So, how do you spark up your creativity?  How do you ideas come to you?

“Does the metaphorical lightbulb go off? Is it a flash of genius? The power of crowds?”  TED

Elisabeth Gilbert gives us some insight into the creative process behind ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and explains her triumph over the fear that comes with ideas, innovation and success.

If you enjoyed this TED Talk from the creator of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, check out these TED Talk playlists, Where Do Creative Ideas Come From? and The Creative Spark.

How emotional connections trigger creativity

“Students’ social and emotional reactions to learning are imperative to feeling motivated to learn and to their ability to creatively solve problems, according to Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, who wrote Musings on the Neurobiological and Evolutionary Origins of Creativity via a Developmental Analysis of One Child’s Poetry. Her research tries to understand why emotions are so important to learning by examining what happens to brain functions.

“Neuroimaging experiments show us that we use the very same neural systems to feel our bodies as to feel our relationships, our moral judgments, and our creative inspiration,” said Immordino-Yang, a professor at USC’s Rossier School of Education and an expert on the neuroscience of learning and creativity. Her whose work focuses on how neuroscience can help teachers understand the ways students learn best, and to that end, she’s created a free online curriculum for teachers.”

Read more from this fantastic article about how emotional connections trigger creativity here.

And, see other great TED Talks here.