How I dream up new ideas

Some people have accused me of being creative. It’s a charge I won’t bother to deny. After all, I write every day. You need a high volume of ideas to feel comfortable doing that.

But it’s an awkward moment when someone asks how I think of so many topics to write about.

The truth is, I don’t.

I don’t think of them, that is.

They emerge like details in a dream. Do you know what I mean by that? In a dream, you can walk around a house and the ceiling is blurry and patchy. Then you look up, and texture and lights add themselves to the scene. They aren’t there until you pay attention to them.

That’s how I come up with new ways to think about things. Those, in turn, give me what to write about.

I don’t do anything. The only credit I can take is being aware enough to listen. There’s a voice in my head – the ancients would call it my muse – that whispers new insights to me.

The best way I can hear the whisper is by quietening my mind.

Hold onto your hats, folks, because this is about to get meta.

Because that’s how I came up with this article.

I wanted to write about how meditation opens your mind to new possibilities. Your conscious mind is analytical and precise. It’s great at following recipes. When you need to deviate from a recipe – to think something new – that’s where your unconscious mind comes in.

And a great way to bridge conscious and unconscious material is through meditation.

But how do I convey that?

Well, my muse whispered, with a story.

What kind of story?

How about my muse? It deserves a chance in the spotlight.

This is not my usual style of writing. And the topic – writing about writing – isn’t something that I often deal with.

My intuitions are telling me to go for it, though. I can hear the call (and trust them) thanks to hours spent with a quiet mind.

If you have a mental block and need new ideas, meditation will help you.

It might take time and practice.

Then again, how might be a natural.

Either way, it’s worth it. The meditative state opens you up to more possibilities than you can imagine.

I mean that literally. The ultimate idea machine lies obscured by the fog of your own awareness.

So pull back the curtain and use what is yours.

If you don’t want to quiet your thinking, another approach is to empower your muse. Give them a megaphone, a fancy office and superpowers. Take your intuitions and supercharge them.

Then prepare yourself as ideas wriggle into your mind at the strangest times.

Meditation can do this. But there’s another discipline that’s perfect for it:

https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/