What I learned about the power of focus and how it increased my creativity

By Steve Green -

 

“The successful warrior is the average
man with laser like focus.”
– Bruce Lee

 

    You can’t focus. Everyone around you seems to pull great ideas out of thin air. Their ideas are the talk and praise of your team. But your concepts seem to fall flat. There is hope and a simple solution if you are willing to become the creative genius you know you can be. Understand you are no less creative than the person next to you. And you are capable of channeling life changing ideas and concepts. The problem? You haven’t learned to empty your mind.

 

    Before you begin a painting, write a song, compose a tune or sculpt a masterpiece, do this one thing. Be still. Close your eyes and sit in silence. Do not think, just sit still. You can feel the power in being still. There is wisdom in the silence, a feeling of familiarity as ancient as our soul.

 

    Learning how to quiet down the mind can be an invaluable practice. The mind is constantly thinking, observing and consuming information. The mind continually processes and filters everything you see, hear and feel. With the barrage of thoughts continually entering your mind along with everything you sense it’s nothing short of a miracle that you can function.

 

    Emptying your mind does not require you to be a master at meditation. You don’t need to climb some mountain in a faraway land to train in the ways spiritual enlightenment. All you need is a few minutes of deep breath and patience to look within yourself without judgement of what you are thinking or feeling. Just sit in the silence and wait. As you relax in this state of nothingness, be present and aware any thought or feeling that comes up. Do not engage, just acknowledge it is there and observe it.

 

    This activity will help you develop awareness of your present state. The more you can focus on the present the more past and future emotions can influence you. Let’s face it we cannot change our past so it is pointless to get stuck there. However, we can influence our future by having a positive awareness of where we currently are. Even if your present situation is not as favorable as you would like it to be. Being present will allow you to view your situation from higher perspectives and you will find that you have more options than you  think.

 

    Give this a try and do this with an open mind. Find a nice comfortable place, close your eyes and relax. Take a few deep breaths and imagine a faucet or a drain where your thoughts can just flow out of you. This may take some practice but stick with it and just focus on nothing. Sit with your thoughts and observe them. When a thought tries to build just shoo it away. As you observe your thoughts with an objective mind, you begin to broaden your scope and gain greater insight into the problem you seek to solve.

 

    The attention is no longer on all the other competing problems yelling and screaming at you at once, but on the one thing you have designated as important. This is the power of focus. Focus allows you to zero in on fine or hidden details. The clues and answers you seek to solve become more clear and evident. Countless CEO’s, writers, athletes, public speakers and all manner of industry leaders use some form of method of clearing the mind before engaging in focused work. The methods may vary but the concept is the same. The good news is that these techniques can be used by anyone and applied anywhere. All it takes is a little effort on your part to reap great results. Remember, your imagination is infinite and the power to tap into it is at your command.

Apostle Steve Green

Welcome to The Mind Your Newness Blog site. My name is Steve Green, an Apostle and Artist. I write about the creative process to help others transform their lives. I love to share ideas and practices that I have learned to help others find their unique and authentic creative voice.

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