How do ideas strike you? When do they hit? Have you heard of the phrases, “Stroke of luck… flash of insight… eureka moment?” Creativity involves anticipation mingled with uncertainty. For the record, ideas grow out of your brain through a simple yet complex capturing of creative energy. What mental soil allows you to become a songwriter, poet, artist or inventor? Why do some of us “pop” with ideas while others merely drink a beer while passing the time away?
Have you ever heard of a “Dreamcatcher?” Many people feature them above their beds and on the rear view mirror of their cars. They include a small circle made of metal, wrapped in leather and several strands like a spider’s web weaving across the center. They may feature feathers hanging from the bottom of the circle. Dreamcatchers supposedly intercept bad dreams in order to protect the person from emotional pain. Some say they catch ideas from out of the night.
The famous balladeer, John Denver, “caught” songs with his mind while skiing down slopes, walking in the woods or riding his horse. He wrote one of his most famous songs, “Annie,” in 10 minutes while riding a ski lift in Aspen, Colorado: “You fill up my senses, like night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain…. ” One song percolated in his mind around the campfire while watching meteors blaze across the night sky. “But the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky, friends around the campfire and everybody’s high…. ” I heard him sing it at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado back in 1973. I teared-up because I shared the same campfire and meteor shower in my own wilderness meanderings.
What creates an idea, song, poem or painting? I discovered that your brain cells mingle with the creative energy of the outer world’s limitless source.
If you choose writing, stories occur to you during your life. You live them. You read about them. You meet characters. You experience events. The longer you live, the more you acquire ideas from the fertile soil in your mind. An old writer enjoys greater data with complex plots than a young writer who lacks miles on his creative odometer.
An idea equates to an unpredictable collision of thought and circumstance.
Einstein maneuvered his sailboat every weekend by himself on a large lake under the sky of the entire universe. He stated that his mind absorbed the universe’s vibrational energy that coalesced with his mathematical concepts. He penned notes from the universe.
Steven Johnson wrote, “Chance favors the connected mind.” Possibility springs when you nurture your mind with concepts gained from reading, living and doing.
For the poet, Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” inspires anyone to search through nature for meaning, spirit and imaginative process.
You may have a positive temperament, negative disposition or neutral demeanor. Each allows you to become either a Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock or Stephen King. Whatever your fate from your personality, harness your creative juices toward fruition by “catching” ideas.
Van Gogh screamed at his paintings, cut off his ear and railed at the universe. Could he help himself? They say genius carries a bit of madness with it, like Michael Jackson, Robin Williams and dozens of others who lived tortured lives.
In the end, you may open your mind to the limitless ideas of the universe racing around you at blinding speed. Allow your heart, mind and soul to receive those ideas that fall into your passion net. You might be the next Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote “Eat, Pray, Love.” You could become the next Meryl Streep who becomes every kind of character on this planet. You could morph into another Sean Connery or Steve Jobs. Along your journey, follow your most passionate desires. Always honor your quest and your creative proclivities. Never doubt yourself! Hang with others who follow their creative vibrational energies. You may succeed early like Elizabeth Gilbert, or fail altogether like Van Gogh. So what? You may succeed like Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers.
The key to creative happiness is understanding that failure and success possess no meaning for a person actively seeking his or her highest and best. When you do what you do, and you love what you do, the universe does not place a ribbon on your final rendition. The Great Spirit simply smiles because you smile back at yourself every day of your existence.
Frosty Wooldridge is an environmentalist, mountain climber, scuba diver, dancer, skier, writer, speaker and photographer. He has bicycled 150,000 miles on six continents and seven times across the United States. His feature articles have appeared in national and international magazines for 30 years. You can find his many books and other info at HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com
