How Nature Inspires Creativity - Getaway Journal (2024)

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Feeling stuck in a rut and out of ideas? Maybe Mother Nature has the solution to your lack of imagination.

People who don’t identify as creatives are often caught in a cycle of repeating phrases like I’m not creative or I don’t know how to draw—effectively, they’re stuck in this mindset.

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A good way to combat this pattern of thinking is to actually remove yourself from your own everyday routine for a new perspective. Shifting your routine, where you go, how you spend your days, off time and weekends could be a key way to inspire some creativity. As creativity is often times described as making or discovering previously hidden connections, it makes sense that diverting from your daily routine could help you do just that.

Whereas city life can be swamped with patterns, ruts and cycles of doing what is expected; nature can be a powerful source of creativity.

A 2012 study explored the consequences of more time spent with media and technology over nature found that backpackers who spent a few days hiking showed higher levels of creativity in a word association test than before they immersed themselves in nature.

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The Science Behind Nature + Creativity

Why is nature so beneficial to the brain? Scientists believe the state of “soft fascination” – in which you can find yourself as you appreciate your surroundings on a hike or watch the water of a river flow by – is believed to calm the prefrontal cortex, allowing the brain to access other regions that can lead to insights and new ideas.

Spending time in nature also inspires a sense of awe. This feeling that the world is so much bigger than you can comprehend leads to “expansive thinking,” which allows us to consider different perspectives and can lead to innovative ideas. This could explain why so many artists – from Ansel Adams to Henry David Thoreau to Georgia O’Keefe – have found spending time in nature essential their work.

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Technology Versus Nature

In everyday life in the city, your brain can easily get overwhelmed, making it hard to focus. A simple way to combat the war for our attention is to simply take a break: turn off your phones every now and again. This is especially important if you’re trying to reap the benefits of nature: a study showed that people walking through an arboretum while talking on their cell phone had brain activity levels “consistent with attention overload” while those who strolled among the plants without their phones had higher recollection of detail.

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Even a simple walk in the park can boost your creativity, but longer escapes are more beneficial. Three days out in nature seems to be the sweet spot for fully letting your mind calm down from a fast-paced life.

Try getting out of a rut and give your brain a break by taking a deep dive into the outdoors. What patterns can you break? Unplug from everything. Switch up where you sleep and spend a night (or several) in a tent or a cabin in the woods. Explore new natural terrain, watch the sunset and look at the stars – without Instagramming the view. Connect with the world through your eyes instead of through a lens for a while. Bring along your paintbrushes or pencils, and see what being in nature inspires.

Once you get back to daily life, your old routine will feel new again, which is key to sparking your creativity.

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How Nature Inspires Creativity - Getaway Journal (2024)

FAQs

How Nature Inspires Creativity - Getaway Journal? ›

Spending time in nature also inspires a sense of awe. This feeling that the world is so much bigger than you can comprehend leads to “expansive thinking,” which allows us to consider different perspectives and can lead to innovative ideas.

How does nature influence creativity? ›

The natural world is a vital source of calm and quiet, and spending time in it releases stress hormones and helps your brain focus on problem-solving. It's this 'unblocking' that provides the mental clarity you need to be creative.

How do you get inspired by nature? ›

Observe nature: Get out and take notice

Take a Walk: Stroll through a nearby park or simply walk around your neighborhood. Look at the trees, flowers, and birds. Notice the colors, shapes, and movements. Let your mind wander and see what ideas come to you.

How does nature inspire people? ›

The researchers concluded that experiencing the beauty of nature increases positive emotion—perhaps by inspiring awe, a feeling akin to wonder, with the sense of being part of something bigger than oneself—which then leads to prosocial behaviors.

What aspects of nature inspire you? ›

Nature inspires me because of its beauty, resilience, and ability to evoke a sense of wonder and awe. It offers solace and tranquility, reminding me of the interconnectedness of all living beings and the importance of preserving our environment.

How environment can influence creativity? ›

The creative press literature demonstrates that visual stimulation and social space constitute creative output's most significant physical aspects. The creative environments should include multi-sensory experiences and balanced support for individual incubation and the assurance of an innovative culture.

What are some creations inspired by nature? ›

There are many examples of this, including gliders and airplanes being inspired by birds, wet suits being inspired by sharkskin, structures and fabrics being inspired by spiderwebs, and Velcro being inspired by burrs.

How does nature inspire design? ›

Biomimicry (or biomimetics) is what guides Nature inspired design, representing the bridge between biology and design principles. Biomimicry offers an understanding of how life functions and thrives on Earth. From there, we can decide where we fit in as people.

How nature is an inspiration for art? ›

Artists often find inspiration in the natural world. This means they interact with nature using multiple senses (including sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) and create works of art that incorporate what they observe. These artworks can be in any medium and can be abstract or realistic.

How does nature influence people? ›

Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.

How nature motivates you? ›

Nature is an amazing source of motivation because nature itself is a phenomenon that expels energy forces. A nature-centered environment helps reduce your stress levels and provides inspiration for physical activity and satisfaction.

How does going outside boost creativity? ›

When children play with natural materials they generate their own ideas, which seems to fuel their innate creativity. Extended unstructured time outdoors is not only really inspiring, it seems to also afford the practice of high-level thinking and problem-solving.

How does nature increase creativity? ›

The Science Behind Nature + Creativity

Spending time in nature also inspires a sense of awe. This feeling that the world is so much bigger than you can comprehend leads to “expansive thinking,” which allows us to consider different perspectives and can lead to innovative ideas.

What nature brings you? ›

Nature can generate many positive emotions, such as calmness, joy, and creativity and can facilitate concentration.

How nature attracts us? ›

Natural environments can stimulate the senses, providing new and fresh scents, a beautiful array of colours to see, a range of textures to touch and a host of calming sounds. We've got to say, there's something special about walking through woodlands after a light shower!

What is the nature and importance of creativity? ›

Creativity is a mental process involving the generations of new ideas or concepts or new association between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity involves the generation of new ideas or the recombination of known elements into something new, providing valuable solutions to a problem.

How do natural factors affect creativity and innovation? ›

This exposure to nature is linked to improved cognitive function, including attention and working memory. These cognitive enhancements can directly influence creativity by allowing individuals to focus better, connect disparate ideas, and think more abstractly.

How does nature influence artists? ›

Artists often find inspiration in the natural world. This means they interact with nature using multiple senses (including sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) and create works of art that incorporate what they observe. These artworks can be in any medium and can be abstract or realistic.

What environment stimulates creativity? ›

Curiously, experiments have shown that “a brief glimpse of green prior to a creativity task enhances creative performance”. The same has been said of blue. So if you want people to generate brilliantly original ideas, make sure there is enough green or blue around for them to gaze upon.

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