Mindhacks

Forty-odd years ago the most respected and certainly one of the most famous authors in America ofered to teach a class in one of the ivy league coleges. The university notified its alumni of the course, which was to be in creative writing. The response was far beyond wildest expectations. So many students wanted the benefit of this great man’s knowledge that the colege auditorium had to be used as a classroom. The semester began and the great day was at hand.

The auditorium was filed to overflowing. Al the students, pencil and notebook in hand, waited in hushed and excited anticipation. The famous man strode out to the lectern, leaned upon it, looked out upon a sea of faces intent on what he was about to say. He took of his eyeglasses, hufed on them gently, wiped them for a bit, seeming to heighten the almost electric energy in the air. He replaced his spectacles carefuly, cleared his throat, and then asked a question: “How many of you truly want to be writers?”

One could have stroled across the auditorium on the tips of the upraised hands. Not a single arm remained upon the owner’s lap. The great man was quiet for a long moment. He walked to the center of the stage, stopped, placed his hands arrogantly upon his hips and commenced to speak: “Then why aren’t you at home writing?”

With that Sinclair Lewis turned, strode of the platform, out of the auditorium, of the campus, and was never to be seen at that university again.

That was the entire creative writing course.

Al things in life are realy quite simple. It is people who complicate. To be creative, create! What is creation? Creation is original thought. Creation is causing something to come into existence. You create every hour of your lives. You are a creator. We are al creators. To create, create.

Desires open doors. Walking through those doors begins the stimuli to build this energy we cal creative thinking. You wish to be creative.

To what degree? Through what avenue? For what return? To what end result?

Decide those matters. Once that decision has been made, then the door wil open. The key, of course is the desire to think creatively. As soon as the desire, the wanting is there, the door wil open.

The great George Bernard Shaw, when once asked to what he attributed his genius, replied, “I think.”

“You think?” the other person asked.

“Yes,” said Shaw, “I think. I think, perhaps, twice a week. I have found that the average person thinks only once or twice a year. It is simply that, and nothing more.”

How often do you truly think? Examine your thoughts and you wil find that thinking begets thinking. Creative thinking begets creativity. Here is an example of how it works.

After reading this paragraph, put the book aside for a moment, close your eyes, and concentrate on being creative about a paper clip. A simple thing, just an ordinary paper clip. Any kind of paper clip. Either a plastic clip or a wire clip. But do think of a paper clip and how you could be creative about that paper clip. What thoughts wil come to you? Do it now.

It’s as simple as that. What thoughts came to you? How long did you concentrate on the paper clip? What were you thinking about? Perhaps you saw the paper clip in use or were puling it apart. Perhaps determining how many diferentthingscould be done with paper clips. Perhaps thinking of people who had no paper clips. Perhaps your mind put you back into the distant past. Perhaps your mind took you into the future. Al your thoughts were related to paper clips.

But what happened was a great many neurons were activated, and each fired of a corresponding neuron related to al you know about paper clips. When they (the neurons) opened, a vacuum of sorts was created that attracted new thoughts triggered by your desire to be creative

Tonight, the first thing before you drift into sleep, say to yourself, “Tomorrow I am going to be creative.” If you like, take a pencil and a piece of paper and write, “Tomorrow I am going to be creative.” Then go to sleep.

In the morning, upon awakening, again focus your thoughts on creating. Today you wil say, “I am going to be creative. Today I am going to think.”

As you have your breakfast, decide where you are going to direct those thoughts. At what are you going to be creative? To what extent are you going to think about that creativity? Wil it be with your job, your occupation, your profession? Wil it be with your family? Wil it be with your friends? Wil it be spiritualy? Perhaps with a hobby that you have. Perhaps you’re going on a vacation and you want to be creative there. Perhaps you’re delving into the stock market or gambling or writing or any one of a thousand other things. You make the decision, for al things stem from you, from your initial thoughts.

