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Need a new muse? Switch up your routine.
Yesterday, when I decided it was time to leave the house and head into the office, I just started walking. I knew I was off-schedule for the bus anyway, but I just figured I’d walk a ways and then pick up the bus somewhere along the way.
I never did, and that’s because I just kept walking. I took turns down streets I had never noticed before, saw apartment buildings and shops I didn’t even know existed, and felt a heightened sense of awareness, just taking in surroundings I’d never seen before.
Observation is one thing; I remember when I first moved to Boulder, I decided to walk downtown from my place and I made a million mental lists of shops, bars, restaurants, cafes, salons, and bookstores to pop into sometime.
Introspection is another thing. There’s something about being solo, even for a two and a half mile walk, that incites my inner monologue. And there’s something about being solo and being active that makes it work overtime. During a run, a walk, a flight, a shower – anywhere I’m alert and disconnected, really – I’m constantly feeding the hamster on my own mental wheel.
Poor little guy.
But the most fun part isn’t the observation that comes with being aware of your surroundings, and it’s not the introspection that happens when you allow yourself to simply be present with your thoughts. For me, it was the fact that changing my routine, walking a new route, and challenging my sense of familiar and comfortable, sparked some really brilliant ideas in my head. Insight for a column I’m working on. Wild thoughts around a project I’ve been considering. The right words to say to that person who needs to hear them.
New ideas, lightbulb moments. Next time I need a creative jumpstart or to just get out of the current cycles of thought I can find myself caught up in, I’m finding a new walking route.
Where do you do your best creative thinking? When do your best ideas hit you?
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Inspiration strikes me while I'm in the shower, believe it or not. I like letting go while the hot water is pounding on my skin and I just close my eyes…and drift…
Sometimes it'll happen when I'm sitting down with the husband at night-time, enjoying each other's company (and sometimes, silence)…
But I'd like to try your route! ;p
.-= The Mercurial Wife´s last blog ..No Rest For The Wicked =-.
My best ideas always come at night when I am drifting off to sleep. Someone told me I should keep a notebook by my bed so I can write them down before I fall asleep. Good idea. I put a notebook in my drawer on the bedside table. Only problem is that I am too lazy/tired by that point to sit up, turn on a light and write down what I was thinking. So it's only worked for me like twice. Oh well…
I have my best ideas at the weirdest times…while driving, while showering, while doing something completely unrelated. I do LOVE taking the time to go a different route…I feel like it never fails to make me either appreciate my current one or see life in a new way.
While I'm running. Which is horribly inconvenient, but I can just think. And move. And not worry about anything else. Everything becomes so clear when I run, like a slight fog is lifted. I'm at my worst in front of a computer. Total brain block. I need a pen and paper. I need to be able to cross words out, not delete them. I need bubbles and arrows and it needs to look messy to others but make complete sense to me.
I literally have blank page drawing pads and crayola markers for just that reason
My best ideas also seem to come during showers or when walking between the train and work. The internal monologue in my head sounds great and I can't wait to write it down. But I've yet to find a good way to harvest these words, because as soon as I get to work/home it seems like my brain instantly transitions to "what work do I start on?" or "I'm hungry, what should I make for dinner?". Then if I sit down to write later, I can't seem to find the same words.
Walking new routes is great too… I should make a point to do it on purpose more often, instead of only when I get a bit lost
.-= Eileen´s last blog ..a day in the life of a research engineer =-.
I always do my best thinking in the shower!
.-= Liz´s last blog ..What’s in my bag =-.
I LOVE this. Inspiration sometimes strikes us in the funniest places. I have mentally written many a blog post while putting on my makeup in the morning. My mind is most alert early in the morning, and since my boo is a night owl, I don't listen to music or the tv while getting ready. So when I'm staring at myself in the mirror, straightening my hair, or applying foundation, I'm actually looking at a word document, writing my next piece.
.-= becca wikler´s last blog ..nevada interactive media summit 2010 =-.
My best ideas come to me as i lie in bed about to doze off at night. When by brain is preparing to shut down and cycles through the events of the day. Its when im most creative, which is slightly disappointing because im usually to comfortable and at peace to clamber out of bed to grab my sketchbook to jot down my ideas. Unfortunately, most of the time my ingeniousness is typically lost by morning. I dont find it strange at all that you became the more creative from detouring from you habitual path, sometimes changing that which surrounds you can change your thought process. It's something i try to do on a regular basis walking to class. Get the creative juices flowing. + you might see something you never expected.
