Odd, how much easier it is to be creative when it's inconvenient. When the moment hasn't been prepared; when there's no pen and paper; the laptop is off (and in the barn); your shower has got to the point where there's shampoo in your eyes and no prospect whatsoever of getting out and quickly finding a ballpoint (let alone the treasured waterproof notebook you were given, for just this eventuality, several years ago - and put in a safe place). We classify things, and perhaps this is an instance of that.
Creativity happens on a clear morning when we have the laptop open and ready, the coffee made, the notebook and pen ready for side thoughts, several hours ahead of us. Or rather - that's when it doesn't happen. Meditation happens when we're sitting in the lotus position, perfently still, mind clear of all thoughts except the thought that the mind 'must' be clear, dressed in the brand-new meditation clothes we bought that morning when we decided we wanted incense rather than the scent of flowers in the house - or rather, meditation hapens when we're washing up, or walking the coast path, or otherwise open and not conscious of being open.
With exceptions. And I think we can say: until meditation is part of your life. And probably the same of creativity, except that here we can bring in the element of trust. Click on 'new post' without an idea in your head, and three paragraphs later you're babbling on about trust. Set aside all the preparation, the getting everything just-so, and place the point of the pen on the page of the notebook. Leave a pen near the shower, and you'll never have an idea. But kind of sneakily know where the nearest pen is, and kind of forget that it's convenient for the shower, and one fine morning ...
... you'll get pneumonia, but you'll have created something. I like the thought that (1) everything is so much simpler than we make it, and (2) it all works better if we don't cover it in rules and procedures, et cetera. Okay, the thoughts. But it's true, isn't it? Don't stage-manage your being; just be.
[A note to the surprising number of people who read this. I'm away for a few days, in London. Probably will post, but if not - back Thursday. Or Friday - it's an open ticket. Thanks for being here.]
Creativity happens on a clear morning when we have the laptop open and ready, the coffee made, the notebook and pen ready for side thoughts, several hours ahead of us. Or rather - that's when it doesn't happen. Meditation happens when we're sitting in the lotus position, perfently still, mind clear of all thoughts except the thought that the mind 'must' be clear, dressed in the brand-new meditation clothes we bought that morning when we decided we wanted incense rather than the scent of flowers in the house - or rather, meditation hapens when we're washing up, or walking the coast path, or otherwise open and not conscious of being open.
With exceptions. And I think we can say: until meditation is part of your life. And probably the same of creativity, except that here we can bring in the element of trust. Click on 'new post' without an idea in your head, and three paragraphs later you're babbling on about trust. Set aside all the preparation, the getting everything just-so, and place the point of the pen on the page of the notebook. Leave a pen near the shower, and you'll never have an idea. But kind of sneakily know where the nearest pen is, and kind of forget that it's convenient for the shower, and one fine morning ...
... you'll get pneumonia, but you'll have created something. I like the thought that (1) everything is so much simpler than we make it, and (2) it all works better if we don't cover it in rules and procedures, et cetera. Okay, the thoughts. But it's true, isn't it? Don't stage-manage your being; just be.
[A note to the surprising number of people who read this. I'm away for a few days, in London. Probably will post, but if not - back Thursday. Or Friday - it's an open ticket. Thanks for being here.]