links

 The best creativity links

Creativity Web - Charles Cave's web site on creativity is simply the best out there. You could spend days exploring this site. (I have.)

The Enchanted Mind has a host of games and brain-teasers designed to get your creativity up and running. Great Fun!.

The Innovation Network is a group of people in industry, training and change management who trade ideas and insights. They have an annual convention and have a nifty newsletter you might want to get sent your way. (it's free.)

Every regular reader of Summit Manor knows I am a sucker for a good list. Here are a few of my favorites: the Business Creativity Network in England, or this one from ProfitPlay, or this list of  top ten keys to creativity, or these 12 steps to creative thinking.  My favorite list? Try 10 Steps to Greater Creativity by JPB Creative in Thailand. 

I’m never quite sure whether Melvin Saunders is daft or brilliant, but his site is filled with more new concepts and challenges to the same old way of looking at things than nearly any site I look at. One of the more conventional of his pages has to do with how to improve your creative thinking skills –  Not only is the advice sound, it prepares you to look at the rest of the site. Whatever you think of what you see, you won’t be bored, and if you manage to leave the site without some new ideas percolating as a result, I’d be amazed.

There are a number of surveys you can take and buy to help you look at your creative potential. Here are some sites that provide links to some of the better known ones. The Center for Creative Leadership has a number of tools (mostly for sale) One of the most used personality tests is the Keirsey test. You can take an abbreviated on-line version (for free). 

This page contains an interview with Makoto Fujimura on the role of prayer in art. Born in Boston, trained in Japan, and with a world-wide scope to his art and thought, this article makes compelling reading. I’d also suggest you take time to poke around the entire site.

Here are seven tools to help you find a creative solution to almost anything.  You’ll find nice summary of .. Problem Redefinition, Brainstorming, Brainwriting, Creative Brainstorming, Word/Picture Association, Advanced Analogies, and Morphological Charts. If you are like me, and that last one has you baffled, go visit them at www.goalqpc.com/research/7cr.html . 

These folks have what they call a Do-it-yourself Creative Divination on their web site. Start here and follow the directions on the site, and voila! A new idea. Sound crazy? Well, I DID get some odd answers, but they made me think and once I began thinking…. Check it out yourself

 I also have some favorite magazines for spawning creativity. In business, hands down the best "new idea" magazine is Fast Company.  I also like Utne Reader. Although I often see things differently than they do, their articles are nearly always thought provoking and interesting. 

Creativity Software? Try Mind Manager. Mind Manager uses mind mapping to help you organize ideas and projects. Go to their site and you can download an evaluation copy free. We use this software daily.

www.civa.com  is a web site for Christians in the Visual Arts - a beautiful and inspiring site. Christian artists might also want to check out  www.imagejournal.org  - a very busy and active web site. 

Want to link creativity and spirituality? (We do!). Try the Soulful Living site, or visit the Yakar Center for Tradition and Creativity in Jerusalem, and see how they do it. This article, written by Carlisle Bergquist, applies an eastern tradition to thinking about creativity. Or read these personal essays on spirituality and and creativity.

I still haven’t figured out whether this article. Seven Principles of Spirituality in the Workplace is about spirituality (the topic it portends to write about), or creativity. The lessons and concepts apply to both. Maybe that is as it should be – the two are clearly related. 

"The Spiritual Journey of the Corporate Warrior" in the title of this long (14 pages) and thought provoking article. His concern is creativity in an organization. He is specifically talking about business, but I find that much of what he says can be applied to any organization (including churches and ministries). 

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The Web is constantly changing, which means web sites often disappear or move without warning. If you find any links have gone bad, or if you know of an excellent site that should be listed here, please contact us and let us know