While we know how to quicken mental states (drugs like caffeine), and know what happens to the brain during meditation, creativity is not only tricky to measure, but also to track. Most people can achieve the much-studied "flow state" which seems to be an integral component of the "getting it done" part of the creative equation. But where does the spark come from? And is there a shortcut?

 

I’ve struggled with this question. As a writer and artist, I’m continually curious about the provenance of my creative ideas; both my stepmother Kris Vartan, an impressionist painter, and musician Tori Amos say that their inspirations come from outside of themselves, well-formed, and they see it as their job to simply fill out the details of what has been bestowed upon them from the universe. Other artists claim that parts or details of a whole are revealed, and then they use their own experience and proclivities to put them together in a way that makes sense to them. Plenty of writers say they have no idea where a story is going when they start (Stephen King, for one), and others say they can only see the end and have to figure out how to get there.

 

I find that the majority of my most lastingly creative moments happen in two places: when I am on the move while traveling (especially trains or when driving), and when I’m in natural spaces, specifically wooded areas (as much as I love the beach, the sound of the ocean tends to send me to relaxo-land, which is when my brain is wiped free of thought).

 

Turns out my peripatetically inspired bouts of creativity may have a basis not in what’s happening to my mind, but what’s going on with my body (or more properly, the effect the latter is having on the former). According to an article in the New York Times by three researchers who are looking at this question, physically taking ourselves out of the "box" (which may differ depending on one's life and lifestyle) might be the biggest boon to new and better thought.