Creativity Enhanced
Exploring Mindful Meditation Beyond Traditional Practices
Hi, We are here to get to know The “Stop & Wait Meditation”:
Finding the pause in between the thoughts.
Why? The Benefits
- enhanced creativity,
- a space of freedom,
- calmness,
- silence.
As we enter that calm and silent space of freedom, our innate creativity, wisdom, and inspiration — can be noticed, heard, felt, and seen.
To fully understand the meaning of this meditation we will explore a few questions.
What we will talk about
- How does meditation enhance creativity?
- Creativity as a new perspective on “real life”; living your life from a creative standpoint — what does that mean?
- The Stop the Wait Meditation Practice:
- What happens if it works?
- What if it doesn’t work? And how is that ok?
- Putting your attention on creativity as a deeper life meaning.
Meditation Enhances Creativity; What the Experts Say:
Meditation enhances creativity.
Research on creativity suggests
that we come up with our greatest insights
and biggest breakthroughs
when we are in a more meditative and relaxed state of mind.
That is when we have “eureka” moments.
Living Your Life from a Creative Standpoint - What Does That Mean?
Creativity = a new perspective on “real life”.
As you are meditating to connect to creativity and to a new perspective, you’re not only doing it in order to rest or distract from “real life” issues. No. It means that when this practice is present in your routine, your “real life” issues are slowly turning out to be not as real and solid as you originally perceived them. You get to come back to them and see them in a fresh creative way, which brings up new solutions, or new and nicer feelings about those issues.
This can open up space for more creativity in your life, whether for solving problems or for creating beautiful things.
The Meditation
This meditation practice is best used in the midst of distress, in small amounts.
When you feel you are in an impossible situation, a problem,
And your intellect is trying to solve it,
And it’s not working, and you feel distress.
At such a moment, you would probably like to see a solution, you’d be happy if a fresh thought would appear.
In order to be available to a solution, you practice the meditation, here is what you do:
I call it:
The Stop & Wait Meditation
It goes like that:
YOU STOP, AND YOU WAIT.
You stop and wait between one thought and the next.
To be clear: we are not able to stop thoughts from coming up, but we are able (sometimes) to turn our attention elsewhere.
Here is what I mean:
Your Goal
Taking A Quick Break From Thinking
If you can find a space between one thought and the next — which is what you do when you stop and wait — you are much more available to realize that there is another way to see things, there are more creative ideas to come up with.
Not always able to
To clarify, we are not always able to find that other way to see things, or know what those creative ideas are.
But, realizing that they ARE available, even if not right now, gives a specious feeling of hope and freedom.
It introduces a door, an organic opening to your very own creative voice.
It’s best to try this as mini-meditations throughout your day, taking a few seconds here and there to practice this.
Each time, there can be a feeling of re-centering and adding calmness to your day.
That is where creativity is hiding, (Just in case you cannot find it).
Why Take a Break from Thinking
Here is how I see it,
this is the opinion of a non-expert,
a poet,
a searcher (and finder) of well-being:
We believe that what is happening in life is fixed, and we are simply experiencing it and thinking about it.
But that is not the case.
It’s not so much about what’s happening.
It’s THAT you think, and it’s what you THINK about what’s happening — that’s creating your experience.
Here meditation steps in.
Meditation is a way of exploring life, and not through our intellect.
It’s exploring life within a deeper realm.
It’s like turning your head in a new direction
and seeing something new.
It’s a fresh place to be looking FROM.
See how this can open up a flow of your own original creativity?
This may be odd, but this is how me and others (others who are experienced professionals) have seen this to be true, so I invite you to bare with me, read with an open mind, and try it out for yourself, experiment with it, test it out:
Things you (and all of us) are thinking, feeling, experiencing, about a situation, especially when you’re in a low mode — are not to be trusted. There’s no one fixed reality, true for all. I will even go as far as saying: It is all made up. Because it is ONLY the temporary perspective from which you are grasping reality at this moment.
Other people see it differently, and you will see it from a different perspective later.
No one is a camera, objectively seeing reality.
A problem is “created” when you pay attention to a thought, blow it up like a balloon, place importance on it, and decide that IT is the reason that you’re feeling a certain way.
The more thinking you’re having about something, the harder it seems. The overthinking is what makes the thing hard and complicated.
Why This Meditation Works
A fresh thought could not happen while the mind is crowded with personal circular thoughts, you would not be able to notice a fresh thought of a possible solution, over the noise of the circular and repeating old thoughts.
What If It Doesn't Work - and Why Is That OK
Taking a break from thinking, as much as possible, is your meditation.
Important to remember: sometimes it isn’t possible, and that is perfectly ok. There is nothing wrong with you, if your thoughts are too busy and they seem too real, and you are not able to take this break. It is human. Try again later.
In the meantime, Your goal is modest:
- To feel that space between the thoughts, even if only for a few seconds,
- feel a sense of calm and a seed of creativity.
- And maybe a fresh thought will have a chance to be heard by you.
So What Do We Do Now?
Shifting Attention from the Personal to Creativity
The “action” we can take, is to shift our attention from our unpleasant thought and feeling, removing the importance off of them and paying attention to the deeper life that’s going on here.
Take gravity as an example, it’s a part of that power, that deeper life, and you’re a part of that power.
Creativity IS that deeper life, the creator of all.
You are connected to it, even when you don’t feel like you are.
Before we end…
Poetry writing as
unconventional meditation
If you are interested in unconventional forms of meditation,
Poetry writing is another example for a form of unconventional meditation.
It brings insight, calm, and healing.
You are welcome to click and read: Poetry & Creativity as healing powers, to find a deeper understanding of WHY that is.
Summing Up
We learned how creativity is enhanced.
We explored meditation beyond traditional practices:
- Meditation enhances creativity.
- Living your life from a creative standpoint — what does that mean.
- The stop & wait meditation, how does it enhance creativity.
- We are not always able to that, and why that is ok.
- Why take a break from thinking.
- Shifting attention from the personal to creativity.
Thank you for taking the time to read!
Inspired by and quoting Mary Schiller, Michael Neill, Ken Manning, and more of their colleagues.
Here you can explore Wellness.
Here you can read about: how your emotional wellness can be your expressway to your creativity,
And why some common misconceptions about creativity –
Get in your way of meeting your own creativity.
Disclaimer:
This is advice only.
I am not a trained therapist or a trained coach.
Simply a person learning about wellness and creativity, benefitting from the journey, and sharing it with others.
Language note:
English is not my native language. This might reflect in my grammar, please bear with me.
