Is it time to choose the burial plot? Because creativity's stats are getting weaker.

We are constantly rushing about our day, doing this and that. We have devices that do practically everything for us. They make life easier, don't they?

Yes, all the apps and handhelds and cool gadgets are making life easier, but at what cost?

And if all these nifty things are making life easier, why do we seem to be rushing about more?

When I was in middle school I had a realization surrounding Sesame Street.

This was before ADHD was even a thing in my reality.

I theorized that Sesame Street was responsible for a shorter attention span in the population.

Remember Sesame Street? It came on PBS every morning, after the time school aged children left in their yellow busses. Entertainment for children geared to helping them learn their ABC's and 123's. It was an hour long show broken up into many segments. You could be watching a segment about an Alligator King who broke his crown for 30 seconds, then count 12 ladybugs for 30 seconds then watch Oscar be grouchy at everyone for two minutes.

This constant change led me to believe we were being programmed to have very brief attention spans as toddlers. I believed this at that young age and even now I think it holds profound truth.

Look at us now. We need a constant influx of stimulus from our outer environment. And it's getting worse each generation.

What is the cost of this? With our device in the palm of our hands we are never bored.

But now we have given up daydreaming.

Daydreaming is an important part of brain development. All this constant information and stimuli is killing our brains ability to think creatively. We are rewiring our brains on the neural level to not be able to focus on one thing for very long, and to need outside influence and stimulus. We are losing our ability to think deep. We are losing our ability to focus on one thing. We cannot daydream as the brain is being rewired to constantly search for distraction.

We, the human species, are losing our ability to think! Pretty soon we are going to need AI (Artificial Intelligence) to do our thinking for us.

Imagine if Nicola Tesla had had his Mamas cell phone from the time he could hold it. Do you think he would have developed the ideas he did?

As we lose our deep think ability, we lose our ability to focus hard on one thing. In doing so we cannot

Daydreaming offers an alternate reality, even ever so slightly, to where the mind can flow freely and try out possibilities. Ideas, associations, and even improbabilities can flow together freely without restraint, forming links between or entirely new concepts altogether when daydreaming. Inventions are only birthed in daydreams, except by accident. New concepts and philosophies can only become reality if one first creatively thinks of them. And this only happens when you allow your mind to daydream.

I urge you to rewire your brain at least once a week. Daily is best but starting small is the probable road to success as you will be less likely to become frustrated. Turn off the devices- yes, even your phone ;) Find a comfy spot or go for a walk and daydream. Just let your mind frolic about in any possibility. Guide it by creating a scenario and see where it takes you!

I have been doing something like this since before I started writing professionally. Each night after I calm my mind from the days events I play a story in my head. It's rather long- it's been going for a few years now, lol. But essentially I have a character that is based upon me who goes on adventures every night. It continues each night where the previous one left off when I fell asleep. I have never bored of this! And within my little adventures in my head I have come up with quite a few ideas, plot lines for books, and creations for the real world- so it even has practical uses!

Turn it off and daydream. Good things will come and you will be rewarded with both a greater capacity to think and a crisper creativity ✵⋆✵⋆✵ images via Shutterstock, Giphy, and Pixabay