10 Ways Meditation Enhances Creativity - About Meditation

8/13/2019 10 Ways Meditation Enhances Creativity - About Meditation

1/11

10 Ways Meditation Enhances Creativity

aboutmeditation.com /meditation-enhances-creativity/

Thomas Dixon

Everyone knows that meditat ion can reduce stress and calm your mind, but the many ways that

meditation enhances creativity is one of its lesser-known benefits. From liberat ing you f rom f ixed

habits of thought t o reducing your need for sleep as you work on your latest masterpiece, there are

many ways that practicing meditation can improve your painting, writing, singing, dancing, of f ice

brainsto rming, and other creative endeavors. Here are ten of our favorites.

10 Ways Meditation Enhances Creativity

1.) Meditation Creates Space

The reason meditation is so peaceful is that it gives you some distance from your thoughts and

feelings. But any meditator knows that when you open up space within, all kinds of things come

bubbling to t he surfaceincluding many of your most creative insights. Of ten youll find yourself

resisting the urge to leave your meditation in order to go write down the bright idea that just came t

mind. Meditation creates spaceto discover what is ordinarily buried beneath the busyness of your

mind.
http://www.aboutmeditation.com/meditation-techniques-2-paths-to-freedom/http://www.aboutmeditation.com/meditation-techniques-2-paths-to-freedom/http://www.aboutmeditation.com/meditation-techniques-2-paths-to-freedom/http://www.aboutmeditation.com/meditation-tips-buddha-mind/http://www.aboutmeditation.com/meditation-enhances-creativity/


2/11


3/11


4/11

4.) Meditation Enhances Your Perception of Beauty

Meditation is the art of awareness, and by cultivating your sensit ivity to everything thats happeningwithin you and in the world around you, your senses become heightened and more subtly refined.

You start noticing things that most people dont , hearing sounds that o thers unconsciously tune

out, and perceiving beautyin pretty much everythingincluding the most seemingly mundane objects

or in the ordinary act ions of your fellow human beings.

This is the secret o f Zen, and it has informed and inspired meditators throughout historyf rom

Japanese calligraphers to Steve Jobs, who consciously modeled Apples design sensibility on his ow

Zen practice and philosophy.


5/11

5.) Meditation Teaches You How to Be Unattached

If youve ever seen a Tibetan Buddhist mandala made of sandbursting with vivid color, intricate

detail, religious signif icance, and sheer creativitythen you probably know what tends to happen witthose particular works of art. After a while they sweep them up, forever erasing them from existence

It may seem like a shame to destroy so much hard work, but thats just part of the practice.

Tibetan sand mandalas exemplify one of the core Buddhist principlesthe law of impermanence

which any meditator awakens to, as well. When you meditate, you have to let everything gosound

sights, thoughts, feelingsover and over again. But learning to become unattached in this way is als

one of the best ways to let your creativity f low, because if an idea isnt working, youll be able to

drop it more easily, move on, and be ready for what emerges next. Meditat ion teaches you how to

be flexible and unattached, never holding onto anything so t ight ly that you obstruct the natural ebb

and flow of life.


6/11

6.) Meditation Awakens You to Depth

Superf iciality is everywhere these daysin pop music, in art, on TV, and even in the kinds of

conversat ions that many people have with f riends and coworkers on a daily basis. But the pract ice o

meditation awakens you to the importance of depth. When you are calm, still, and awake, doing

nothing and holding onto nothing, you will soon sink into a dimension of consciousness that is far

deeper than your ordinary state.

