Creative dreams

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”           George Bernard Shaw

Inspiration comes from two main sources, either from deep within us or from some person or something outside us. Yet, there is a problem with inspiration in that it is very hard to capture or to bottle so that it can be used whenever there is a need.

The memories and jottings of many great creative writers and artists are littered with remarks about how they sometimes found their occupation hard going. They sat in front of empty pages or canvasses and wondered how they were going to fill the blank space. Inspiration did not appear on demand and they were left without the motivation to begin their work. So, to get around these mental blocks, they had to force themselves to work through the barren periods until they achieved their objectives. In fact, many creative people recognise that their output is sometimes 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

But inspiration, however small, is an essential ingredient for creative people. Often, we tend not to see things which surround us all the time. This is beneficial because paying close attention to everything about us would fill our heads with too much detail and this would overload our brains. Instead, our brain constantly scans the environment and if there is no major change it just keeps us on automatic pilot.

But there is a snag. If we are surrounded by the same things day after day they eventually blur into the background and disappear from our awareness. Therefore, we need to stimulate ourselves by exploring new situations, places, ideas, and people. And, the more we expose ourselves to new things the greater the potential will be that we are stimulated and possibly inspired to integrate them into our activities and become more creative.