“All creativity is born from stillness.” –Eckarte Tolle
Across the internet something you won’t see much of is generous helpings of stillness. Millions of flashing icons, images, keywords, catchphrases compete for your attention and hopefully your money.
Away from the internet we have TV, billboards, movies, mobile/cell phones, family, social life or lack of it, sex, drugs, booze, coffee and whatever else we choose. Most of us have one thing or another filling up our lives. Taking up portions of space.
So driving home, I noticed my thoughts that surrounded my share of things that take up space in my life. I suddenly simply noticed the chatter.
Now, I’m not sure about you, but my mind does this, chatter, that is. It does it not on a casual or part-time basis, but it has pretty much a great full time position! It happily fills my mind with… well let’s say blah… blah… blah!
It doesn’t really matter what the content is, it’s usually pretty happy to have something to keep it occupied. It doesn’t seem to like being bored. Boredom isn’t its friend.
After returning from my recent overseas trip my work had become greatly reduced. Although my mind, it seemed, still had it’s regular full-time position – chattering, only thing is, I’m not getting paid for it!
Yet something different was happening to the pattern of these thoughts. It’s like I’m taking a few steps back from a Van Gogh painting and feeling it rather than analysing it.
Just imagine you’re listening to someone telling you about the dramas of their life, this person has become so involved in it that they have forgotten to check to see if you are actually listening or even interested. They don’t actually care anymore because they are so engrossed in the story. You notice that rather than a dialogue the person has no intention of entering you anymore into the conversation. It has become about them talking AT you. I noticed this today, it was happening for me, but it was my mind that was doing this. It was as though my mind was talking AT me.
But by now I was able to take a step back and could give my mind space. Everything became clearer. I could feel the car which I was driving effortlessly gliding along the road. I could feel the raindrops and the trees. I appreciated the warmth from the heater and the seat comfortably holding and supporting my body. All these things I didn’t notice when I am completely engaged in my mind.
Do you have to prove something to the world?
Do you rush to become somebody or win over someone to your business or creative project just to be more or get more. What’s the point? When you fully appreciate who you are already, there is no acknowledgement that is needed. You can appreciate the sheer magnificence of your presence and what you bring to the world without using external achievements to bolster your sense of self. It’s not something words can describe. You have to taste it for yourself.
From this space, is where true genius is born. That’s why children are naturally creative. They are not trying to get something from their expressions, they are creating because it gives them pure joy.
Here’s some valuable research;
In 1968, George Land and Beth Jarman gave sixteen hundred 3-5 year olds a creativity test used by NASA to select innovative engineers and scientists. They then re-tested the same children at 10 years of age and then again at 15 years of age. Their findings were dramatic.
98% of children 3-5 years of age scored at the genius level on the creativity test. Only 32% of the children did so at age 10, and only 12% did at 15 years of age.
The researchers gave the same test to a large group of adults over the age of 25 and only 2% of those participants scored at the genius level.
Ever noticed how most young children don’t seem to have trouble with stress or the issues we have with excessive thinking. It’s exactly why genius and creativity are linked to the ability to rest the mind. This research above shows we are educated out of creativity as we enter into school which actually happens to be around the age where the scores on the creativity test drops.
So next time you experience a challenge or an event without answers.
Ask yourself;
Am I willing to try something new?
Am I willing to explore a more effective strategy?
Am I willing willing to be creative?
Chances are you will find a solution better than you can possibly think of.
The most innovative inventors, scientists and masters came across their revelations by reorienting how they approached their problems. For instance Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity. He was sleeping when the apple hit him in the head. Most ideas generally drop in when we least expect them. Like when we are searching for our keys and find them as we let go and relax. It’s when we are stilled in our mind that there is no space for the answers to arrive. It is indeed our consciousness that changes things. It is our shift in the way we turn up than changes the results we are looking for.
Disengaging from the busy world takes practise. Being creative with how we respond isn’t about performing to some one else’s standards or pleasing others. It’s about effectively changing how we operate from within. Redefining our relationships and responding from a place of inner stillness that brings about a better world for everyone.
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