Cage, Dam, and Observe
Control Your Thoughts to Create More Consistently.
“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” -Dale Carnegie
Being a creative person can be a wholly immersive existence. Because your brain is always making connections, it is easy to have an inordinate amount of thoughts running rampant through your head. This might seem like a good thing — and in many ways, it is — but having too many thoughts can be hostile to creativity.
Cage the Squirrels
Thoughts are like squirrels. They dart around making ridiculous jumps and climbing trees only to launch themselves back to the ground. Just when you think they’ve landed, they are off again to knock over the bird feeder or tear up the garden. There are only three ways to get rid of squirrels: remove their food source, squash them, or capture them. Ideas are the same way.
Build a Better Squirrel Cage
The point of trapping a squirrel is not to play with it. It is to remove it from the present circumstances until you can relocate it to a more suitable environment. Once there it can live out its best life, but for now, you don’t want it bounding about your yard.
