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Already Genius: Tapping The Creative Intelligence Within · The Inner Well Podcast

• The Inner Well Podcast: We all contain a space within that when enlivened and nourished will support us with unwavering stability, expansion, and peace of mind. Join us each week as we dive into honest, grounded conversations about transcendental meditation, consciousness, and growth, and what it means to live an integrated life supported by a foundation of creativity and calm. This is the inner world. We are living in this time right now where there's more access to creativity than ever. Everyone has a platform, everyone has a voice. There's this, you know, idea that you can say and be and express however you want, probably more so than ever in history. Yet one thing I've been noticing just in conversations with friends and students who come in to Learn TM is that people are feeling disconnected from that creativity and from inspiration. And I think it's such an interesting piece to dive into and explore what is that source of our creativity? Because it also is often one of the things that people notice blossoming and unfolding when they start practicing TM. And so I'm excited to dive into this conversation about creativity and creative intelligence and expression. with all of you today and really set this up as the theme for this month, ⁓ where we get to dive into conversations with ⁓ some really incredible creative people in all different fields about their experience and their journeys with creative expression and how consciousness and TM relates to that. Just to quickly introduce myself, I'm Danielle. I'm Emily, really happy to be with you guys. I'm Megan. I just wanted to point something out. The verbiage that you're using, I think, is so telling of what we're talking about here because people are saying they feel disconnected or they feel blocked, meaning they know it's there. They just don't feel like they can access it. And I think that's one of the pivotal points of this discussion because we all know that there's that part of us, that space inside of us that provides us with creative intelligence. And we'll go into what that is. And how do you sustain access to that space? So it's always supporting you in your endeavors as you go out to perform your creative expression. I think that's exactly right. This idea. So let's maybe define, you know, what is creative intelligence? And that's maybe a term you're familiar with, maybe it's a brand new concept, but creative intelligence is not, you know, our ability to be creatively intelligent. It's actually that source of Everything. It's the inner well. It's consciousness itself. But it's that reverberating, unbounded source of all of our creativity, all of our clearer thinking. And even, you know, when we think about creativity, we often think that means painting or drawing or being a musician, and all of that is creative. But we're also discussing and exploring themes of creative thinking. What does it mean to be creative in your life, to be a problem solver, to think strategically, to be able to See a solution to a problem that before seemed like there was none. And that's what creative intelligence is. So, creative intelligence, that unbounded source of all of our clear thinking, is what we are talking about today. And that it's always there within us. It's never not there, but it's our ability to access it, which becomes more apparent through. For example, the practice of transcendental meditation. And I think there's something about that most people will have the experience of, and they can relate to this, is when you are tapped into and connected to that space, your activity feels more effortless, more like frictionless flow. The answers just kind of bubble up versus straining around trying to find the solution. And so sustaining that level of expansion in your nervous system to allow for those answers to spring forth, to allow for yourself to support you in your endeavors. There's something about that that just makes you feel like you're aligned. You know, you're doing what you're supposed to be doing because it's just effortlessly coming through you and manifesting in your reality. And I think you made a really great point in the beginning, Danielle, that you know, we're in this sort of like always on culture right now. And there's so many things that we feel maybe like we're supposed to be always creating and producing, but that we know can actually stifle that creative drive. And lead to burnout. One thing that came up as we started discussing this was I remembered hearing about this research that had been done. Thomas Edison and then I looked it up and also Salvador Dali are both noted as these, you know, both creative geniuses, that they both had different methods, but kind of accessing this same state that's in between that waking and sleeping state. And so I dug into this because it seemed interesting and relevant to this topic in conversation. So They would have something, an object that they held in their hands, and it was different for each of them. They each had their own kind of methods that they developed with this independently. And when they started, they'd sit in a chair, and when they started to fall asleep, they would drop the object, which would wake them up and then allow them to access that kind of in junction point, that kind of in-between s waking and sleeping state, ⁓ which they both attributed as that space. From which those creative ideas arose. And whether it was kind of catching the images for Salvador Dali that informed his paintings ⁓ or coming up with problem solutions to problems, challenges. And so there was a French scientist ⁓ at the Paris Brain Institute that decided they wanted to try to replicate this and see if it was something that was useful. ⁓ for creative problem solving. So I think they had 103 participants in the study. The participants were given a set of math problems that required a hacking like a pattern to solve them. So ⁓ and then they had a protocol similar to what Edison and Dolly had, where when they started to fall asleep, something would drop, it would wake them up. Of the 100 plus participants, the ones who caught that, you know, I think I think they said 26 of them. didn't fall asleep and didn't access