This is a simple practice that emphasizes paying attention to, nurturing, and then giving expression to the finest impulses of creative energy as they arise on their own out of stillness. There is a strong element of “wait and allow.” The impulses arise on their own when “you” step out of the way. So there is also a strong element of trust needed: trust that if you do nothing, and take your hands off the steering wheel, creativity will happen naturally on its own, despite you, not because of you.
This practice entails encouraging these impulses, celebrating them, sharing them and giving them room to breathe. We want to find the sweet spot in this between repression and pushing. Repression would mean believing that thought is bad, and that instead of following it, you should return to a mantra or an expansive meditative state. Pushing would mean an attitude of impatience, wanting these impulses to become stronger more quickly.
This practice involves bringing together two different components: tickle and capture. “Tickle” means to stimulate the finest tremor of the creative impulse, and to bring it alive. “Capture” means to record that creative impulse when it is still very fine, in such a way as to retain its original flavor and subtlety. I have identified dozens of means of doing each of these. I usually offer my coaching clients a smorgasbord of at least seven types of tickling, and seven types of capturing, which gives everyone 49 opportunities for experimenting to find just the right combination that works.
The Practice: Feel Pleasure in the Body
Original impulses of creative energy do not begin in conceptual thinking or symbolic logic. They start as undefined, unformed impulses of energy. You can access this as sexual energy in the genitals, or just as pleasure anywhere in your body. Let your attention rest with pockets of pleasure, and allow them to expand and grow into shoots of radical brilliance.
Sit with your eyes closed. Breathe into your belly, and let out a gentle sigh on the out-breath. Now, with each in-breath, seek out pockets of pleasure. These could be in the genitals, or anywhere in the body. Focus the in-breath into the center of the pleasure, and with the out-breath allow this pleasurable energy to spread and dissipate into other the rest of the body. Continue in this way for several minutes, and allow the pockets of pleasure to become stronger. Then find a way to give that pleasure expression on the out-breath, first with a sigh, then it might turn into a melody, an image, or an idea.
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You just read an excerpt from my latest book, Radical Brilliance! If you like what you just read, and want to explore these themes more deeply, you can read more excerpts of the book on my website, or grab a copy for yourself here.
Once you purchase the book, you’ll also gain access to a detailed list of 26 other practices to nurture your creative impulses.
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