Have you found yourself in the midst of telling a friend or co-worker about a problem confronting you only to have them provide you three solutions before you’ve ended your second sentence?
Do you ever get an insightful idea popping into your head and long before the magnitude of the idea has settled in, your mind is racing at warp speed to tell you why your ideas won’t work or how to fix them to make them better?
In the first situation all you really wanted was a quiet listener so you could, through the story telling, process your problem, put all the facts in order and start to get a perspective on possible solutions. However, an outside listener, rather than being quiet, was interfering and putting their spin on your problem. In the second case, an insider – your mind, was interfering with your evaluation process.
Creative Solutions Come from Within
It doesn’t matter what the subject is you are dealing with or whether it is work related or personal, what does matter is how to go about achieving the best solution. While problem solving is often thought of as a logical left brain process, the actual solution originates in the right brain creative side.
When you are faced with a problem that you need to solve, your subconscious mind takes over and sends a message to the creative side of the brain telling it to provide as many solutions as possible. And, then help you determine which solution is best. This process can take place in a split second; sometimes you may need to sleep on it or a week later in the shower the solution just shows up. The solution, no matter how it arrives is a creative process that takes place in the quiet space of the subconscious mind.
Cultivate and Energize Your Creativity
While there are many Feng Shui principles you can apply to enhance the creative process the first and foremost is to create a fertile properly energized atmosphere to get the creative juices flowing and the subconscious mind engaged. That takes silence – not just quiet space but silence within.
Develop the habit of silence. Close your office door if necessary or do your best to tune out surrounding noise pollution. Perhaps you may wish to create a mini “creative solutions” area in your office or home that is completely quiet – someplace you can retreat to for just such occasions. Get a clear mental picture or listen for the right words to describe your problem, your need for the right solution and some frame of reference for timing or urgency. Then send that information to your subconscious mind. The clearer you can present the problem the better the result will be.
If you are trying to solve a problem in your office, engage your staff to act as a team in your creative solving process. Present them with the problem but tell them you do not want any solutions proposed until the next day. Simply ask them to sleep on it and you will be amazed at how many more and better options they will have the next morning.
If you are a staff of one, draft a couple of trusted friends to participate in this process. Share your problem with your friends but instruct them to not give you any suggestions until after they’ve slept on it. The results will be equally good because they will have your best interest in mind. If you are a writer or and artist, you can use this same technique to get rid of a block or to improve your work.
You can also further enhance your creative problem solving abilities using one of Feng Shui’s five elements, metal. Hang a picture with a creative message, framed in gold on the west wall of your office. The metal gold focuses energy on creativity.
The northeast area of your office is the knowledge area. Energize it with something that symbolizes great knowledge for you. It can be books, a pyramid representing ancient knowledge; even a picture of a gently flowing river with lots of blue-green colors works well as those are the colors that energize knowledge.
The best problem solving comes from the creative subconscious mind put together with logical left brain thinking.
The ancient concept of Feng Shui principles put together with our newly recognized insightful or intuitive subconscious side creates a whole new and more effective way to solve problems in the 21st Century.
Download “Creative Solutions Begin in Silence” in PDF Format.
© Pat Heydlauff, All Rights Reserved
Pat Heydlauff, president of Energy Design, uses Feng Shui design principles to eliminate chaos and stress at home and within oneself. More than a Feng Shui expert, Pat is a consultant and speaker who helps remove clutter and negativity while encouraging personal growth, improved relationships and prosperity. Her new book, “Feng Shui: So Easy a Child Can Do It,” shows how to achieve a better tomorrow. For information on her consulting, speaking and artwork, call: 561-408-2708.
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