Have you ever wondered where songwriters, poets, sculptors and artists come up with new ideas? How do inventors create concepts that morph into smartphones, miniature drones and ocean liners? Who dreams up a screenplay for a movie or the design for a new automobile? Answer: Ideas evolved out of their subconscious minds!
Human creativity starts with you. It features you. It flows through you. It starts with the sprinkling of ideas that race through the Universe like a “neutrino” shower of thoughts.
Have you ever seen an Indian “dreamcatcher?” It’s made out of willow hoops wrapped in leather with sinew threads that “spider web” across the middle of the hoop. Those webs “catch” bad dreams and only let in good thoughts. One dreamcatcher hangs above my computer. I use it daily.
“While you sleep at night, your subconscious mind works in overdrive.”
You ask, “Yeah, that sounds great on paper, but how do I harness those thoughts and create something useful? How do I write the next All-American novel? How do I turn my ideas into making a living like Taylor Swift, who writes songs, or writers like Stephen King, who scare us to death with his horror novels? How does Danielle Steele come up with those incredible plots in her books? How does Nicholas Sparks write a romance novel like “The Notebook” or John Grisham write gripping, legal thriller suspense books? They pull from the same creative energy of the universe as you may harness for yourself. They engage their subconscious minds to come up with ideas that work for their particular passions.
Let’s say you love to write. You want to become a best-selling author. Or, you simply love to express yourself in a journal! Perhaps you want to write a song that you sell to a particular country-singing star like Dolly Parton or Blake Shelton. Or, maybe you want to start out writing songs and singing them at a local honky-tonk like Taylor Swift did. Before going to sleep each night, the great writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, tasked his mind to present him with new literary plots while he slept. During the night, his subconscious mind “worked out” new fictional ideas. He jotted them down in the morning.
America’s most famous writer, Mark Twain, when asked near the end of his life where he came up with all his books and satire, he said, “My ideas came from my ability to tap into the inexhaustible reservoir of my subconscious mind.”
“The more you practice engaging your inner mind, the more it responds to your callings.”
Appreciate that 90 percent of your mind operates in your subconscious. While you sleep at night, your subconscious mind works in overdrive. You average seven dreams a night. Your mind loves to play with ideas. You may direct those dreams, ideas and words to inventions, songs and artwork. Depending on what drives you toward your destiny, you may direct your subconscious mind to work for you.
For example, at the end of your school day, workday or however you spend your time, you generally “play” at something that makes you happy. It could be stamp collecting, weaving macramé or pottery. You might like to help children in an afterschool class. Whatever your deepest passions, you can utilize the same processes that Einstein, Mozart and Thomas Jefferson used to enhance humanity. Of course, you may not become famous for your efforts, but the key remains—you fulfill your calling. Please understand that great people pursued their passions with no idea or concern for becoming rich or famous. They busied themselves with a task they created.
So, try to methodically engage your subconscious mind each night before you fall asleep toward your highest and best. Let “it” work on your project, your novel plot, your mathematical idea, your invention, your athletic challenge, or any number of “problems” you want solved in your life. The more you practice engaging your inner mind, the more it responds to your callings.
Each night, write down your “intention” that you want your mind to work upon. Speak it out loud before falling into bed. Thought moves to form which moves to fruition which moves to function.
This process works for emotional health, intellectual health and spiritual health. Feed your mind with positive energy and it will gift you with unlimited ideas to further your life.
Climb any mountain by first climbing it within your mind. Prepare your body, educate your mind and, finally, reach the summit by your intentions.
Frosty Wooldridge is an environmentalist, mountain climber, scuba diver, dancer, skier, writer, speaker and photographer. He has bicycled 100,000 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
