Lately I’ve read several articles/posts that have talked about the fact that in order to be creative, to be able to come up with ideas for things, you really need to allow your brain some quiet time. You need to give yourself some space, to keep the distractions, the world, at a distance. It’s not like this is a new idea, I’ve certainly read about this idea previously, but I’m just now starting to really feel that it’s something I should try to put more effort into actually doing.
What this means for people like myself is taking some time to “unplug”. If you’re anything like me then you are fairly constantly hooked into the Internet, in one way or another. Even when I go for my walks, I typically do so while listening to podcasts. Keeping my brain occupied in this fashion is both educational and entertaining but I’m starting to realise that I rarely allow myself any time to just let my brain wander, and I think people are right when they say that it is often during just such moments of idle thought, when the mind is free to do it’s thing, that it will be able to do some of it’s best work.
Sometimes that work will be to provide a solution to something I’ve been turning over in my head for a while, and sometimes it might be an idea that could potentially be the start of a new project. It’s these new ideas that I’m currently looking for, primarily with the aim of getting some inspiration to do some writing, so I think I really need to try and “make some space” for my mind to wander.
I intend to try and implement this today, or this week at the very least, by not listening to a podcast on one of my walks. Instead I’ll listen to some soothing background music and give my mind the better part of an hour to do what it will. Maybe I’ll get lucky and inspiration will hit!
