Meandering for Better Ideas

My last post with artist Kara McIntosh was about getting lost.

But what does getting lost really look like? We can all recall what it feels like to be in unfamiliar territory, knowing we’re letting go of something to be there, and soon finding we’re setting forth on a meandering path, with an unknown or un-guaranteed endpoint, trying to trust that something valuable will come of it.

I find meandering hard - in fact, hardest of all. I like new and unknown environments, and don’t even mind leaving most things like cities, homes or jobs. Meandering, instead, feels unproductive, maddening. I like my actions to be rooted in a direction, a plan, an outcome. Meandering feels like wasting time.

And yet, my friend filmmaker and musician Marel Alemany says, it’s important to “waste” time -  it’s the most generous route into our creative intelligence.

Marel Alemany

John Cleese says this too, and he backs it up with research. In his book on creativity, Cleese dives into the idea of the “Hare Brain” and “Tortoise Mind,” coined and studied by Guy Claxton. The Hare Brain “figures matters out, weighs pros and cons, constructs arguments and solves problems.” The Tortoise mind, instead, proceeds slowly and is “less purposeful and clear-cut, more playful, leisurely or dreamy.” 

Cleese explains:

“Tortoise Mind work takes place in an atmosphere of uncertainty and gentle confusion…When you first have a new idea, don’t get critical too soon. New and wooly ideas shouldn’t be attacked by your logical brain until they’ve had time to grow to become clearer and sturdier…new ideas are like small creatures. They’re easily strangled.” 

Strangled is a powerful word. And yet, letting an idea breathe and meander to grow is uncomfortable and confusing. How does one do this?

Cleese highlights a study with psychologist Donald MacKinnon that was able to define the qualities that made certain architects more creative than others. It was their ability to play and defer decision-making for as long as possible. In other words, the more creative architects liked to linger and meander through a process, not rush to completion and resolution.

Meaning, for the creative types, the Tortoise mind showed up.

Cleese explains it this way:

“More creative types are able to tolerate that vague sense of discomfort that we all feel, when some important decision is left open, because they know that an answer will eventually present itself. Leaving a question unresolved makes some people anxious. They worry. And they can’t tolerate that mind discomfort, they go ahead and rush a decision. They probably fool themselves that they’re being decisive. Creative people are better at tolerating the vague sense of worry we all get when we leave something unresolved. So if, like the creative architects, you can tolerate that anxiety you will be able to give yourself the time to come up with a better decision,” or better idea. 

John Cleese & his book “Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide” Source: Forbes

Marel, a newcomer to Canada from the Dominican Republic (and well-known in his home country for his music and art), reveals his own strategies to allow for meandering and play that have brought him to his better ideas.

My edited conversation with him…

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Marel! You’re a creativity machine! You make beautiful music, films, podcasts… I’m sure I’m leaving out much more. Tell me, why is being a creative person important to you? What does it give you?

It’s who I am. It’s the most natural way for me to be and see the world, that is to imagine and see more than there is. I don’t know how to be different. Though, it can become about a need to improve things so I have to work on ensuring it stays light and grounded. 

It also gives me a better way to express how I feel about things - about my country, my new home, the stress of change. 

I’m interested in many forms of creative expression, and have made it a big part of my life, but music will always be the thing that comes most naturally. When I’m making music, I can escape in a way that opens my mind. 

You mention keeping it light. How do you do that? When I have a deadline or an urgency to finish something creative and it’s not coming out the way I want it to, my energy changes. I’m no longer light and airy, I’m hard and rigid. I’m in my “perfectionist” mode, which ends up, most of the time, not creating anything unique or interesting. Just tight and formulaic. 

When I’m working on a new script or any new project for work, the pressure can definitely block me. So I have these techniques that help me get my creativity flowing. I’ve never been routine oriented but I will try every morning to do a kind of brain dump of things I was processing overnight. Usually, there’ll be something in there that I can pull out and it’ll bring me to a new and exciting place in my work. I also believe in walking away from the work, going for a walk, wasting time. It’s important to get into that observational mindset. 

We don’t know where ideas come from, and I’ve always experienced them coming when I’m not at my desk, striving - it’s when I’m letting myself live my life, and in a fuller way. It’ll be other people or music or reading that’ll take me to a new idea, a new place in my work.

Your belief in “wasting” time and walking away from an idea or project, reminds me of a point John Cleese made about not strangling our ideas. The ebb and flow of allowing gentle confusion and then critique - going back and forth on that, between the Hare and Tortoise mind. This is true iteration, Cleese says. I can see how it’s an important part of your process, how you give your ideas breathing room, and then come back to them with some rigor. 

Yes, it’s important. You see, because whenever I feel stuck or that my idea is not reaching my vision or its possibilities, I step back and just let myself live my life.

I listen to good music, watch good films, read good books. They fill me with energy. And this energy stirs a competitive drive within me. I say to myself, “I can do something similar.” This stimulates my creativity again.

Yes, comparison can block you, but it can also be a motivator to create something different, something from your own voice.

But I’ve also learned that my ideas and wandering need structure. My creative energy - which can be big and chaotic - needs to live inside different projects. I always have a variety of projects on the go that hold different ideas and for different audiences.

Oh I like that. My meandering mind likes to overwhelm me, and yet, as you’ve just said, I can let meandering happen within a space that possesses boundaries and drive. I have to say I’m learning to do that in my writing by creating constraints like time or format limitations. I can play in the sand, but there needs to be a box. And it always, inevitably, expands my initial ideas about character and plot, even when I think it won’t!

I’m really grateful that you’ve been so open about your process, Marel. You bring good art and good energy into the world.

To that end, I’m going to plug a song of yours that always makes me feel happy and want to dance, dance, dance!