The Power of Open Monitoring Meditation

Personal Strategies for Creative Expression

Creativity is when you connect seemingly disparate ideas in novel ways. You can’t force creativity, which is outside your control. However, there are ways to induce and allow creativity to occur. Each person’s creativity is unique, so different strategies work for different people. For example, rapper Eminem is known for carrying around a notebook where he constantly writes rhymes and verses. He says he doesn’t use most of his writing, but this practice keeps his mind working. Conversely, rapper Jay-Z has no idea what he will say until standing in front of the mic. Using your practice of choice will allow you to access your deepest creativity when needed.

Enhancing Creativity through Open Monitoring Meditation

Open monitoring meditation is a practice that creates an optimal environment for creativity to happen. This exercise is very simple. It consists of sitting down or lying down comfortably, preferably in an environment that is quiet and free of distractions. You can have your eyes open or closed. If you choose to keep them open, look at something that allows your mind to relax, something relatively constant such as nature, a painting, a wall, a room, or outside your window. As you sit you will feel your mind starting to wander. In this meditation all you want to do is watch your thoughts, see yourself as the spectator of the thoughts not as the thoughts themselves. Pay attention to your thoughts without judgment, don’t try to control or steer them.

This practice will get your mind into a state similar to REM sleep. In this state, your thoughts will become more vivid and more free of any restrictions of your mind. Additionally, more connections between very distant memories will be made. When doing open monitoring meditation it is helpful to keep a piece of paper and pen or a device to record yourself on. These tool will allow you to place your ideas somewhere before you forget them. These thoughts are similar to dreams, in one moment they have your full attention the next you forget they ever existed.

Thomas Edison's Enhanced Open Monitoring Meditation Technique

Thomas Edison had a technique that brought his open monitoring meditation even closer to the state of REM sleep. When doing open monitoring meditation, he found that he often fell sleep before he could record his best ideas. In addition, he also found that sometimes when he awoke from sleep he had a fresh idea in mind. Putting these two observations together he created his own type of open monitoring meditation. The difference in his meditation was the he did it with a metal ball in hand. When he would fall asleep the ball would drop and wake him up. He would wake up in a half-asleep state but one where his creative ideas were still accessible. He would quickly write down his idea and continue meditating.

Citations

Rick Rubin: How to Access Your Creativity

Fujino, M., Ueda, Y., Mizuhara, H. et al. Open monitoring meditation reduces the involvement of brain regions related to memory function. Sci Rep 8, 9968 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28274-4

Rick Rubin Compares the Creative Process of Eminem, Jay-Z, and Anthony Kiedis

Spark Creativity with Thomas Edison’s Napping Technique

Colzato LS, Ozturk A, Hommel B. Meditate to create: the impact of focused-attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent thinking. Front Psychol. 2012 Apr 18;3:116. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00116. PMID: 22529832; PMCID: PMC3328799.