Process Jolt #16 - Practice brain-stilling, not just brain-storming

Welcome to our Conscious Innovator® process!

Are you ready for a new, insight-provoking “Jolt” … something that challenges conventional thinking about the "right" mindset for being innovative? It's not that the conventional understanding is wrong - just limited.

Jolts wake us up. They emphasize a shift of focus that taps into a deeper, more expansive consciousness. The result can be profound insights into yourself and others that bring out your full, innovative potential, whether in small, daily tasks or major projects. 

Jolt #16: Practice brain-stilling, not just brain-storming

Pam Henderson, co-founder and CEO of NewEdge Inc, wrote a book titled “You can kill an idea, but you can’t kill an opportunity.”

Any time you take a healthy inhale where you define the soul of your innovative project, welcome emotions as a friend, anchor your confidence in essence, and comprehend with direct knowing, you create an opportunity. It’s a near-unstoppable force, a vortex of energy that awaits a vibrant, innovative solution.

Now it’s time to launch the exhale by generating a diverse and comprehensive set of creative ideas. And that’s where the idea-killers lurk! Sometimes we just think them in our own head, and other times we say them out loud.

Sometimes we judge an idea: “That’s not practical”… “That’s not bold enough”… “That’ll never fly”… “Where’s that coming from?” And sometimes we judge ourselves or others: “Get your head out of the clouds!”… “You’re too set in your ways.”… “Stop flying off in some new direction!”… “You’re not being imaginative!”

Generating creative ideas for your opportunity requires flowing with and guiding the vortex of energy, which can’t be done in an atmosphere of judgment, constriction, or control. We need to balance brain-storming with brain-stilling.

Brain-stilling enables the continuous, moment-by-moment shift from our dualistic mind to our holistic mind… from the “good-bad, right-wrong, you-me, win-lose” judgements that originate from the limbic/amygdala portion of our brains… to the wholeness, connection, and integrative insights based in the more advanced neo-cortex portion of our brains. It allows ideas to express and evolve themselves organically, from a place of curiosity and compassion.

What’s the secret to brain-stilling? W. Edwards Deming, one of the founding fathers of the Total Quality Movement worldwide, gives us a clue. He was once asked to boil down his 14 principles for sustaining high quality to the single most important one. He responded with principal #8: “Drive out fear.”

Brain-stilling reduces the fear and habitual thinking that short-circuits the process of creative ideation. It releases us from our judgmental impatience with familiar ideas we don’t immediately recognize as creative, or novel ideas we don’t immediately resonate with. It opens the neural pathways that allow us to generate ideas that are practical yet adventurous, imaginative yet focused.

The poet Rumi invites us to explore the vibrant world of brain-stilling…

“Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

-=-=-=- Now it's your turn -=-=-=-

Being a Conscious Innovator® has a 3 phase cyclical process: become aware, capable, and versatile. Try on this Jolt in your life and work, then take self-reflective time to engage in the process:

-=-=-=- An invitation to join our process and share your insights -=-=-=-

If you haven’t already, we’d love for you to join our process and share your own experiences, while learning from the experiences of others! We appreciate what one person said about the Jolt process itself:

Innovation is a world by itself. It can change lives and help people become more positive. Doing a Jolt is already something! A new habit that promotes innovation and reflection.

It’s totally FREE to participate. To sign up and join us, go to this link and follow the easy directions: https://innovate.vci.global/p/the-conscious-innovator. 

Even if you haven’t participated up to this point, it’s never too late to start the process! It’s like a concise gym workout that provides an insightful “pause that refreshes” and evokes your unique, innovative potential in life and work.