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Is there anything special that you do to get into a creative mindset?

I go into my art room and swipe some essential oil on my wrist, pick up some crystals and meditate for 30 minutes. After that I sit and stare into space for a while until an idea for a painting comes to me. Then I walk over to my art table and look at a blank canvas and grab a pencil and start sketching out what will eventually be a painting. When I paint I put on new age ambient music on the computer behind my art table and that puts me in a trance-like state which is perfect for painting.

Hi Deb!

"Zoning out" of any type helps me: bubble baths, sitting on the porch glider, floating in the pool, etc.

However, I've had some great ideas on the treadmill, too, as well a walking in the park! I think they are a type of "walking meditation", which makes me extra-receptive.

I always have ideas brewing, but the "zoning out" times tend to come up with truly right-brain, inspired creations I found.

Janet - That got me thinking about what was going to be my original post and that was, do you think that you create unconsciously? When you talk about "zoning out" or in my case, letting the ambient music take me into a state of "zoning out" as well or leaving a state of consciousness - I believe we do in fact create from a state of unawareness or awareness in a higher 6th sense. I believe we turn on the most remote area of our right brains to the highest degree when we go to that place of creation.

It's sometimes like crashing when you have to stop yourself from the creative process and enter back into the normal routine of mundane tasks. I've been in the middle of painting and looked at the clock and realized I had to stop and go pick up my husband from work and it feels like someone is suddenly dropping a large plexiglass wall between me and my paint table. I can still see everything in front of me, but I can no longer get to it. Eeek.

Deb, I think I often create unconsciously. Most of my ideas come to me when I am sitting outside on my patio staring at the evening stars and "zoning out" after the long day. Before I know it, ideas start popping into my head, so I jot them down then work on them the next day. To get into the actual mood to create whatever it is I want to focus on (writing or dollmaking, beading, embroidery) I meditate on that subject until I can visualize my end results.

It is more difficult for me to return to the normal tasks of the day then it is for me to float into creativity. It is like reluctantly walking out of a peaceful lake after swimming and relaxing in the cool water then realize you have to return to the normal day's routine. It is so hard at times to leave that peaceful place that I entered into.

You know, I'm not sure Deb.

This might sound wacky, but I honestly think the idea for my book (as one example) came from my "future self"--or part of myself that is in another dimension ("heaven", the "other side", whatever you want to call it).

I think zoning out helps us be receptive to inspiration because the conscious mind (or logic or super ego or "inner critic") isn't (yet) engaged to shoot down the idea.

Running with the idea is another story (putting scaffolding under those "castles in the air"), as is having the talent to support, create and launch the idea.

For example, someone can have an inspired idea, but if they don't have the ability to communicate it effectively in some way, then it might be "aborted". So this is where study, discipline and diligence come into play.

Does that make any sense?

Janet - There is nothing wacky about the "future self" concept. It is every bit as plausible as the "past self" concept. It's all linear and continuous. I think I understand what you mean when you talk about putting "castles in the air." It's sort of like this, from my standpoint anyway...if you don't have the talent, drive and energy to put your "castles in the air" type ideas in the works, to total fruition - then you are an aimless dreamer doing a lot of mystical thinking, but not producing anything of creative substance. Creativity is not passive, it takes courage and risk-taking and often a leap of faith. It takes backbone too to put your work out there in the world and let people judge what you've created from your heart.

Exactly Deb!

And if Quantum Physics is right, then time is just a human construct (if I understand it correctly)...