Westside Toastmasters is located in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California - Westside Toastmasters on Meetup

Collage

Get a stack of magazines, scissors, glue, and paper. Make a collage that evokes the essence of what you're working on.

When you've cut out the pictures, spend some time playing with them-moving them around and putting them together in different ways.

After you make the collage, put it away for a day or two, then look at it again. Sometimes you'll be surprised at what you see-something that you didn't notice when you were making it.

Show the collage to other people who don't know what inspired it. Ask them to describe their first impression-what's the first thing they think of when they see it?

You're facing a deadline; you've been working all day and all night. You've thought and thought and thought. Your brain is on overload; your mind is swimming with details and possibilities; and you swear you can actually feel your circuits melting down.

When your brain is frying and you've hit the wall, you need to take the pressure off your mind and let your body take over.

Rhythmic, repetitive motion of your body distracts your left brain and frees your right brain to percolate and generate new ideas. Beethoven used to do his best composing while he was walking. It's thinking while not thinking.

If you've ever had a massage, you have experienced how your mind seems to empty out; you aren't controlling it, but instead you are letting the thoughts flow by uninterrupted. It's a step toward uncorking the blockage and getting back to a freer creative flow.