The Flow of Ideas : Riding The Initial Waves of The Creative Process

Photography by Bruce Busia

Creativity, like water, doesn't always stick to a fixed course.

It is like an old tap in a vast building filled with ideas, often beginning as a hesitant parade of reluctant drips and drops, murky with doubt and second-guessing. It sputters, coughs up the rust of hesitation and fear, at first seeming more a nuisance than a nourishing and steady flow.

This inconsistency, however, isn't a flaw in the system; it is an inherent part of the process. Just as water might fight against gravity if you tried to pump it upwards to a higher floor, our creative energies too must be pumped through similar levels of resistance.

Though we may aim for the highest of goals, architectural marvels of creativity in our minds, it is easy to forget: the higher the structure, the more challenging the climb for that first surge of water, that initial creative spark.

The journey doesn't favor the initial rush; that first water is often discarded, just as our early ideas are refined, reshaped, and sometimes, replaced. That first water is simply the rinsing of a car that has been left outside in the dust, the first chips hitting the floor from a block of marble. They are necessary for growth, yet they are not necessarily the ones that end up crowning the tree of our efforts.

Understanding this rhythm is vital. It teaches patience, reminds us to install way-stations of rest and reassessment in our upward creative endeavors. It is about nurturing the flow, knowing when to push forward, and when to let the natural force of inspiration carry us to new heights.