that state. But the of the ones that did, and some I think fell asleep and stayed asleep, didn't wake up. But of the ones that did, they said they saw a 30% increase in their ability to solve the problem, to solve, like find the pattern and solve these problems. ⁓ which I thought was super interesting. And it to me, it reminded me of wait, we talk about this state of restful alertness. That we access during TM. That sounds like that in between waking and sleeping state. And so I reached out to our dear friend Dr. Fred Travis, who's an incredible brain researcher, and just asked, like, hey, what are your thoughts on this? This is this restful alert state that we talk about TM similar to, or is it the same thing that they're re accessing and referencing in these studies? And He said, yes, here's a paper I wrote on it and sent me a 15-page paper on this junction point, this in-between waking and sleeping consciousness. And it really brought home that parallel. And while, you know, intuitively, Thomas Edison and Salvador Delee found these a way to access it and developed their own methods. And then this French scientist tried to replicate its impacts. With TM, it's giving us a really simple, systematic, repeatable way to access and cultivate that level of our consciousness, which this French scientist sound f found and demonstrated to be super beneficial for increasing access to that creative problem solving. Super interesting. I love that. And I love that, you know, there have been all these different methods and ways to try to access that. It reminds me also, and I think this was coming up when we were sort of having this discussion of, you know, different meditations, there's different ways to Kind of access this creative state or different processes. We all want to get into the flow state. There's this, we probably everybody knows about the default mode network, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for sort of that. It's like the inner life, the inner chatter. It can be the inner chatter, like the monkey mind that doesn't stop, but it's also responsible for all the good things, like the intuition and the creative thinking. And so the idea with this default mode network is that meditations can adjust or alter the default mode network. And so many meditations, the sort of idea of a very focused attention meditation is that you are trying to turn off that part of the brain that is responsible for all that chatter. You are quieting the mind and getting to that state. The difference we can see with TM is that TM doesn't turn off that defode maltness. mode network, it allows there to still be this activity along with that quieter state. So that's exactly it. It's that state of restful alertness. And what that shows is not this sort of stopping of the mental chatter, but actually the enlivening of that intuition and more intuition and more flow state and more access to those subtler levels of creativity. So it's exactly like you said, coming from this other angle of a direct Clear, systematic way to access that subtle state. It's fascinating. Well, and I think also too enlivening and integrating. You know, there's there's something to that integration aspect too, because one of the things that's so cool about this is, you know, people have literally been trying to access this for centuries, right? This is something that has been tried and true throughout our entire entire societal history that people know there's something there that if they could just figure out how to tap into it and integrate it and sustain it, there's an experience of life that becomes much more optimum, much more you know fulfilling, much more effective, more efficient. And so with something like TM or any kind of a technique you have where you're able to consistently access that space, then you start to create Neuroplasticity. You know, you start to actually enliven the capacity for that space to be available for you even outside of meditation. And aren't we lucky that we now have a technique that is so much more effortless than trying to fall asleep and catching yourself in the middle and being like, okay, now let's perform. Let's go. I'm I'm glad. I can't even imagine. Thinking about all of these ways, like, okay, great, we're talking about the creative flow, but like What's naturally blocking that creative flow right now? I mean, it's one thing to talk about it and we have TM to give us access to it, but we also live in this world what is just consistently telling us that we have to be productive, we have to be busy, we have to be in that mode of always on. I was just reading this article, it's really interesting about this woman. This was like a Substack post. She was writing about how she'd gone on vacation and her and her siblings, they were in Greece, it was a beautiful vacation. And every morning they'd open their laptops, they'd sit with their coffee, and they'd work for two or three hours, and then they'd go to the beach. And her husband, who is French, was like appalled by this. Like, you've gone all the way across the world, you're in Greece, and you're still working, and no one's needing you to, you're on vacation. And I was like, I resonate with that. I mean, how many times do you go on vacation or you say, Okay, I'm gonna, you know, take some downtime, and then the first thing you want to do is open up your laptop, go on the phone. And distract yourself from that ability to be still and silent. And I think that's something that we're missing so much in this world. And again, another way to start to access that creativity is starting with that foundation of silence and stillness. Adding on to that is this kind of pressure that just is always put on us if there is something that's just n a natural creative gift that you have or something that you enjoy and create. How do you monetize it? How do you make it a business? Yeah. I mean, it happened yesterday. I had made this yummy treat. Food is my love language. Food is one of my creative expressions. I love cooking and creating. And I'd made us a little treat yesterday afternoon. You're like, well, if you ever need another job, career path, you should do this. And I've had people tell me that my entire life. What happened to just Creating for the sake of creating. The passion of it. And so I've I've actively