Creative Triggers and Connections - the Sparks and Flames of Artistic Output
Have you ever been hit by a bout of unexpected creativity? A moment when out of the blue, your head is aflame with ideas that are coming faster than you can write them down? It happened to me last week and I felt as if Id been gifted enough material to write at least four or five blog posts.
It got me to thinking about the nature of such wonderful creative events and whether we can do anything to bring them about.
I believe that we can.
I have a number of ways of generating ideas one favourite is mindmapping and I also enjoy talking things through with other people usually my wife, Lynda. Both of these are really productive. But this particular creative happening was something entirely different, because it wasnt in my mind to generate new ideas. I was simply checking out a couple of blogs mentioned in an email from a fellow coach. All I was doing was using a bit of downtime (maybe even procrastination time) before I got on with the mornings project - writing an article for a web based personal development magazine.
What happened was much, much better.
I enjoyed reading both the blogs, but one of Jerrys article titles, Dont Believe Everything You Think, totally ignited my thinking and fired me from relaxed reading to frenetic and very productive thinking. An hour later Id part drafted three posts and had some great ideas for others. It left me on a high of exhilaration. When it had gone I wrote up one of the drafts and so had my next post ready a day early. Cant be bad!
Now whats the moral of this tale?
Simple give your mind what it needs to be creative: the sparks and the kindling. The spark here was that single blog title; the kindling was the time and space Id given my mind (Im not taking credit for it it was an accident in this case) that allowed the spark to flare into a brief but very hot little fire.
Its not something you can force to happen but it is something you can, and should, give the opportunity to happen.
If you dont do this already then please - give yourself some time off to explore the topics that interest you. They may be creative and artistic, but they may equally be any non-artistic stimulus that interests you. And when the sparks come, when the ideas get triggered, when youre making exciting new connections well, for goodness sake go with it.
Because when moments like this happen they are a one time gift that you cant recreate later. Find a way to give yourself over to the spark and the flame, and put the other stuff off to another day.
Andrew Leigh is a life coach and author of The Creative Instinct a content rich blog focusing on personal development to enhance your creative ability. If you would like to comment on this article, please visit the blog.
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