As you become more grounded in this meditat ive depth, it can provide a new foundation for your

creative endeavorsgiving them more grounding, more weight, and more profundity all around.Awakening to depth can also make you less fickle, so you can stay committed to seeing even the

most complex projects all the way through to completion, remaining rooted in your creative vision lik

a strong t ree that cant be moved.
http://www.aboutmeditation.com/how-to-succeed-in-meditation/


7/11

7.) Meditation Gives You More Energy

One benefit of meditationthat doesnt get nearly enough att ention is its remarkable ability to giveyou energyin ways that cof fee, Red Bull, and even good old-fashioned sleep do not. In fact, once

you reach the point where you can meditate for more than an hour at a t ime, youll begin to discove

that the more you meditate, the less sleep you require. For creative individuals, this is extremely goo

newsbecause staying up all hours, night after night, compelled to express your creative inspiration

in every spare moment you can find, can of ten lead to exhaustion and burnout .

But if you meditate consistent ly and deeply, you can plug directly into a mysterious reserve of energ

that can bring the moments of rest t hat your body and mind require, while also f ueling you in ways

that unconscious sleep does not . Of course, youll have to sleep sometime, but adding meditat ion t

the mix can give you more hours in the day for your creative pursuits, while also allowing you to reapall the other benefits detailed in this article.
http://www.aboutmeditation.com/meditation-benefits-can-meditation-make-rich/


8/11

8.) Meditation Helps You to Work Well with Others

Because the pract ice of meditat ion reduces stress and inst ills you with an ever-growing sense ofinner peace, youll find that it also makes you an easier person to be around. People will enjoy being

in your presence without quite knowing why. And you, in turn, will f ind it easier to look beyond the

emotional flare-ups and interpersonal intensities that often obstruct our relationships with others.

When it comes to creative collaboration,clearing and unifying the space between ourselves and

ot hers can yield powerful results, and this may be one of the single most important ways that

meditation can make you more creative. When egoic self-interestis no longer taking center stagei

art, in work, or in lifethen what human beings can creat ively accomplish together becomes

potentially unlimited, extending far beyond what a single individual could ever achieve alone. But it

of ten takes an individual to get the collaborative ball rolling.
http://www.aboutmeditation.com/deceived-by-your-ego/http://www.aboutmeditation.com/search-inside-yourself-google-course-on-emotional-intelligence/


9/11

9.) Meditation Connects You Directly to the Creative Impulse

Everyone experiences the creative impulsewhether its felt as the sudden inspiration to learn a newskill or as a longstanding desire to create an artist ic masterpiece. So what would happen if you

looked directly at t he experience of the creative impulse itself , rather than at the various things it

compels you to do, to become, and to create? And what would happen if you realized that the

creative impulse isnt just an experience that you have now and then, but that, instead, its one of

the deepest and most constant qualit ies of your own t rue self?

Through meditation, you can awaken to the ult imate source of creativitythe same creat ive fo rce

that gave rise to t he stars, to the trees, and to the Mona Lisa. And by doing so, you can learn to alig

your own life with that deeply fulfilling, of ten ecstatic, and eternally life-posit ive drive.


10/11

10.) Meditation Liberates Your Unique Self-Expression

Finally, in case you arent yet convinced that meditat ion could be a good aid to your creat ive

pursuits, theres also the power of spiritual enlightenmentto consider. The most serious meditators

throughout history have often held enlightenment, or spiritual liberat ion, as the goal of their practice

which is said to be the highest spiritual attainment possible for a human being. But even a litt le bit of

meditation can give you a taste of what the concept of spiritual liberat ion means, as you learn to

gain ever more f reedom f rom your mind, from the world, and from t ime.

When you start t o realize that you are not merely your mind, a whole new world of possibility opensup to you. You begin to see how much of your life is spent in relat ive unconsciousness, as you go

through the mot ions robot-style, acting on autopilot based on your own mental programming (or

habits) as well as the programming that your part icular culture has been installing in your brain since

you were born. For creative individuals, it s not that diff erent. Unless youve been cultivating f reedom

from your own mind as well as the minds of ot hers, youre undoubtedly going to be acting in

preprogrammed, unoriginal ways, rehashing what has been done before or contributing in ways that

are limited by fixed ideas or by your cultural status quo.

To become a true creative individual, to manifest the creative impulse uninhibitedly through your


11/11

Documents

10 Ways Meditation Enhances Creativity - About Meditation