never done anything with selling food for that reason. And ⁓ and even just other areas that I love to create, like I love to garden. I even started doing like a coaching program because people would be, ⁓ you should teach people how to do this. You could be a garden coach or consultant. And I started doing a program and how to become a garden coach and and consult other people and starting their kitchen gardens. And I didn't even make it halfway through the program when I realized that's not what I want to do with this. For me, it is a creative act to to garden and to grow food and to create fun things with the food. And I love to share that with people, but I don't want to try to make it a business. Yeah. I can relate to that on so many levels because ever since I was younger, writing has always been a form of creative intelligence. For me. And at some point, you know, listening to all of the things, well, if you do what you love, then it's not really work. So well, let's try that. And so then I became a professional writer. And that was my career, you know, for decades. And I lost the passion for it because it became my mode of survival, sustainability, and then my worth and value. you know, became attached to it as well. And then it became a matter of, okay, am I making numbers? Am I creating marketing content that is generating revenue? And then so much got tied into it outside of my own expression of it that I just lost a passion for it and I stopped writing on my own. And I think that, you know, one of the other blockages that we tend to have just in the same vein is this You know, we call it comparison culture, right? I mean, we generate anything, whether it's writing, whether it's food, gardening, art, you know, and then the natural tendency is just to compare our creation to others. And when you do this, you're actually creating a counterintuitive process for that creative intelligence. Because you're taking what originated from inside you, your own personal gift that is yours to behold and share with the world. And then you're externally regulating it based on what other people are doing around you. And so you're creating a cognitive disconnect from what created was created inside you. As it relates to how other people are showing up in the world with it. And then it creates a level of contraction, you know, because like you said, we have all these platforms now for us to be able to be creative and social and share our gifts. And if it's not getting the same amount of likes or impressions or feedback, then we start to question our own brilliance, our own genius, our own creative intelligence. And that in and of itself can create a disconnect from it and that can block. our access to what we know is already there, what is our gift to bestow to the world around us. So beautiful. And I really liked that, you know, using that idea of identification with that thing we're creating. And I think, I mean, I would say, and I'll I'll just speak from personal experience, that is sort of I think the problem with all of this or one that I've faced is that, you know, I don't want my self worth to be measured on what I'm producing. ⁓ and yet if, you know, we're we're All measured on sort of what we're producing and creating outside of ourselves. But when we have that solid foundation of recognizing that that creative intelligence isn't tied to anything external, it's completely internal. Then what we're producing now has a value that just gets to live and exist in sort of freedom, not tied to our identity or our self-worth. And that becomes much more fulfilling. Right. That's one of the gifts that we get with this technique, is it brings us back into ourselves. I think that's really the the sort of trap we find ourselves in often with creative pursuits or even that in order to even do something creative, to have permission to do it, it has to be tied to something that's going to be a job and valuable in that, you know. And it just takes it away. But unfortunately, because of the world we live in and the world is so busy, you know, we we often have to decide what we're spending our time with, make those decisions. TM gives us more time back too. It gives us more efficiency in life. Well, and when we're able to consistently connect with that creative intelligence inside of us, we actually discover layers of ourselves that we didn't know we even had. You know, it it actually expands us as a person, as a human. We we get layers, we get character, we get depth, you know. And That depth comes from our individuality and the way it expresses through us originally without comparing it to everyone else, without creating a need for justification around its value and worth as driven by how we monetize it, how others respond to it. You know, there's there's something in that that's beautiful, allowing creativity just for the sake of creating. I always find that when I do. Give space to that. I get into this flow state. I can be there for hours and the time flies by. All of a sudden it's way past my bedtime, like late at night. And I'm just in it and enjoying it. And it's such a sweet process and such a just rewarding ⁓ process. And so often we just don't give ourselves the time and the space to do those things that allow us to kind of disappear into that creative. Flow experience. Is that something you've experienced when you get into that? 100%. I mean, for me, you know, and and again, we're talking about creativity and all these different aspects. It can be creative thinking, it can be an artistic pursuit. For me, it shows up in painting and drawing. And I remember actually this story I was in my old job, and we would have sometimes these like ⁓ Days where we would go somewhere and do a like a crafts day and it would be sort of a team building exercise. And it was always really fun. And I remember I was sitting with my team, ⁓ who had only ever seen me in like this one certain work mode, and we were like painting or coloring something, and a couple of my teammates were like looking at me and I was like, What's going on? And they were like, We've just never seen you like so relaxed and at ease. You're like in this flow, you just seem really like. This is like you're meant to be doing this. And it was so sweet to see that because that is when I am the happiest, is when