Human potential pioneer, Jean Houston, often talks about her great friend and mentor, Margaret Mead. She is fond of describing how Margaret used inner imagery to awaken and enhance her creative abilities in all areas of her life, including professionally. She visualized things she loved, admired, appreciated, along with those things that fascinated her.
She let her imagination travel anywhere and everywhere, which woke her mind up and shook loose any numbness or fuzziness. From this happy, awakened place, she would then turn her mind loose on whatever project was at hand, and her awakened mind, now with all neurons firing, would quickly turn out a rich plan, speech, initiative or new chapter for one of her many books. In this way, Margaret was able to be prolific, and much of what she did appeared effortless. She was, as Jean says, “cooking on all burners”.
This is in contrast to many of us who burn the midnight oil in a task oriented and stressful mindset as we struggle to meet a deadline or bring to mind a half formed idea lurking in the background, but refusing to come up fully on the screen of consciousness.
This idea of creating from a place of an inspired mind has an interesting correlation in a health product currently on the market. The product is called “Triticum Aestivum” and is a topical spray used to relieve pain. The odd thing is that it is not sprayed directly on the painful area, but rather is sprayed around the area, where it enhances the circulation and energy of the surrounding area, which then flows into the painful area, relieving the pain.
The idea is that, when we strengthen what is already functioning well, the increased wellness flows into areas which have diminished capacity. While the connection between this and Margaret Mead’s process of enlivening may seem like a stretch, I believe there is an important common connection, which is that pushing, forcing, trying and struggling do not produce great results. Only flow produces great results, and flow comes from the natural order of things, such as a body part or a mind that is firing with all cylinders, as it was designed to do. If we wake up our mind, it will produce enlivened results and a strengthened body will help to heal itself.
You might want to experiment with these ideas the next time you have a daunting job to do. Try waking up your body and your mind first, get them into a delightful state and then see what happens!