Mind full of ideas: A meta-analysis of the mindfulness–creativity link

Mindfulness improves people's functioning in many areas, but its relationship with creativity is equivocal. To assess the link between mindfulness and creativity, we present a multilevel meta-analysis of 89 correlations obtained from 20 samples in studies published between 1977 and 2015 and demonstrate a statistically significant, but relatively weak correlation (r = .22) between these two constructs. This effect was moderated by the type of mindfulness, being significantly lower in case of the awareness aspect of mindfulness, than in the case of the open-monitoring aspect. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.