Though the effect cannabis may have on individuals varies, Cannabis has a plethora of properties that seem to enhance the mind’s mechanics. Beyond sticking to a schedule and being risk-takers, a significant through-line in the behavior and practices of creative geniuses reveals a moderate usage of Cannabis, no matter the time period. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that creative geniuses across industries, like Louis Armstrong, Steve Jobs, and Maya Angelou, all partook in the usage of Cannabis to enhance their work, productivity, and creative output.
Research continually suggests that Cannabis, when dosed correctly, can help incline the mind towards divergent thinking, imagination, and more free-flowing processes of thought. In this way, Cannabis helps to un-inhibit the mind to promote creative Flow and other specific tied to the creative process.
Creative Flow, a mental state of being completely present and fully immersed in a task, is a byproduct of divergent thinking, allowing individuals to openly imagine and connect seemingly unrelated ideas to come up with new, creative solutions to problems. While creative thinking mostly depends on the overall established creative purpose, specific strains of Cannabis can help individuals enter the different subsections of creative thinking: Creative Imagination, Creative Focus, Creative Awareness, Creative Connection, and Creative Reflection.
From a scientific perspective, Cannabis enhances divergent thinking by stimulating blood flow to the brain’s frontal lobe allowing neurons to fire in a more uninhibited way. But Cannabis is also a creative maximizer in how it deactivates specific areas of the brain. One of the biggest inhibitors to creative ideation and divergent thinking is in judging ideas as they emerge. The brain’s portion known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is often associated with inhibition, self-censorship, and the cognitive control of emotions. By slowing this area in the brain, imagination and divergent thinking can occur in a more judgment-free mindset.
In using Cannabis effectively for creative thinking, it is essential to pay close attention to one’s initial dosage. Since everyone’s tolerance to THC ranges, the most practical dosing method involves beginning at a lower THC dose and building up from there over time. In contrast, studies suggest that an initial high dosage of THC is linked to impaired divergent thinking and higher levels of anxiety and paranoia. THC’s initial low dose promotes open-mindedness, ideation, and the overall cognitive functions needed for creative thinking.
Through the proper dosage and usage of Cannabis, here are five subsections of creative thinking to help you reach your creative purpose:
1. CREATIVE IMAGINATION
Cannabis usage often results in a shift in how users perceive the world. Since Cannabis has the unique ability to open the mind and to make individuals more receptive to outside signals, cannabis users can find themselves with an enhanced capacity for imagination. For example, while high, chefs report being able to taste the combinations of food better to plan and produce future recipes. Meanwhile, musicians depict a newfound ability to imagine melodies being played by various instruments at once. The usage of Cannabis for creative imagination will increase an individuals’ capacity for judgment-free thinking, imagination, and sensory perception.
2. CREATIVE FOCUS
Similar to how Cannabis can uninhibited the mind, specific Cannabis strains reveal the ability to unleash a strong sense of hyper-focus and attention to users. These strains of Cannabis are perfect for individuals who continuously find their minds racing and are prone to having difficulty paying attention. In this way, scientists, writers, and deep thinkers are using Cannabis to help lock in on a single concept, person or idea. Using Cannabis for creative focus allows scientists and deep thinkers to better detect, understand, and deconstruct patterns. In this way, Creative Focus allows deep thinkers to ruminate on a problem to identify a specific solution. The proper dosage of these cannabis strains can help users remain in the present and inspire creative problem-solving.
3. CREATIVE AWARENESS
Cannabis can elevate the mind and help people gain a stronger sense of awareness, especially in their surroundings. Cannabis that promotes creative awareness is particularly useful for going to a museum or concert as it opens the mind aperture, allowing one’s mind to take in the experience with greater intensity. The sense of awareness is not limited to visuals and objects but rather to the individuals around you. Cannabis usage for Creative Awareness enhances and deepens the empathetic connections. Writers, who use Cannabis for Creative Awareness, find themselves better able to enter their characters’ different perspectives and feelings. Visual artists, meanwhile, experience a hyper-alertness to aesthetics, colors, and artistic patterns.
4. CREATIVE CONNECTION
Not to be confused with Creative Focus, the usage of Cannabis for Creative Connection often involves enhancing the thought process, commonly known as combinatory play. Coined by Einstein, combinatory play is the strategic analysis of data, facts, and available material to determine new associations that are useful for solving the problem at hand. Cannabis usage for Creative connection strengthens the ability to connect seemingly unrelated concepts, objects, or ideas. In other words, Creative Connection is the utilization of both convergent and divergent thinking to solve a problem. It allows individuals to ‘see the bigger picture’ in the same way that an orchestra’s composer understands how all the various instruments fit together to make a single harmony.
5. CREATIVE REFLECTION
Cannabis usage for Creative Reflection often results in empathy, distant-memory recall, and self-discovery. This unique usage of Cannabis allows individuals to meditate and self-reflect to peel back the ego on a journey of introspection. The creative mindfulness associated with creative reflection helps individuals to identify better their typical behavioral patterns, both good and bad. Creative reflection can also provide individuals with the insight to understand where their emotions are coming from to build upon existing empathy skills. Cannabis can also help promote distant-memory recall, ultimately leading individuals to their voilà moment during their self-discovery journeys. Artists, who use Cannabis for creative reflection, can better tap into their emotions to draw from memory.
