A poet’s advice to creative people: Let your mind wander
Every creative person I know has some technique they call on to find inspiration. However, in many cases, it’s to scour what’s already been done in one form or another. In the advertising business, creative people used to stare at old award show annuals trying to figure out how to “borrow” an idea without anyone noticing. Now they search YouTube in quest of something obscure enough to modify or reapply.
American Poet Adrienne Cecile Rich
Certainly we all find inspiration in what others have done before us. Even Jean Luc Godard said, “It’s not where you take things from it’s where you take them to.” Still, I am most recently motivated by a suggestion from my wife’s poetry workshop instructor. Her recommendation is simple. “Learn to let your mind wander.”
What a wonderful thought. “Learn to let your mind wander.” The fact that the sentence needs the word “learn” in it is telling. It implies we don’t yet know how. Or perhaps that with work, meetings, assignments, and screens consuming us, we’ve forgotten how.
Try it. You’ll realize that it’s not quite as easy as you might imagine. Yet if you do let your mind wander, you might actually discover something genuinely new, different and unexpected.
In fact if you’re really lucky perhaps you’ll achieve the ultimate outcome described by poet Adrienne Rich: “the crossing of two elements that might not otherwise have known simultaneity, thereby revealing a piece of the universe for the very first time.” Not a bad accomplishment for simply letting the mind go where it may.
Comments
You know, I love posts like this because it is true that sometimes the most basic, seemingly logical principles are easy to ignore. I'm in the web design business and know all too well how easy it is to get caught up in the scramble to push work out the door and ignore / miss out on creative opportunities.
I think this really goes hand in hand with your previous musings on the continually unsatisfied potential of social media avenues like Twitter. http://edwardboches.com/home/2009/2/19/twitter-its...
It's so easy to get caught up in the sheer fact that technology exists that the majority of new adopters don't take the time to really think of new ways to use these new mediums.
Kudos. Kudos indeed.
Hey Edward
I enjoy reading your thoughts. I'm glad you made me a friend on FB so I can read them. You have always inspired me to be more thoughtful in my work, and even in this crazy virtual world, you continue to do so. Many thanks.
We can all learn to think more like kids from our kids.
Furthermore, I often consider writing advertising as a form of commercial poetry. Especially branding taglines.
Whenever I'm faced with solving an advertising problem, and once the facts are all aligned, I definitely let my mind wander all over the inside of that box. My own inspiration to do this is drawn (lately) by hanging around my daughters (5,7) who tend to see things a lot more clearly than I do. ;)
Lisa:
What a great comment. In and of itself worth a post. Interestingly I have a hard time letting my wind wander by trying. I tend to be more surprised by ideas that emerge when it's just doing it by itself. Usually on a long solo bike ride. Thanks.
As a sometimes poet, I not only agree with this sentiment but have seen itu00e2u0080u0099s power again and again. In poetry classes, Iu00e2u0080u0099ve been encouraged to start a new poem by u00e2u0080u009ccrawling inside and letting it go where it mayu00e2u0080u009d. Often, the poems that are the most insightful views of the world, the ones that really change a readeru00e2u0080u0099s perception, are the oneu00e2u0080u0099s where the poet arrived at that new insight through the creative process itself. I now use this process every time I write u00e2u0080u0093 every email, every strategy statement, every blog post comment is, in itu00e2u0080u0099s own way, a poem. I will also mention that u00e2u0080u009cletting your mind wanderu00e2u0080u009d is the best cure for writeru00e2u0080u0099s block that I know. Thanks. Edward!
Hi Mr. Boches, I stumbled onto your blog by way of learning more about Mullen. I think "learning to let your mind wander" is a fantastic principle to aspire to. I often find that some of my best ideas for art projects or solutions to problems come while I'm running or doing something entirely unrelated. I'm working on an art project right now involving very short quotes so I may borrow this expression. Thanks for sharing!
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