Does meditation boost your creativity?

blog.lift.do

3 points·tannerc··3 comments

I've often wondered this and experimented myself with meditation from time to time. I do have a little ritual I do before I start coding that helps me reach the zone, that is basically a small meditation:

1. I close my eyes and try to think of nothing except what I'm about to do. 2. I focus on my breathing. 3. I envision myself coding with everything going smoothly, I'm in the zone.

I do this for a few minutes and try to maintain my focus, seeing myself coding with a big smile on my face. Then I get to work. It helps on days where distractions are especially tough and my mind seems like a huge mess.

Interesting technique. It mirrors with what Colzato recommends about short meditation sessions before a meeting. There's something about sitting quietly before the work that "shifts" your mind into the right state.

The problem I think many of us who work in large, open-space offices, will encounter is finding the right place to do just that.

I actually learned this from a sports trainer, a skydiver specifically, who recommended the book Mental Training for Skydiving and Life. When I used to skydive I would use techniques outlined in that book to prep myself. It was basically all about envisioning success and driving all other thoughts out of your mind. Athletes do this before an event. It actually goes into more thorough techniques where you "rewind" and "fast-forward" your visions of success. It's the whole "what the mind believes it can achieve" and helps you get into the zone.

I agree about the work spaces, it's can be hard to get a moment by yourself, let alone one where you can close your eyes for a few minutes without being disturbed. In those cases I end up putting on my head phones and doing it anyway. I probably look like a weirdo :D

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