The basis for a new response

Miyagi says that the best way to block a punch is to not be there.

This principle of martial arts perfectly relates to the creative process.

Because if you feed your subconscious such a rich diet, you will never run out of ideas. If your eyes, ears and hearts are open to the accidental insight and inspiration that surrounds us everywhere, you will never run out of ideas.

If you perpetually dig your well before you’re thirsty, rather than counting on and waiting for direct inspirations, you will never run out of ideas.

Punches won’t need to be blocked because you will not be there.

That’s why the definitive question about how many hours a day someone should be creating makes no sense to me. Because creating is something we make part of normal, everyday life, rather than something special and apart from it. There’s never nothing happening.

In the creative brain, something is going on all the time, not just the moment a person sits down and decides to start working. Creating is breathing. You either inhale, pause, or exhale. Those are the only three choices. If you struggle to come up with ideas, then you’re simply not paying attention.

The name for this tool is called unconscious rumination. It’s when we allow our inner mind to get to work mulling over, sorting out, organizing and categorizing material that has been previously absorbed, ultimately generating an idea at a time when the mental spotlight isn’t on it.

That’s what the brain does. It forms neural networks. And if you train it correctly, areas of your brain will start to communicate between networks as they notice ideas that belong together.

Take a breath, tell yourself that you’re okay, and trust the moment to provide.

What if creating was something you made part of normal life, rather than something special and apart from it?