Mindfulness and Creativity: New Research and Practices |
In September 2021, I penned a post for this column entitled “How to Jump-Start Your Creativity Using Mindfulness.” The piece centered on the creative implications of mindfulness as a stimulant for both imagination and inventiveness. Since that post was published, I have discovered new research and several commanding practices that underscore the importance of mindfulness as a “spark plug” for our creative endeavors. Let’s take a look.
A 2024 empirical study of 894 secondary school students examined how dispositional mindfulness (one’s natural tendency to be mindful) was related to several creativity measures, such as divergent thinking, creative combination, and creative problem-solving. The researchers noted that mindfulness was positively associated with creative functioning and that it enhanced creativity by boosting internal psychological resources such as resilience and optimism.
Another study released in 2024 sought to determine the relationship between mindfulness and scientific........