Brain Warmup Exercises for Author Creativity

Some people tend to favour one hemisphere over the other (if you’re left handed it’s usually – though not always – your right side) and vice versa but the real key to creativity is to get both of your so-called “logical left” and so-called “intuitive right” sides firing on all cylinders – and working in unison. This is when real magic can happen

Left and Right Brain Hempishpere Functions

Rather than go on about loads of science stuff here (Google “Brain Hemispheres” if you’re really that interested) I’m going to suggest a few activities and games you can play to get your brain working better for you. I suggest that you spend about 5-10 minutes doing this warm up – before you get started with the specific creativity approaches I’ll introduce next.

Brain Warm Up 1 – Juggle – needs hand-eye coordination – uses both hands (hemispheres) and gets them working together – is lots of fun. Try doing it while counting at the same time or if you have different coloured items call the colour out as it passes the centre. If you can’t juggle then learn – it’s a really good brain exercise.

Brain Warm Up 2 - Dance - moving your whole body in time to music is another great way to get your brain working in sync. The more complicated the movements the better but try to feel the music too for that all over brain warm up. Plus it makes you feel good!

Brain Warm Up 3 Draw – if you tend to be logical detail oriented get doodling. Even if your drawings are rubbish you’ll still get the benefits. It will help re-awaken your latent visual and intuitive side and get it in balance with your already strong logical and pragmatic side.

Brain Warm Up 4 - The Colour Game – Look at the following image and say the COLOUR not the word – out loud. This creates a right brain (colour) – left brain (word) conflict which is great for warming up your two hemispheres and getting them working together.

If you want to know more about the creative power of the right side of your brain then I highly recommend“Drawing on The Right Side of The Brain” by Betty Edwards – you’ll also get pretty good at drawing too!

http://publishingacademy.com/authors/get-book-ideas/brain-warmup-exercises-for-author-creativity/