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Meditation offers many benefits, and the positive impact it has on creativity is one of them. In this article, I’ll explain how meditation can boost your creativity.
How meditation can boost your creativity
#1. It helps you to process input
In this modern day and age, we are constantly being stimulated. Sometimes there are so many sensory stimuli that our brains are unable to process everything. This can make us feel overwhelmed, and that can be a major creativity-killer. Taking some time to sit in silence and meditate helps your brain to process everything. It provides your grey mass with the opportunity to organize all of the sounds you’ve been hearing, the words you’ve been reading, the colours you’ve seen. Once your messy mental desktop is a little less cluttered, it’s suddenly a lot easier to connect the dots – you’ll notice that you’ll have a lot more space and clarity to create things.
#2. It enables you to see things from a wider point of view
Sometimes, when we feel stuck in our creative process, it’s because we have lost our perspective. A graphic designer working on a book cover for days, can get so focused on getting it right that they may lose sight of the bigger picture. That’s why you often hear the advice to “not look at it for a few days, and then pick it up again.” You could speed up that process by meditating. Find a quiet space, sit comfortably, and simply focus on your breath. Observe your thoughts, and gently bring them back to the present if they start wandering. This allows your mind to filter out trivial things, so you can start seeing things from a wider perspective – or a completely different one.
#3. It helps to train your patience
As a creator, you are undoubtedly very aware that creating something usually requires a lot of time, effort and dedication. It requires patience, something a lot of artists struggle with. Regular meditation, however, is a great tool to get better at being patient. All you need to do is sit there, breathe and observe, without getting distracted by incoming thoughts or external stimuli. You’re practicing doing nothing, and therefore to train your patience.
#4. It creates space for new ideas
As I’ve mentioned before, meditating helps to process input and clean up that mental clutter. This also means more headspace. And when there is space, ideas will start to get flowing again. Before you know it, the perfect colours and shapes for a new painting will pop into your mind. Your writer’s block suddenly evaporates. You wake up and can hear the rhythm and chords for the chorus of that new song you’ve been stuck on in your mind, clear as day. Creativity is like water – it will find its way as long as there is space to flow.
Final thoughts
Creativity is something that can’t be forced. But meditation is an excellent tool to create the space you need to get ideas flowing again and boost your creativity. If you ever feel stuck again, just stop what you’re doing and take a little time to sit in silence and clean up that mental clutter. Your best ideas are already on your doorstep – you just need to invite them in.
Are you new to meditating? These 3 super easy breathing for beginners will get you started!
