Creativity Discovery and Intuition

Creativity Discovery and Intuition by David Stevens

Picasso

At YogaoftheMind.com we’ve taught thousands of people how to use their Intuition. One side benefit is that they often report that they get more creative ideas. Could it be that Creativity and Intuition are the same thing or come from the same source? A quality that is very useful in exploring both is being willing to be in a state of Discovery, which means being ok with not knowing what’s next. Picasso talks about this beautifully in an interview where he was asked about how he works around creative blocks:

“I don’t have a clue. Ideas are simply starting points. I can rarely set them down as they come to my mind. As soon as I start to work, others well up in my pen. To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing… When I find myself facing a blank page, that’s always going through my head. What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.”

http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/24/picasso-brassai-ideas-creativity/
End of Part One

Creativity  Discovery and Intuition by David Stevens
Part Two of Five

Writing and Editing are two different skills. One is a pouring forth of unbridled creativity

Ernest_Hemingway

and the other is a parsing, pruning and re-arranging for greater impact. It doesn’t work well to try to do both at once. When I am writing, I am saying “Yes” to new ideas as they well up in me. In fact, I encourage the creative flow so much that I can hardly get it down on paper fast enough. It just starts pouring through me. It’s really a right brained creativity. Editing is more left brained, more considered, more critical. The difference between these two mindsets is illustrated beautifully by Ernest Hemingway in four words “Write drunk; edit sober.” http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/7-editing-tips-improve-your-blog-writing-skills
End of Part Two

Creativity  Discovery and Intuition by David Stevens
Part Three of Five

Sheryl Sandberg

So what gets in the way of us displaying more of our Creativity and Intuition? First, is something we call Perfect Pictures. A Perfect Picture is an unobtainable goal that does not fit in with the flow of your life on the relative plane. This is different from aiming high and dreaming big, which both have a motivational quality of making you want to get in action. A Perfect Picture is stifling, judgmental, and unobtainable. It is insisting to have expertly edited writing on the first draft. That distinction is really the best  way to tell if you are operating from A Perfect Picture or not. If you feel inspired and action oriented you are not. If you feel stifled, doubtful and overwhelmed, you very well may be.  “Done is better than perfect.” —Sheryl Sandberg, COO of FaceBook  http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/21-inspiring-quotes-for-leaders.html
End of Part Three

Creativity  Discovery and Intuition by David Stevens
Part Four of Five

Another manifestation of these stifling Perfect Pictures is the cultural expectation that we

R Buckminster Fuller

always have to have things figured out, we always have to have a viable plan. Take the situation of someone who has lost a job. When they are asked what they are going to do next, they are instantly supposed to have a clever, well thought out strategy that looks practical.  Even if they say they are wanting to explore something, it must be something that looks like it is immediately useful. This betrays the fact that many discoveries and creative works come about spontaneously, by accident. “How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.”  R Buckminster Fuller http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rbuckmins136968.html#6cH4pGXtVlMIZMkW.99 
End of Part Four

Creativity  Discovery and Intuition by David Stevens
Part Five of Five

Just Go Fishing

How do we get around this stifling perfectionism? The advice of the famous poet Allen Ginsburg is “First Thought, Best Thought”

http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/08/reviews/010408.08deresit.html

It is to say yes to your creative impulses. This is also the way to invite intuition into your life. Here’s a practice from a workshop we have in development called, Mindfulness and More: Sit down and close your eyes. Feel your grounding connection to the earth. Be aware of your connection to the sky. Have a nice flow of breath and on each out breath, be particularly aware that you are breathing. You can even say to yourself the word, “breathing”. The rest of the time, just notice whatever else you notice. Give no particular importance to other thoughts or sensations. Notice them, but do not try to change them or worry that they are interfering with your Mindfulness practice.  Do this for several minutes and then gently open your eyes and stretch.  After, as you sit in front of your blank paper, disregard the “I don’t know what to write” thoughts. Just let yourself be there. When a stream of thoughts and inspirations starts to come, start writing. Have no concern with whether it is good or useful for your purpose. Just encourage the flow. Keep going until the wave on internal inspiration fades. Then sit quietly again and wait for the next wave of inspiration. Even if you sit for an hour and nothing seems to come, congratulate yourself for putting yourself in a space where you could create. It’s like your fishing for ideas. Do this regularly and you will be amazed at what your create. Let me know of your results: DavidS@yogaofthemind.com