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Ideas are the starting point for all creative projects. No ideas means no creativity! So here’s a very effective way of using your senses to give you a plentiful flow of new creative ideas:

It’s all too easy to forget we have five senses (at least!) through which we experience the world.

Our senses are not only the channel through which we receive all of our experiences, but also the channel through which we broadcast them back out as our art. Let me explain this more clearly. Say you’re out walking and see a beautiful weeping willow tree. You experience it through your eyes, maybe you hear the wind rushing through the branches too, and maybe you get up close and touch it. The main sense is your vision and this is then captured in your mind as a memory.

So, then when you come to create new art inspired by the willow, the only way you can do this is by recalling this memory and using your senses to create it. This could be a poem, a painting, a sculpture or something else. You’re bringing it physically into the world so that others can then experience your work through their senses. Your senses were both the input channel and the output channel.

Can you imagine how any of this could possibly be done without using your senses? The answer is simple – it COULDN’T be done.

So how does this relate to helping you have more creative ideas?

A great way of giving yourself more inspiration for ideas is to focus on your senses more. And the best way to start is to use one at a time, and give it your full attention. Try this simple exercise:

Take yourself somewhere where there’s likely to be plenty of stimulation. Maybe a busy town, if you prefer the stimulation of bustling people and buildings, or it could be somewhere more rural if you prefer nature to be your main source of ideas. Find a comfortable place to sit. You’ll need a notebook and pencil for this by the way.

Now, choose one of your senses to begin.

Let’s say your sense of sight. Begin looking around you, forgetting all your other senses for now, and giving your eyes full attention. Look in a way that you don’t normally look, see every detail, every colour, shape, texture and movement. Then begin writing about what you see, as vividly as you can.

Once you’ve written as much as possible, give yourself a short rest. Then, begin with another of your senses, for example your hearing. Again, use this sense with far more attentiveness than you usually would. Listen carefully to the many layers of sound that are occurring around you, you’ll realise wherever you are there’s a virtual symphony of sound effects surrounding you. And, as before, write down what you experience as fully as you can.

Repeat this process for each of your five senses.

Obviously, depending on where you are, you’re likely to feel more through some than others. Just write as much as you can for each. You will amaze yourself with how much detail you notice and record. Just doing this once is a great exercise and will show you how much more stimulation and material for new ideas there is around you at any one time. Make this exercise a habit though and soon you’ll realise that you are doing it automatically.

Wherever you go you will instinctively absorb more of your surroundings, and creative ideas will literally be forming before your eyes. And ears. And nose. Oh you get the idea! Start today, pick somewhere to visit, take a notebook and pencil, let your surroundings fill your senses, and ideas fill your mind!

Ready to be more creative? Then sign up to “Create Create!” – Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s free twice monthly ezine – today, and get your free copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.coachcreative.com