In Wired to Create (2015), Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire note the connection between mindfulness, described by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer as “the act of paying attention to the present moment,” and creativity. “People always think they’re aware, but they’re not,” Langer said. In her book Mindful Creativity, they note, “Langer suggests that doing creative work is itself a practice in mindfulness.

“‘In noticing new things about the topic you’re considering to write, photograph, or paint about, you’re being creative,’ she says. ‘By noticing new things about a topic, you see … that the thing you thought you knew is different—everything looks different from different perspectives.'”

So challenge yourself to pay more attention to what’s around you. Note one thing, one juxtaposition or contrast, that you don’t remember noticing before. When you go to do your creative work, make it a practice to bring that thing, that attentiveness with you.