Enjoy Some Alpha Waves (For More Creativity!)

In my most recent nerdy adventure, I started learning about brain waves and how they have different functions in life. Sorry if this seems elementary to you — maybe I learned this in school and forgot or something.

The most interesting thing I learned so far is how alpha waves work. We make alpha waves when we are relaxed but focused. According to this article, they happen when we are being creative and when athletes are at their best.

Theta waves happen if you’re in a deep meditative state and delta waves are produced only when you’re asleep. Your brain waves in normal waking life (probably the gear you’re in right now as you’re reading this) are beta waves.

It all makes sense now. So writers block is when it’s too hard to make alpha waves. Too much crap going on around you, too many people talking to you, too many impulses to check facebook and twitter and basically too much of being an adult.

It’s summer and sometimes that doesn’t mean much if you’re in the working world, let’s be honest… but there is still potential creative time in there if you seize the moment. How can you train your brain to tap into alpha waves, then?

Meditate! Sitting down and trying to think about nothing is impossible for some people, and that’s okay. There’s more than one way to “meditate”.

~ Stare off into space.
~ Listen to music while doing nothing else, just enjoy the music (works best for me!)
~ Go for a run.
~ Play darts.
~ Finger paint.
~ Bake some cookies.
~ Go for a swim.
~ Drink some tea while staring off into space.
~ Watch the sun go down/come up.
~ Go to the park and swing.
~ Watch fire in a candle/fireplace/fire pit.
~ Watch fish swimming in a pond or fish tank.
~ Ride a horse.
~ Practice something until you’re good at it, and then keep doing it.

Do anything like that and breathe (swallow your tea first) deeply for a few minutes. Breathing deep in itself is very calming. Those kinds of things can’t help but get you to focus on them for a while. It takes time, but soon you’ll be able to cozy into your creative alpha waves a lot easier. I’ve been making more of a point to do this and I’m almost done revising and finishing my novel!

See, now you have even more of a legitimately good excuse for relaxing.

The Rainbow Bridge

I decided to make a memorial post for our kitty Simon, who passed away on the 24th of last month and share that poem. According to Wikipedia, no one is sure who wrote it but there are some guesses. My Grandma shared it with me so I wanted to make a nice graphic out of it to share.

Art Heart 6.12 ~ Claudio Parentela

Italian artist Claudio Parentela is a mixed media artist of Picasso proportions.

Follow Claudio around on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and his website. You might want to be careful on that last one if you have epilepsy.

Music Heart ~ Three Little Birds and a White Rabbit.

Some old and new(er) songs that are good for listening to in the summer for whatever reason, or are actually about summer.

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