What morning routines do you have?
I have always valued quiet time in the morning. I’d rather get up half an hour earlier to have some time to dream over the breakfast table. And it turns out that this is not such a bad idea – from a creative thinking point.
Often everything we do in the morning runs in the opposite direction to the best conditions for thinking creatively. Kids are woken up to our stressed voices. They drag themselves out of bed, search the house for that annoying missing sock, while trying to finish and find the homework. Hardly a minute to sit still and enjoy the breakfast and even less time to dream and let the thoughts swirl around. Once at school, with a sigh, they search for a creative opening sentence for the essay, or an original way to solve the maths problems.
So what does modern science tells us about conditions that promote flexible thinking? Mareike Wieth and Rose Zacks reported that imaginative insights often come when a child allows unexpected and inspired connections to be made. When a child is allowed to widen his search through his knowledge network, there is an increase in his creative problem solving. Allowing a child time to tune into their meandering minds, gives him an opportunity to ponder over crazy and surprising ideas and solutions.
Some kids are very active and perky in the morning so they might feel inspired when they are a bit more tired in the evening. Then they can focus on catching and pondering over their creative insights.
A positive mood is a necessary ingredient for searching for creative ideas and solutions. A negative mood tends to narrow and limit a child’s search for new insights and ideas.
Many of us think that that coffee in the morning will boost our brainpower. Yet a recent study shows that this might be a myth. Only if you seldom drink coffee, you get a boost from the drink. So time to eat and drink something to boost the brain is also necessary.
Below is a YouTube Video – Best Baby Laughing Video Compilation 2013