• Notice the details of your life. Most of the time we are running through life on auto-pilot. Slow down and appreciate your surroundings. See if anything makes you think a little differently or inspires you.

• Dedicate a space to creativity, whether it’s a room, desk or even a notebook. Keep your inspiration area easily accessible for new ideas to bloom. For more inspiration, check out Where Women Create.

• Stop living up to the standards of other people’s ideas about creativity. Everyone’s innate sense of creativity is unique. It’s that quality that allows us all to continually shape our lives. For one day, suspend all judgment, including your own.

Take small breaks. Whenever I am working on something creative, I only work as long as I am in flow. When I become blocked, I switch tasks, even if it’s to get up and get a glass of water or check a website. This allows my brain to rest and incubate ideas. Then I come back to the project and work some more and the cycle continues till I complete it.

Soon, we begin a new bi-monthly feature on Dose of Creativity called creativity cures. My goal is to provide one small dose based on my own experience that will help you develop or enhance your creative thinking ability. While there is no formula for sparking creativity, there are small things that can help shift your perspective. Some may work for you and some may not.

The purpose is to get you to try something different. Creativity starts with an open mind and an exposure to a wide range of ideas.