Saturation: getting in the mindset Immerse yourself in whatever information is available, then dig deeper for more.

The long-standing view in psychology is that positive emotions are conducive to creativity because they broaden the mind, whereas negative emotions are detrimental to creativity because they narrow one’s focus.

It’s true that attentional focus does have important effects on creative thinking

However, emerging research suggests that the positive vs. negative emotions distinction may not be the most important contrast for understanding attentional focus.

research conducted by psychologist Eddie Harmon-Jones and his colleagues suggests that the critical variable influencing one’s scope of attention is not emotional valence (positive vs. negative emotions) but motivational intensity, or how strongly you feel compelled to either approach or avoid something.

low motivational states facilitate the search for new goals to pursue, whereas high motivational states focus us on completing a specific goal.

Positive emotions low motivational intensity- e.g pleasant broadened the mind (measured by subjects making more holistic matches to a target stimulus)

high motivational intensity- e.g desire narrowed subjects’ scope of attention (subjects made more detail-oriented matches to a target stimulus)

negative emotions low motivational intensity- e.g sadness broadened attentional focus

high motivational intensity- e.g disgust a state of high motivational intensity for avoidance) narrowed focus.

If you want to keep an open mind and see the big picture, it’s probably best if you’re just in a pleasant (or even sad) mood.

If, however, you really need to buckle down and focus on making a new idea practical, high motivational intensity can be just the ticket.

Psychologists studying creativity have discovered that it is based on cognitive processes we all share. Creativity is not the result of some magic brain region that some people have and others don't.

creativity isn't limited to left-leaning designers, artists, and architects alone. Ideas and inspiration can (and should) come from everyone, regardless of their background.

Follow these steps and you'll find creativity can be achieved in just about any context.

Insights: defining the problem First, start by defining the problem at hand. Keep reframing the problem until it's clear to you and the others working on it. The problem and the path to resolution should be rooted in research and user-validation.

Incubation: letting it all sink in "thinking aside", as you're essentially putting your brain on the shelf and stepping away. By turning off your mind this way, you're allowing the information to set in and that subsequent spark of creativity the necessary room to ignite.

Illumination: the notable 'aha!' moment We know this as the "Aha!" moment that hits when we least expect it. Whether in the shower or in line at the grocery store, it's the unforeseen moment during which that thousand watt light bulb suddenly turns on and the solution seems clear.

Verification: remove any biasOnce you've hooked that brilliant idea, it's time to reel it in and conduct a close-up examination.

Yesterday NPR fired me for telling the truth. The truth is that I worry when I am getting on an airplane and see people dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as Muslims. This is not a bigoted statement. It is a statement of my feelings, my fears after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by radical Muslims.

It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control.

The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us.

I grew up a big comic book reader, as a kid, and I love the whole fanboy crowd.

Invention presupposes imagination but should not be confused with it.

It's hard to think of yourself as a brand, especially when I have four daughters who kick my butt early in the morning every day before I go to work.

I went to School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, and we had a bunch of singing classes. My first job in New York was an Off-Broadway musical.

Ideally, musicians belong outside the Establishment. When they cross that line, it's like something in them has died.

Winter bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail.

I always feel like there's something magic in recording studios. There's a reason good music continues to be made in them. It's just some mojo element.

My mother was a union member. She was a mail carrier, a rural mail carrier. She called herself a 'postal packin' grandma' for a good period of time.

I always had good recognition from the Southern writers, but the publishers never took any notice of that.

Basically morphic fields are fields of habit and theyve been set up through habits of thought through habits of activity and through habits of speech. Most of our culture is habitual.

Surveys show that many talented and committed young people are reluctant to enter teaching for the long haul because they think the profession is low-paying and not prestigious enough.

In my eighties, my best friends are in their fifties, and I have many friends at university. It keeps one young, and up with the vocabulary. That's terribly important, especially for a writer.

The sky is an infinite movie to me. I never get tired of looking at what's happening up there.

Voting is a civic sacrament - the highest responsibility we have as Americans.

I wouldn't say one is easier or more difficult, but when you're inside a costume and a mask, you have to endure heat - and, often, difficulty seeing. The vision is not very good in a mask. And you have to cope with that, as well as trying to think about this character.

'Cullum' is Scottish, but I'm nowhere near Scottish. My mother is Burmese, and my father is of German, Jewish, English ancestry.

Reverence is the chief joy and power of life - reverence for that which is pure and bright in youth; for what is true and tried in age; for all that is gracious among the living, great among the dead, - and marvelous in the powers that cannot die.

My fans go crazy over jaw clenches. They also love hand veins... they're infatuated with hands in general.

Use your time well. Everyone gets time equally. It doesn't matter how much money you make.

The gods look in pleasure on penitent sinners.

I'm not going to another club to hurt Liverpool.