.-= Adam G´s last blog ..Up In The Air =-.
Well, look who's got a new blog! What about keeping a voice recorder by your bed so you can talk through your ideas instead of getting up to work on them? Come to think of it, this actually isn't a bad idea. I used to do this while driving, actually. I'd have something I'd want to write, but I was, well – driving. So I'd turn on the Voice Recorder app on my iPhone and talk my way through whatever I was thinking. Great to hear from you, kiddo!
Something about changing a point of view rushes new air into the mind's vents, for sure. Never underestimate the power of being a tourist in your own town.
My best thinking? Happens during transit, actually. Walking, driving, trains, planes. But not boats. I don't do boats.
.-= nicopolitan´s last blog ..Hospitality and Hospitals =-.
Inspiration also hits me when I'm walking. Walking Lucy, to be exact, and it's always so random. I also sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with great ideas. I keep a notepad beside my bed because of this.
Take some photos of your walk next time! I bet it's gorgeous and inspiring!
.-= E.P.´s last blog ..That ticking sound =-.
coULDNT AGREE MORE, My inspiration hits me in so many different ways- but changing my routines ALWAYS helps.
.-= Chelsea Talks Smack´s last blog ..But lying can be so much fun…… =-.
My inspiration usually hits me when I'm really working in high gear on a million things – usually in the morning. I just get slammed with an idea and there's nothing I can do other than write it down or I won't be able to stop thinking about it. I've started a notebook =)
.-= Kyla Roma´s last blog ..Moments from a Prairie Winter =-.
Usually when I have some unplanned solitary time. If I'm on an empty 20 minute bus ride, or like you, walking through unknown streets. I'm usually not one to choose to be solo – but each time I find myself in that situation, I find myself reflecting and coming up with new ideas
.-= Emily Jane´s last blog ..Progress? =-.
I get a lot of inspiration when I'm in shower. I guess just closing my eyes and letting the water hit me allows for a lot of clear thinking.
Also, annoyingly enough, I get inspiration right before bed which is great for my creative juices, but not so much for my sleeping habit.
.-= Erin @ My Way This Time´s last blog ..Loving… | =-.
My best ideas usually come to me when I'm cleaning. Especially when I'm doing the dishes for some reason. I have to hand wash them, so it's better to let my mind wander than pout that I don't have a dishwasher.
.-= Tonya´s last blog ..The Oscars =-.
I always get my best ideas when driving in traffic and just can't take a note, or I'm in the middle of a line from hell at work, making lattes and what-not, and in my zone, and can't really pull away and take a note of what I'm thinking. I need to have a better memory or something.
My inspiration comes when I stop for 30 seconds once every few days and just breathe. It really works. You know what else? I find almost everything funny, and this seems to be the only time of the day that I don't want to burst out laughing about something.
.-= Simon´s last blog ..Get Out of My Life!…Kind of by Cole =-.
this is why I love to run so much, and why I miss it.
and you are inspiring me to take a walk around my new 'hood because I've never actually done it yet, properly! I just need to ask permission… lol
.-= floreta´s last blog ..How to Learn a New Language in Adulthood =-.
I have no idea when inspiration will strike me – so I've taken to putting any random thought I have down in the note section of my blackberry. Blog post ideas (I have a separate section for TMI Thursday post ideas), songs I remember I want to download, random quotes from people I know that make me laugh… they all go in there. It seems easiest since my phone is nearly always the closest thing to me!
.-= Paula´s last blog ..I'M HERE . . .BUT YOU DON'T KNOW IT! AND YOU'RE NAKED. HAHAHA . . . =-.
Best ideas? Just after I complete a run. I'm usually not aware of it but during the run my brain is thinking through things, whatever they may be and about 10 minutes later it's the "lightbulb " moment. I have epiphanies, great ideas, resolutions, new thoughts, new plans. It's kind of fabulous. Too bad I don't have a treadmill at work… I'd probably be twice as productive!
.-= Nora´s last blog ..Recipe: A Perfect Weekend =-.