by Whitney Freya
Do you ever just feel stuck?
Do you know how your right brain, as I term your “Artist Within”, can help you to write, write and write without experiencing any sort of writer’s block, or innovate that record-breaking marketing plan, or reconnect you with your teenager?
Today, these three ideas will help you to blast through any mental obstacles.
#1 Our right brains our deficient because of the nature of our modern existence (it’s not you),
#2 You can get to know both voices within your brain (you DO have a right brain), and
#3 You can access right brain thinking with a simple, regular mental fitness routine.
#1: Our left and right brains are designed to be perfectly balanced. We have everything we need, we simply are mentally “out of shape.”
We have become out of balance because of our modern pace. Our lives used to be much more holistic. Not long ago we were involved in the creation of every element of our environment. We tended to the earth that produced our food. We harvested trees from the land around us to build our shelter. We were involved with everyone in the community because each served a very specific and vital purpose. There was no time or resources for “luxuries”. Now, we can live very 2-D lives, with so much disconnect that we are left wondering, what is the point? We have outsourced so many of our “creative” processes that we have physiologically weakened our right brain muscle. On top of that, we are juggling overflowing schedules, hundreds of passwords and email accounts, families, careers…. Feeling overwhelmed lately? Join the club. The answer lies within our brains, how to access more of our mental potential.
#2: Get to know the voices in your head. BOTH are valuable and have important roles to play, however either one alone is simply not as effective. *While I wouldn’t recommend taking the right/left brain model into brain surgery, this metaphor does work extremely well on a day-to-day basis in our dualistic world.
Your left brain voice is physiologically responsible for your EGO voice, your past and future. So it is “all about you”, it is reminding you of your past experience—all the reasons why you will never be a best selling author and all of the rejection letters–and it is worrying about the future. It is doomsday all around us. Between the break down in the economic system, the environmental, social and political, how can we really hope to survive another day!?!? We need to learn from our mistakes AND plan for the future, as long as we can balance that voice with our other hemisphere.
Your right brain voice stays focused on the here and now. It reminds you WHY you are doing what you are doing. It is your purpose, your reason for being here. It will emphasize to you the special talent you were given to share with the world! A rejection letter? Simply getting you closer to a “yes”!
#3: Thomas Edison said it first. After a frustrated assistant exclaimed after 10,000 experiments, “We have achieved no results!” Thomas Edison replied, “No results!?!?! We have achieved great results. We know thousands of ways this won’t work!” “This” was the light bulb!
[box type=”success” align=”aligncenter” ]Thomas Edison also said: “The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train the mind to think.” [/box]
You can learn to think in the present, to see obstacles as opportunities, and to feel connected rather than alone. Writers often become blocked because the writing has become a “job”. The pressure to produce increased sales or write a hit means that your mental activity has entered “left brain land”. If you get yourself into your right brain via a new pathway, i.e. creative activity, you will unleash the flow of new ideas and inspiration.
CREATIVE ACTIVITY anyone can do:
- Cover page with color. Doodle!
- Tear out attractive images from a magazine, organize them into 3 groups, and create “Story Cards” from each group.
- Pick one simple object, a flower or a piece of fruit, and take pictures with your phone from all different angles.
Doing ANYTHING different will allow your “Artist Within” to voice its perspective and it has all the blasting power you need!