Consuming sugar really helps.
For me, just picking random notes that pop up in my head makes awesome chords/melodies. Really.

You just need to bench press your way to creativity.

lol.

I don't have time to do much creating in the musical realm any more. Mechanical engineering studies does that to you. But I do play the guitar every now and again.

I actually haven't made any songs in like the past 8 months or so. But I have songs that are on the complete and are being mixed.

Going to school has focused me on different aspects and gain an appreciation for silence and letting things work out. Often times the variable you haven't accounted for, and the one that needs to be removed, is yourself. Once you remove yourself from the emotional attachment you have with the problem(s), then you can see things from a different angle. (take that with a grain of salt and maybe a few discussions)

I also drink tea. I don't smoke weed any more because it doesn't help me do any thing besides relax and get super lazy. Besides, it didn't actually make my music, ideas, or perspective any better.

I also play some amount of video games, but not nearly as the level i did in high school. The more serious I'd want to be into games, the more serious i should be towards my music. Given more time and resources available, I'd dubstep all day and night.

Stick with the coffee mate lol.

Interesting. So do you think of reading those kinds of books as a creative source in themselves, or is it just an activity that makes the creative process easier for you?

I know it wasn't directed towards me, but reading any thing of interest stimulates the brain. His suggestions are in line for the vessel that is currently being occupied(i don't know the sex of poster in which the question is directed towards).

It's a great way to activate your brain and when it comes time to use the vocabulary you're learned or just use your brain, you'll have a better time at doing both than if you did not do the activity.

But, you still have to specify the actions you take and practice the things you want to get better at. Different things help with physical and mental properties of any subject, but you still need to practice the mental and physical properties OF the subject you wish to become more skillful in.

I personally think this is the essence of creativity.

So do you think of reading those kinds of books as a creative source in themselves, or is it just an activity that makes the creative process easier for you?

Why does it have to be an either or? I think that any activity where you can sort of shut down the analysis and planning centers of your brain while allowing room for free-association thoughts, subconscious wandering, mind-expansion, or whatever you wanna call "not acting like neurotic paranoid primate that evolution made your distant ancestors into." Like Marrow Machines said, "activate your brain." Trying to grasp astrophysics has given me a little bit of insight into light, which can translate in some ways towards what I know about sound - both are waves oscillating at specific frequencies that are perceived by our brains in subjective but generally similar ways. It makes me look at sound differently the next time I approach it, and in my opinion makes me more open to new ideas.

At the same time, not thinking about music gives my mind some time to work through a lot of the issues I'm having with music. Cleaning dishes by hand or folding laundry is another good example of that for me; I've had epiphanies about what to do with my tracks just because I gave myself the time away to be monotonous.

Sometimes I feel that you are either creative/musically inclined or you're not.. it's just like with the other thread about forcing yourself to produce.

There's no such thing as being "musically inclined" or "creatively inclined". You have drives and you have desires. If you desire something, you'll try to achieve it. If you have drive towards something, you'll do whatever it takes to achieve it, no matter how difficult that thing is to achieve. Everyone desires to be creative, because artistic expression allows us to get out thoughts and emotions we cannot otherwise express. Not everyone has the drive to be creative, because artistic expression is one of the easiest things to start and one of the hardest things to master. If you're not 100% passionate about it, there is no amount of desire that will give you that drive.

Having themes help. The Song-a-Week subreddit has a theme for every week, and so far they've helped me think of some cool stuff. Other than that, sound design and noodling in my DAW get my creativity going.

Usually I just open up my DAW and... put some form of chord progression down. Everything just goes up from there. You can also start with a beat, but that's harder.