Quite a lot as it happens! Why? Because it’s a great way to slow down, relax and let your mind wander towards that magical ‘aha’ moment.
We are all so used to being busy. We generally live our lives at a hectic pace, moving from one project to another, one job to another, multi-tasking, rushing to get somewhere to do another task, that we rarely just stop and think.
If we do, we assume we are being lazy. Why do we think this?
The truth is that while our minds might be able to cope with doing several tasks at once, true creative thinking can’t happen while we are focusing on doing tasks.
Fishing, or at least sitting on a boat and dangling a line over the edge, is not actually a waste of time. It is simply slowing the hectic pace of everyday life enough to have time to think. You don’t even need the line! 
photo credit: Paul L. Nettles
The idea is to find time to sit still, relax, and allow your mind to flow from thought to thought. People who practice creative habits know how important it is to put some time aside to just think.
Contemplation takes time and often it is in these sessions of apparently doing nothing that the mind is free to mull over half formed thoughts of the past. Often you will find that having had some time to ponder and put your thoughts together will mean that when you do sit down to write, it all just flows.
You will find that time spent thinking helps your creative writing, because it gives you the opportunity to see things from new perspectives.
This is one of the main reasons many people feel a creative job is out of their reach: they don’t actually give themselves the time to actively create by doing nothing but thinking.
All great artists know the value of creative thinking time – consider Auguste Rodin, who created a statue dedicated to beauty of thinking – The Thinker. If you want to be creative in your life and in your writing, give yourself some empty time each day just to think.
Social studies have proven that those who take time to contemplate each day are more creative, more at peace, and have a greater capacity for experiencing joy in their lives.
Sitting and dreaming, watching a fire can be quite a good substitute in winter for the fishing. Give yourself some ‘fire gazing’ time, even if you don’t have a fire. It helps you to sort out your thoughts and to relax enough to tap into your creative side.
Obviously, you may not have time to go fishing every day, but giving yourself a spare half hour a day in which you allow creative thinking to just happen, without distractions, and without feeling guilty about doing ‘nothing’, will work wonders for your creative writing.
It’s important to get over the mindset that just because you are not doing anything physical, you are not working. Take some time out to think creatively and you will find the writing is more productive when you do write.
Try some of these quick exercises to encourage delving into contemplation and thinking creatively quicker:
- Brainstorm ideas for writing about by making a list of as many titles you can think of in five minutes.
- Free writing – where you give yourself five minutes to just write (handwrite) anything that comes to mind. The pen must be moving on the paper for the full five minutes, and you don’t try to correct your writing or write perfectly. It is about idea generation and allowing your mind to connect ideas, rather than a writing exercise.
- Write a poem, a short story, a letter, or a diary entry. Create something for yourself, instead of for a particular audience. Write for the sheer enjoyment and freedom that comes with being a writer, rather than writing to only make money.
- Put together some pictures cut out from magazines and give yourself time to ponder the ideas that come from looking at these pictures, or a series of pictures that tells a story.
Try to set aside half an hour each day for thinking. In that time, turn off the phone, and don’t allow distractions.
Give yourself the joy of being able to mull over any issues without any dramas.
Give yourself the gift of contemplating time and take pleasure in your creative side.
Go on, give it a try and let me know how it works out.
