So it was very surprising for me to read about a study that was published in 2006 by Canadian Researchers that showed that being in a good mood helps you think more creatively. For that study, University of Toronto psychologists induced a happy, sad or neutral state in 24 participants by playing them specially chosen musical selections. They found that people in a happy mood performed better than others on tasks that required them to be creative.
The results suggest that being in a good mood makes you more receptive to all kinds of information. It broadens your mind. "With positive mood, you actually get more access to things you would normally ignore," explains psychologist Adam Anderson, co-author of the study published online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . "Instead of looking through a porthole, you have a landscape or panoramic view of the world."
If I look at my own life, I do feel more creative when I'm happy and relaxed. When I'm stressed or depressed, I don't feel like doing anything, I become lethargic, feeling depleted of all my energy.
What I've noticed, though, is that if I start creating when I'm feeling down, it does help change my mood... creativity can boost my mood. So, maybe, all those tortured artists did not get their creativity from their elated state, but rather the opposite, they became happy through their creativity, which in turn, led them to become even more creative!
So whenever you feel like you are in a creative rut, you can put on uplifting music or, maybe, you can also just start creating, who knows, maybe the activity itself will lift your spirit!
And how about you, do you feel more creative when you're in a good mood?
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