This is the day for you to be creative. At what? And how? You want to be creative.This daywil be a very brightday in your life. It’s not possible to be bored while being creative. For to be bored is to be doing something with a tint of sameness. It is repetitious because you have done it before. To be creative is to cause something new to come into existence. Boredom and creativity cannot live in the same house. They cancel one another. One of the first things you wil see happening is a new appetite for the day. A new appetite for living. And with this appetite wil come satisfaction .

Generaly, without realizing it, you are creating constantly, from the moment you arise in the morning. You get up out of bed. When you take a shower, you are creating a new you. Look in the mirror the moment you get up. And then look into the mirror just before you walk out the door. You’ve created a new you. You work on creating things when you get into your car and drive down the street because it isn’t the same street. Every morning some things have changed. The weather may have changed somewhat, or the cars parkedalong the streetare diferent.You are creating a new path for your car as you drive down the street.

Breakfast is a creation. If you make your own breakfast, you’re creating that food. To take an egg, crack it, and place it in a frying pan is creation. Is it the sameness? Is it habit that you’ve gotten into? Create! Make it diferent.

You go to a restaurant and you order something. Here too there is creating. You are creating a meal. What type of a meal are you creating? Are you creating a wel-rounded, balanced meal? Are you creating a meal for looks? Are you catering to the taste buds? Are you catering to your stomach? Or are you catering to your health? Every decision you make is, in a manner, creation.

On your job there isconstant creation. You’re always creating. You’re alwaysmaking decisions, some major, some minor.Everything is a decision. You decide to use a pencil or a bal-point pen. You decide to clean up your desk or to leave it as it is. You decide to go to lunch five minutes early or ten minutes later. Everything is creation. The knowledge that you are involved with creation, however, opens you to a new understanding, and understanding is the key to all.

Awareness can be a great measure of a person. Those with a narrow awareness wil seem as though their hands were cupped closely over their eyes, seeing only what is directly ahead of them, having no peripheral vision whatever. Those with a greater awareness are people who have removed the hands and see things alongside them as wel. The more aware are the more creative. There are some who have a greater awareness, a greater reality, and can see things not only in front and on the side but somewhat to the back of themselves as wel, for they are aware of things that are al about them.

You can be just as aware. Right now you are sitting somewhere reading these words. What is in front of you? Without picking up your eyes from the book, you a aware of that which is directly in front of you. You may not realize that you are also aware of what is behind you. Think for a moment of what is behind you. It’s as simple as that. You are aware of what is behind you. With practice you can expand your awareness so that you are always involved with things in front of you, on the sides of you, and behind you, perhaps below, perhaps above. Until your world grows. This too is creation. This too has been an exercise in creativity.

To be more creative one must be more aware. Now you are beginning to create through your greater awareness. Look at the ceiling above you. Have you ever been aware of that ceiling before? Take a mental hand and mentaly brush that hand over the ceiling. Feel the sensation, the inner sense of feel. Is it rough, is it smooth? There is a definite feel to the ceiling. To see the contrast, take that mental hand and feel the drapes along the window or the curtain or perhaps the blind. Feel the floor, the carpet, the tile, the concrete. Feel that chair that you are looking at. Al done with the kinesthetic sense, the inner sense of feel through your greater awareness. This is creating. You are thinking, you are working toward a greater awareness through your creative powers, through the greater use of your mind, through the expanded you.

Why are some people more creative than others? What is it that sets an Einstein, a Hawkings, or a Bil Gates apart? Is it a diferent type of brain? Utilizing more of the brain certainly. How? Is one child destined to become something more than his kin because of some genetic factor? Some Karmic agreement? Some environmental cause? Possibly. In al probability, however, what is happening is that the slate is clean at the beginning. Everyone starts pretty much from the same point. But conditioning from adults, from parents, from teachers, and from peers changes that.

People start at the same point in time. Why do they finish in diferent places? It has something to do with how they are programmed.