Increased creativity:

As you introduce new movements to your body, you open up your problem solving capabilities in the physical sense. Any change in physiology is preceded by a change in the brain and nervous system. This, translated to english, means whenever our body is able to do something new, there was first a change in our brains(refer back to “Planning for a Healthy Brain” posted January 15th). By introducing new ways of functioning to the brain, we change our capacities to function as humans.

I will take bouldering as an example. While bouldering, we have to solve problems. A problems is a set route which you have to follow to reach the top of the wall or rock. The way you complete the route, or send the route, is called a beta and there are many betas for any given route. Not all betas work for all people due to our differences in strength, flexibility, and size. This is where creativity and patience comes into play. If we see someone complete a route one way, that beta becomes our best chance at success (in our minds), and we try to copy that way. Personally, I can get near dogmatic when it comes to a beta, pounding the same sequence of movements over and over and over until I take a break, take a breath, and drag myself out of the creativity rut.  An exercise I have started to practice recently is sending low level routes with a different beta each time, this forces me to get creative. Sometimes I end up doing moves I never knew I could do. This exercise also helps your technique. Once you have seen the same route 10-20 times, you start to recognize moves and routes of greatest efficiency, gradually becoming more graceful and smooth, turning your climbing into something as beautiful as a dance.

We are forced to “murder your darlings,” a saying made popular by William Faulkner. Darlings are shrouded in a mist of rose colored love and affection, causing us to miss the faults that might be obvious to an outside observer. Murdering your darlings entails letting go of that which you hold dear when it is no longer serving you. In writing, you are forced to take out sentences, themes, or entire paragraphs if they make the larger whole less cohesive. It is a hard to swallow your pride and admit something you held so closely is wrong, but as ego crushing movers, this ain’t nothin new. When bouldering, one beta can become our darling, even if our abilities say otherwise.

Learning to abandon and start new is a valuable lesson. Develop it in every area of your life. 

Developing creative solutions in bouldering helps with creative solutions in business which helps 

with creative solutions in parenting which helps with creative solutions in bouldering. The positive 

feedback cycle repeats infinitely.