I think (Maybe) I realize today I am hypersensitive to artistic ideas.
I started watching "Abstract" on Netflix a while ago and barely made it through the first two episodes. It's not that these are terrible episodes, in fact oppositely, they are nice. Kind of separated, detached, like the white walls of a museum, but since the artists they are highliting have such keen observations, and their work and importantly, their processes are front and center, it is a subversively high energy program for me.
This isn't a review of a program however. I just wanted to state how my brain is wired. I see people's minds working in their creative capacity and begin to feel a non-linear sense of excitement, awe, envy, inspiration and of course, par for me, fear.
My mouth begins to water, like I am hungry and my fingers feel like extensions of good juju... Weird, I know. But that's me. I didn't force myself to feel this way, I just do.
Sensory overload. I think my desire to create is in some part stifled to protect myself and others. Self-preservation is tantamount. My desire to protect other people is maybe more an unconscious, yet learned reaction. I can be super-intense and have really large ideas that, are to me impossibly easy while at the same time are things I cannot possibly complete myself. Springing these ideas on unsuspecting civilians is not a great way to make or keep friends.
Too often I've seen people's eyes widen and blank out, glaze, or become apprehensive when I open my ideas up. This is what watching Abstract does to me too. Creativity in its raw state is a stimulant.
There are elegant ways to handle both giving and taking creative ideas without causing hives!
In all cases, be cool. Ideas Have their own energy.
There's no point in forcing an idea. Even if someone is receptive I find I have to walk very carefully. I have to know WHAT my idea is in the first place. Occasionally an idea pops into my head that is great, but it may be totally off-point for the situation.
Could be that it's a solution to another problem. Be open if someone has questions, or has a collaborating idea. This is a buy-in. I may have had the original idea, but if there's no one to play in the sandbox with you, sometimes ideas are pointless. Keep your idea as pure as possible and safeguard that those other ideas come to a similar outcome. I hate walking down the path with someone, who distracts and deflects the way. Maybe there is a different way, but what is the goal?
Creating an idea and expressing it can be more like a flower opening, rather than a crashing wave. I'd have never thought about this earlier in my life and career. People say they are thirsty for ideas. But never give a critically thirsty person all the water they can drink. Ease them in. Save their life first and then later they can gorge if they feel it.
Listening is also a way to elegantly bring peace to an idea. When you ask yourself or other people talk about ways to elevate their mindset, work and/or visibility I am helping myself focus on outcome. The big thing is solving one thing at a time, even if that one thing is a small piece of a larger organization.
- Can that smaller solution be all that is needed?
- How can that smaller solution best be used in the big picture?