The trouble is if we take no new steps to try a new challenge, our comfort zone doesn't seem just to stay still, but retract.

Our emotional map is laid down mainly in relationship with our earliest caregiver in the first couple of years of life.

I think there is probably something evolutionary in that we are drawn to the easiest option. But in our age of convenience, cars, ready meals and off the peg mean that we are in danger of being mentally under stretched.

After a stroke we can re-learn how to talk, because by practicing we can establish different pathways in the brain, circumnavigating the damaged part.

There are probably times where the creative process is not helped by collaboration.

If we are not using our brains' capacity for challenge it feels to me as though it atrophies like an unused muscle.

It seems whether we have a tendency towards being flexible or structured affects how we create, how we parent, how we work.