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what does your creative bubble look like?

December 14, 2010

in Around The Internet,Finishing Stuff,No Talk No Clock

My conversation with Jonathan Mead, who created Illuminated Mind started on Twitter:


and continued in a video chat. This is part 2 of a conversation with Jonathan Mead of The Illuminated Mind. Watch part one here.

In this clip, Jonathan and I muse on the power of taking a day of silence, building quiet space into your daily routine, and shutting up long enough to hear the Truth. In other words — turning it ALL off.

A few evocative ideas that emerged from my conversation with Jonathan:

> Try to stop stirring the mental pot (it’s so tempting)! Have a meaningful inner dialogue (with yourself) until your ideas are ready to go public.

> Take an “idea fast” (cleanse the mind and make space for silence), a “people fast” (one week away from oogy folks who bring you down), or a “music fast” (inspiring music only — no filler muzak or negative tunes).

> When you shut up and turn everything off, you’re often summoned to DO something with resonance and sticking power. See what the silence has to tell you.

Jonathan Mead is the author of Reclaim Your Dreams: An Uncommon Guide To Living On Your Own Terms. Jonathan also offers Limit Breaking Sessions — one-on-one coaching designed to evoke a feeling of expanding possibility, inspiration and reawesomification.

How about you? What does your creative bubble look like?

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  • http://twitter.com/AlisonGresik Alison Gresik

    Since becoming a parent and an entrepreneur, I'm having to redefine what my creative bubble looks like. I used to have two-day silent retreats! And pour an entire week into one project! Now my bubbles are small — I get an hour of quiet time in the morning. I put my novel-writing on hold while I work on my business in tiny steps. And I appreciate hearing you guys talk about this because it reminds me not to despair of ever having expanses of time or focus, but to find my creative bubble in whatever form it can exist in a bustling phase of my life. And to ruthlessly prune my ideas so that I'm only following the ones that have the most impact.

  • dyanavalentine

    YES, Alison: I am so happy for you–how fantastic. Three cheers for small bubbles. Despair can also be a creative bubble–if it's there, just climb in and notice what happens. I'm a big fan of pruning and purging (my version of pruning), so please do what matters and report back. I'd love to hear any stories/questions and ideas you have. Here for you!

  • CindyMorefield

    Interesting conversation. I've found it really useful to use themes, as Jonathan called them – I call them seasons – where one project/creation/endeavor is on the front burner. Makes focus much easier, and it also helps me to know that the back burner stuff will come to the front in its own time. I also loved hearing about how you hold ideas on your bulletin board until they (or their time) is ripe. What a difference a little space (in any of its forms) can make, eh?

  • dyanavalentine

    fantastic framing (as always), Cindy. Thank you for sharing “seasons” with us. Ripening is KEY in my process–it's amazing how bad fruit tastes when it's not ready–same for ideas. Let's sit back and let some stuff back burner/ripe for a while, why don't we?

  • CindyMorefield

    Little bubbles and tiny steps are magic. Even though I often have the luxury of larger chunks of time, learning to utilize the odd little bits that crop up has made more of a difference than always wrangling for big chunks. And tiny steps can seem excruciatingly slow, but they accumlate and get you there.

  • CindyMorefield

    Absolutely! With a nice hot cup of tea. :) Actually, I think winter is a

    great season for letting things gestate underground. Not exactly the same as

    ripening in the sun, but in the context of this discussion, it's a similar

    process. (Leave it to me to mash up the growth metaphors!)

  • Jonathan Mead

    I love this rich use of metaphor. Seasons are a great way to think about your business. This past season has been less development and more restructuring everything I do.

  • http://www.hannahmarcotti.com Hannah

    Love this term, “creative bubble” and I am inspired by listening to the silence. I just went through a burst of creativity and now the follow-through must come and that is the part that can leave me frightened. A little silence might be a welcome thing.

    xo

  • CindyMorefield

    Thanks, Jonathan. Restructuring sounds like and underground sort of phase, preparing the platform for the next round of development when it's ready to surface. I like it! Would you share an example or two of how you're restructuring?

  • dyanavalentine

    thanks for coming by, Hannah: sometimes I find I have to live through the cacophony of silence to get clear, hear the one (or five) most meaningful messages. I struggle with implementation, too–and one solution I've found is building a team (even ONE person) around me who LOVES to make my big ideas happen and take them public. It allows me to stay in the bigness and learn to trust that what needs rendering will find its way out.

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