I'm in some for me, it's like a creative artistic expression, like painting. Yeah. And, you know, one thing that we were thinking about, we were talking about, is to think about some creative act that we're gonna do this month, that we're gonna commit to. And then we'll come back and we'll share with you how that went. ⁓ so what are you guys gonna do this month? What are we all thinking about? Well, I think mine would probably revolve around writing. Like for me, writing was always my it was my catharsis. And I think it's really interesting that creative intelligence can actually show up as a form of catharsis. And for me it was very much like that. You know, I I used poetry to process my reality. You know, there was The way that I grew up, I had a very disconnected relationship with my father that created a lot of angst and a lot of you know, challenging emotions that I didn't even have the capacity to feel at that young age. But for some reason I just sat down one day. There was something in that where I could take really uncomfortable, what I would call challenging experiences, challenging emotions, and then create beauty out of them, create coherence out of them. And that for me created this level of catharsis because it enabled me to take something that I was struggling with and resisting and turn it into something beautiful that I could then hold space for. And so Once I started working as a writer, I stopped writing for passion. And so that would be mine. I would, I would love to get back into writing poetry and being able to experience that expression of myself again because, you know, it did. It opened up so many paths. It's how I got into college. If it's coming up inside you, it has a path for you, which is a beautiful thing. Beautiful. I love that. Yeah, I mean, I I mentioned the art for me, and that continues to always be the way that I feel most connected. I mean, for me, it's always been art and music. I used to be a songwriter. That was how I processed things. When I was 14, 15, 16, I would write songs and that would be how I would deal with whatever was going on. And whether it was a topic that was actually happening or whether something that sort of was very metaphorical. It was so critical to integrate whatever was going on in my life. And I recently found an old notebook of songs that I wrote twenty years ago and I was singing them and it was like I remember everything. I remember the moment, the emotion. So fun. So I think when I was thinking about this challenge, I thought I would maybe do something like painting, but maybe I'll write a song. ⁓ That's what I'm gonna do. Something like that. Are you gonna share it with me? I don't know, no, no, no, I have to share it. You share your song, I'll share my poem. Yeah, maybe we'll see. And you what also is when you are saying that, I think something else this facilitates this so important with gardening, with writing songs, with writing poetry, it is a mind-body connection, right? Because you have all of this emotional expression inside of you that maybe you don't want to process because it's uncomfortable. You can't find the words to actually bring form out to it. But when you do, whatever that outlet is, whether it's gardening, whether it's playing music, whether it's writing, there's something in connecting your physical expression with what's going on inside you that enables you to successfully process that emotion on a mind-body level. And that I think is part of what makes that feel so fulfilling is because you're fully connected with yourself. You're in flow with all aspects of your being. And I remember, you know, I don't know if you girls know who Elizabeth Gilbert is, right? She's one of my favorite authors. I love her. And she talks about this a lot, where whenever she gets into because she struggles a lot with depression, a lot with anxiety, whenever she gets into these spins, she'll always say, I just need to go create. As long as I go create, then it just it facilitates space. Right. Because you're connecting mind and body and you're able to successfully integrate and process whatever's blocking you from yourself. Such an important part. So for me, and then I don't think either of you even know this about another creative form that I love is photography. And I haven't done that in a long time. And so in the next month I'm gonna do it just for fun photo shoots. ⁓ good. I love it. Well, we also want to invite You guys to take up the challenge, do something creative. And maybe like we're all doing, push yourself into some creative act that you haven't been doing as regularly that pushes you outside of your comfort zone a little bit, but resonates with you. And you can tag us on Instagram, share what you're doing, DM us, let us know, and we'll all come back and share what those are. And maybe we'll share some of the things that you've been doing too. Yeah. I love that idea. Push yourself out of your comfort zone to do it because there's something in that that it's not only just rewarding, but it just kind of sends the message out there that you're willing to grow, you're willing to expand. And when you hold space for progress, for you know, intentionality and for potential, then that's when the universe comes to fill your cup full. You know, you'll be surprised where you end up on the other side of it. How brave can you be? And I am so excited for all of the conversations that we're gonna dive into with our guests this month, with our students and colleagues and friends, and you know, really explore this realm of creativity and how the expansion of consciousness and connection with ourself and creating space through our practices, ⁓ RTM practice specifically. facilitates that creative blossoming. Thanks for joining us guys. We'll see you next time. That's a wrap on today's episode of The Inner Well. Please subscribe and leave a review. Your support means the world and helps others find us. And if this conversation added something to your day, don't be shy. Share it with someone it might resonate with. Also, please follow us on social for more between episodes and send in your questions, your stories, or the topics you'd like to explore with us. We genuinely love hearing from you and this podcast exists because of you. So keep showing up for yourself and we'll see you next week.