It’s one of the hardest things to find really. And the din of life, its endless demands, the constant rushing, that breathless pace of existence that is ours make it almost impossible to achieve. Yet, without it, effective communication is impossible.

I’m talking about a clean white space. A place with no clutter, no chaos. A serene space in the mind.

I said white space, but really there’s no colour to it. Just a pristine emptiness, where a crucial connection is made and an idea begins to take shape. An essential, elusive thing it is: the idea. The very basis of communication, the specific communication one is trying to create. And till the mind blocks out all the noise, the whispers, the chatter, the turmoil of information, till it is in a space of its own, an idea doesn’t seem to germinate.

That’s been my personal experience, at least. While having all the information is important to “cracking” an idea, also a fair bit of additional reading is useful as is having an interest in various kind of things, yet, till that funny space inside is reached, no real solution comes up.

I don’t know what your experience has been when searching/hunting/going crazy for a good idea, I’ve written ads and commercials for almost twenty years and it took me a while to understand the absolute need for that nothing on the mind state. I remember thinking I was slow, perhaps even lazy, as I searched frantically for a thought… then finally it would come to me when I was completely not in “work” mode; at the bus stop, in a car, and other most unlikely places. I’d notice later my mind had been in that free zone, uncluttered at the time. And not at all anxious.

It’s a great feeling really… that emptiness, then the rush of an idea filling up all the space.

A couple of things do help me fight a block when then I’m hassled and harried… pottering with plants is one of them. Reading poetry another.

I’ll leave you with a quote from a poem by Stanley Kunitz, a poet I discovered on the net while looking for something to unblock me. He was a great gardener. I hope you find your unblocker and here’s to great ideas, wonderful communication.

“I kneeled to the crickets trilling
underfoot as if about
to burst from their crusty shells;
and like a child again
marveled to hear so clear
and brave a music pour
from such a small machine.
What makes the engine go?
Desire, desire, desire.
The longing for the dance
stirs in the buried life.”

From Touch Me by Stanley Kunittz

 

And so it began

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