I often have a lightbulb moment in the shower. Walking alone in nature also gets the creative juices flowing. As does dispensing with adult responsibilities and allowing more fun and imaginative play in my life. Of course this is true for many of us and is now backed up by science.

According to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire in their book Wired to Create: Unravelling the mysteries of the creative mind (Perigee Books 2015), as well as outlined in their article Ten Habits of Highly Creative People, the good news is that we can develop creativity as a habit and a style of engaging with the world.

No longer any need to mourn the loss of the creative freedoms of childhood or lament the missing creative gene. Neuroscience shows us that we are all wired to create.

As Kaufman and Gregoire put it;

We encourage people to embrace their paradoxes and complexities and open up to a deeper level of self-understanding and self-expression. It is precisely this ability to hold the self in all its dimensional beauty that is at the very core of creative fulfilment.

Some of their recommended habits of mind include:

• Daydreaming
• Passion
• Imaginative play
• Solitude
• Intuition
• Openness to experience
• Sensitivity
• Thinking differently

So have more showers, drop the self-judgements and create, create, create for the sheer joy of it!