One Simple Game To Improve Your Creativity Skills

Summary

The article discusses the benefits of cloud watching as a simple and accessible activity to enhance creativity and relaxation.

Abstract

The article "One Simple Game to Improve Your Creativity Skills" emphasizes the overlooked pastime of cloud watching as a powerful tool for boosting creativity and inducing relaxation. It suggests that by engaging with the sky's ever-changing canvas, individuals can activate parts of the brain associated with creative activities and meditation, thus allowing for a mental reprieve from the stresses of daily life. The author, drawing from personal experience and the advice of a neighbor, encourages readers to rediscover the joy of observing clouds, much like children did before the digital age. The piece also references scientific perspectives, such as those from neuroscientist Fred Previc, and the existence of organizations like the Cloud Appreciation Society, to underscore the legitimacy of cloud watching as a beneficial activity. Various methods for cloud watching are proposed, including imagining shapes, creating stories, sketching, and envisioning clouds as sentient beings, all aimed at stimulating the imagination and providing a form of mental escape.

Opinions

The author believes that cloud watching, a once common childhood activity, has been forgotten in the modern, digitally-focused era.
Fred, the author's neighbor, is portrayed as somewhat of an eccentric but is credited with providing valuable advice about the benefits of cloud watching.
The article suggests that cloud watching can activate the brain's "extrapersonal space," which is associated with creative and meditative states.
The Cloud Appreciation Society and its Cloud-a-Day app are presented as resources that can enhance the cloud watching experience through classification and community.
The author posits that there are countless creative ways to engage with cloud watching, and these methods are only limited by one's imagination.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, is quoted to reinforce the idea that cloud watching is a form of exploration that can be enjoyed without leaving one's immediate surroundings.
The article concludes by reiterating the scientific support for cloud watching's calming effects and encourages readers to engage in this simple yet enriching activity.

Using a common, beautiful — yet forgotten — piece of nature.

“Fred, I don’t think that’s going to work,” I said while rolling my eyes.

“How would you know? Just try it,” he replied.

Fred is my next-door neighbor and sells alternative heart medicine. In other words, he’s a bit of a quack. As much of a quack he is, he does occasionally give out some good advice.

So the next day, I was laying down at the park, arms and legs stretched out. I looked upon the crystal, blue Nevada sky. As I kept looking, I saw rabbits, spaceships, and my dog.

Without getting high, I was seeing some pretty spooky stuff.

Before kids were stuck inside their homes playing video games, you would go outside to play. You would play with the rocks, trees, sticks, etc. But unfortunately, the sky is often forgotten in our daily lives, even though looking at its clouds has many benefits.

Looking at the clouds fosters observation and creativity skills. During stressful times, your body’s sympathetic nervous system — the fight or flight mode — would be on all the time. Observing the clouds would allow the brain to turn off and relax.

Neuroscientist Fred Previc has argued that our second visual system, the “extrapersonal space,” is well-developed in human beings. This brain’s area becomes activated during religious experiences, meditation, or any creative activities. During these activities, we often lookup. So looking up may be correlated with boosting creativity. And what’s a better activity to look up than cloud watching?

There are many ways to cloud watch. The first way is simply watching the clouds to relax. Another way is to name and classify the cloud types, which you can use the International Cloud Atlas for. The Cloud Appreciation Society (yes, there’s a Cloud Appreciation Society) also has the Cloud-a-Day app to classify different cloud types. But an excellent way to cloud watch is using your imagination to create different shapes with the clouds.

To boost your creativity, here are some methods to cloud watch:

Imagine the clouds as different animal shapes.

String a story together with the different clouds.

Get a sketchpad and pencil and draw the types of clouds. Use these basic images to create other shapes.

Pretend the clouds are live, sentient beings. Imagine what would they say to us.

Try to combine the clouds into a creating famous movie or painting scenes.

In other words, there are endless ways to cloud watch, and the only limitation is your imagination. According to Pretor-Pinney, the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, cloud-gazing is “being an explorer of the sky, where you don’t have to leave your lockdown space.”

In Summary

Cloud-watching is a forgotten hobby. But the hobby has been scientifically proven to relax and calm someone.

There are many ways to cloud watch: simply watch the clouds, classify them by their scientific names, or play games with the clouds.

You could imagine the clouds as different animals, pretending the clouds are live sentient beings, etc. Your imagination is the only limitation. As the old saying goes, “the sky’s the limit.”