under the cold light of reason, fatal flaws appear. But ifeverything checks out, the slow and often routine work of elaboration begins.There are four main conditions that are important during this stage of the process. First of all,the person must pay attention to the developing work. Next, one must pay attention to onesgoals and feelings, to know whether the work is indeed proceeding as intended. The thirdcondition is to keep in touch with domain knowledge, to use the most effective techniques, thefullest information, and the best theories as one proceeds. And finally, it is important to listento colleagues in the field to get a sense that things are moving in the right direction and alsomake the most effective sales pitch.Usually insights tend to come to prepared minds, that is, to those who have thought longand hard about a given set of problematic issues. There are three main sources from whichproblems typically arise; personal experiences, requirements of the domain, and socialpressures.Early experience predisposes a young person to be interested in a certain range of problems.Without a burning curiosity, we are unlikely to persevere long to make significant newcontributions.The inspiration for a creative solution usually comes from a conflict in the domain Everydomain has its own internal logic, its pattern of development, and those who work withinit must respond to this logic. An intellectual problem may not be restricted to a particulardomain. Indeed, some of the most creative breakthroughs occur when an idea that workswell in one domain is transplanted in another. Many creative people are inspired by a gap ordiscrepancy in their domain that becomes obvious when looked at from the perspective ofanother domain. And then there are people who sense problems in real life that cannot beaccommodated within the symbolic system of any existing domain.Social pressures too can contribute. An economic depression or a change in political prioritiesmay encourage one line of research and push another into the backburner. Wars can alsoaffect the direction of science and arts. It is no coincidence that Einsteins theory of relativity,Freuds theory of the unconscious, Eliots free form poetry, Picassos deformed figuresand James Joyces stream of consciousness prose were all created and gained publicacceptance in the same period in which the old order changed and belief systems rejected oldcertainties. More recently, the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouzs work has been influenced bycolonialism, shifting of values, social mobility and the changing roles of men and women.THE FLOW OF CREATIVITYCreative persons differ from one another in a variety of ways, but in one respect they aresame. They love what they do. Creative individuals internalize the fields criteria of judgementto the extent that they have the ability to separate bad ideas from good ones, so that theydont waste much time exploring blind alleys. The flow experience has the following buildingblocks:There are clear goals every step of the wayThere is immediate feedback to ones actionsThere is a balance between challenges and skillsAction and awareness are mergedDistractions are excluded from consciousnessThere is no worry of failureSelf-consciousness disappearsThe sense of time becomes distortedThe activity becomes autotelic .Focus and concentration hold the key to