gave India independence from the British. And when you move to the spiritual realm you smash through all limitations.

The mind must be in worshipful mode `Thy will', not `my will'. Do your best but understand that the result depends on many factors beyond your control. Surrender calms the mind. Feel for your co workers and colleagues. Love brings success and happiness. In the Ramayana. Rama admired Ravana and even sent Lakshmana to learn from him. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagwad Gita love the Kauravas, but kill them if you have to. You may love a lion as much as you love your pet dog but the expression of love must be different. Similarly love must be universal but action depends on the nature of the person you are dealing with.

The body must work tirelessly , energetically , enthusiastically , but detachedly. You get detached from action when your thought is on the higher. Detachment from the lower is possible only when you get attached to the higher. This makes you objective. And objectivity enables you to enjoy .

Shraddha is the password to success. It enables you to translate talent to achievement. Shraddha is the capacity of the intellect to conceive a possibility, work out every detail and pursue with the idea till the last mile, until the mission is accomplished. Shraddha converts mediocrity to excellence. It transforms you from an ordinary mortal to an extraordinary immortal.