brain stuff

Dec 06, 2007 21:27

when are you most creative ( Read more... )

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ocelot_eyes December 6 2007, 23:10:33 UTC
It makes sense - your mind is still quietly working on the problem as you're falling asleep, and as you relax and the other random mess of thoughts and probably assignment stress falls away, your brain gets to use more CPU power, so to speak in computer geek terms, to find the solution you were looking for :) Many people remark on having this happen to them particularly when they're falling asleep, or when they are dreaming - dreams are bits and pieces of the day's impressions and if you are still thinking about the problem, you dream of the solution.

Not so much in my case though - when I'm most creative, I feel "inspired" which is almost like a rush of adrenaline as I'm imagining some new image, if I was struggling to come up with an idea, it's like a rush of "THIS IS IT!" through the entire bloodstream. I've got a few paintings that I am really proud of, that literally either came to me in a dream, or coalescing from random memories/thoughts, but then those images just would not leave my mind, and begged to be painted. It's an artist's biggest thrill and biggest curse - because not ALL of these ideas are that good!! Sometimes I just need to pick up a sketchbook, sketch this image down at the very least, examine it, let my mind "cool off" and come back to it again in an hour or a day, and see if it's actually any good. :P Sometimes this idea gets stuck in your head like one of those songs, and you only get it out by sketching it. The stuck songs, though, cause annoyance, the inspiration when it persists, is like an instant caffeine overload. Sometimes it's a good idea - sometimes it's not.

I LOVED writing papers for school when in this mode - I could almost see the paragraphs for what I needed to write, reorganising themselves in my mind's eye into the proper order, I suddenly knew what I was talking about and the essay just wrote itself. I've written 12-page essays on "inspiration highs" like this at 4am in the morning and gotten excellent marks on them the next day, despite not having any sleep. You just suddenly have an image in your mind and you just KNOW how to bring it into reality, you're no longer stressed about it, in fact you're so excited - and until you do, it won't let go, it will replace your bloodstream with particles of itself, until you pick up a pencil and breathe it out. It literally feels like something is writing/drawing itself through you, and when you're done, you either go "crap, that wasn't such a great idea after all", or "wow, did I actually do that?!"

(I'm sure there is some mental disorder out there describing this form of inspiration and labelling the artists who have it, lol)

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lucidii December 6 2007, 23:54:42 UTC
No, I totally know what you mean. It's all about getting into the groove--when you fully inhabit the creative space, that intense focus lets you channel whatever you're making instead of struggle to put it into form.

I think people have way more creative potential than they generally ever explore. :)

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