Presented with a problem, our left hemispheres seem to take immediate charge. For problems requiring brute analytical force, this works just fine. But for those requiring creative solutions, the left-brain gets stumped. That’s when the right hemisphere kicks in, unleashing a steady stream of novel dot-connections between all sorts of random data in its storehouse. For some reason, an abundance of alpha brain waves – a certain frequency of neural oscillation that, frankly, we don’t know much about – seems to help us dip into that connection stream. A lot of these free associations are dead ends, but the ones that aren’t? Eureka.

3M, the Minnesota company behind innovative products such as masking tape and Post-It Notes, is famous for a work environment that encourages employees to regularly break their focus – and thereby crank those alpha waves. Go for a walk. Play a few rounds of pinball. Or even put your work to the side and get busy with a personal passion project. 3M even has a rule that staff spend 15 per cent of their day working on something that’s not, well, work.

Read the rest of this article by James Martin, as published in the Globe and Mail, at

The Creativity Gap: Can science help reinvent the thinking cap?

While that might apply to many endeavours, it doesn’t help you become more creative. Often what’s needed is to take a break and do something else.

That recess activity needs to stimulate your brain differently, because that difference allows your brain to explore different perspectives and connections.

That might include listening to or playing music. The fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes played the violin while contemplating his latest case.

Other good recess activities include: walking in the park, visiting the zoo, watching a play, attending a ball game, triming the trees in your yard, coaching little league, reading fiction, volunteering for a chairity…

And sometimes, you might simply need to have a nap or a good sleep. Your brain can be incredibly creative while you dream. And you awake feeling refreshed.

Read more about this concept in the book, “Imagine: How Creativity Works” by Jonah Lehrer.

Read this book review by Courtney Shea in the Globe & Mail. How to Have a Creative Breakthrough

Read book review by Canadian Business. Imagine: How Creativity Works

Listen to the interview and read the reviews on NPR How Creativity Works: It’s all in your imagination

Enjoy these foolish questions:

•If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?

•If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?

•Why do we say something is out of whack? What’s a whack?

•If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

•When someone asks you, “A penny for your thoughts,” and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?

•Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

•Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It’s just stale bread to begin with.

When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

•Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person that drives a race car is not called a racist?

•Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

•Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

•Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?

•”I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence?

•If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

•If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call the resulting company Fed UP?

•Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

•What hair color do they put on the driver’s licenses of bald men?

•I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older. Then it dawned on me….. they’re cramming for their final exam.

•If it’s true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

•How come no one ever says, “It’s only a game” when their team is winning?

•Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn’t zigzag?

•Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?