Week #2: Think Week
In Week Two, I spend a lot of time thinking:
thinking about thinking,
and thinking about my MFA Thesis Show.
Color: Violet
Element: Air
“Mythology is the product of the wisdom body, not the intellect.
The white man has ideas, the Indian has visions.
Visions come from a deeper, more mysterious center.”
- Joseph Campbell
What is the relationship between intellect and imagination?
I like how neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran talks about it in his book: A Brief Tour of Consciousness.
Although both sides of our brain are at work together all the time, he does still see big differences in the operations of the left and right hemispheres.
He calls the right brain “The Anomaly Detector” - it seeks novelty and notices what’s new (hence, the “creative” side)
The Left Brain is the “Nothing-to-See-Here” pattern maker. It puts things in order and helps us “gloss over” the anomalies, setting things in order, so our brain can conserve energy and keep things humming along.
We see something new, novel - an anomaly!
The right brain notices it - and pretty much immediately throws it over the fence (the corpus callosum that connects the two sides of the brain) to the left brain, that fits it into current patterns, saying,
“See? Nothing is out of order! This strange thing fits … right HERE!” This is over-simplifying it, but you get the idea.
We need both sides of the brain - to keep us hoping, dreaming, imagining, inventing - AND to keep us sane, organized, calm, and productive.
All of the ideas for my art and my show have come from my morning reading, writing, and thinking.
Since 2014, I’ve woken up at 6am to read and just think
for an hour or so every morning.
I call it Deep Time.
(Daily work time is “Focus Time,” and time when I spend with other people is “Connection Time.” I like the idea of creating my own concepts of TIME - and you can, too! I’ll talk all about this in my new Thought Salon Workshop next week.)
It has changed my life and my relationship with Time.
Think it UP!
Reading and writing are some of the best things I do to lower anxiety, get grounded, figure out what I think, create (rather than consume), and work on being a better person.
Then one hour it grew to two. I get up early, stretch, do a short yoga practice, make coffee & breakfast. Then I read, and write in my journal.
This simple practice has changed my life. So much so that I encourage my clients to have some sort of a journal practice.
Often they resist this. I get it. They think it is some class assignment, and reminds them of school. Or, they say: “I’m not a journaler.” “I’m not a writer.”
But truly, if you 1) think, 2) know the alphabet, and 3) have a tool like a voice recorder or pen and paper, you can write.
And it has been invaluable to my art practice.
Joan Didion said: “I write in order to figure our what I think.”
So you don’t even have to know what you think going in!
But this process of reading books I LOVE - for me, mostly artist’s biography, art history, creative process, philosophy, history of art and science - has helped me lower anxiety, figure out my goals and values and what I believe, learn new ways of thinking, create coaching and courses that help others, and become (still working on it!) a better person.
There’s no downside.
Except the immediate (in my opinion, low-quality) problems of having to create time in your schedule, sit in one place for an hour, get up early or stay up late.
It comes down to: who do you want to become? It was totally worth it for me to make that change.
Reading and writing is still helping me become the artist and person I want to be.
I can’t recommend it highly enough.
So spend some DEEP TIME with yourself and your favorite poet, author, artist, philosopher, coach, historical figure - every day to grow your brain and yourself.
How does this relate to my MFA THESIS SHOW?
All of the ideas for my art and my show has come from my morning reading and thinking.
Here’s one example of how my reading, writing and daily thinking time has changed my art:
From my reading, I discovered a lot of fascinating connections between geometry, art history, Eastern and Western philosophy, and color. For instance, in Plato’s system of 5 geometric solids, he gave each one an element - and later, various philosophers connected colors to each shape:
Earth - Cube / Hexahedron (6 sides)
Air - Octahedron (8 sides)
Fire - Tetrahedron (4 sides)
Water - Icosahedron (20 sides)
In my writing and thinking, I started to develop my own “Creative Elements” system. In my system, I combined Plato’s 4 elements with the two additional forces - or processes - from Chinese medicine (metal and wood). And then also added the yin/yang (dark/light) element of Void (also in Native American systems), and Light (or Aether in Plato) - all found in various world systems as well.
I call these the 8 Creative Elements - and they correspond to the color wheel’s hexagon, with the dark/light value scale in the middle.
This has been a fascinating way to think about color, forces, ideas, and it just came out of my morning reading and writing.
Your brain is your most valuable asset.
Build your Brain - Read and Think.
Think Week:
Including my trip to Indianapolis to see
Thomas Dolby in concert, and the Bosch & Brueghel show
at the Speed Art Museum
Think Week Inspiration:
Choose a thought to guide your week (this can change, and you can borrow mine!)
Mine for Think Week was: “The answers take time, and that’s okay.”
Spend Deep Time with yourself: Read, write down your thoughts, go down rabbit holes.
Go Inward: Explore an idea you are fascinated with - take it further.
Surround yourself with mellow music with no words: I love Ludwig Cimbralius, a young Swedish/Turkish composer.
Do some Automatic Writing, and Automatic Drawing of your project. Notice this worked for Week Zero - and Spark Week and Think Week (and ALL the weeks!).
AGAIN: Envision your project, this time with thoughfulness: How can I see it a new way? What can I add or rearrange - what new idea from my reading can I incorporate?
What would Leonardo do? (WWFD): Be inspired by smart historic art mentors.
Take a coffee break and sit quietly, find calmness. Center and ground yourself. We NEED that during Think Week!
Everybody’s Taking the Survey!
Did you take it yet?
Take my Creative Life Survey to let me know what new inspiring projects or plans you want to accomplish in 2026!
Your answers will help me plan new classes and programs for next year.
If you answer all 7 questions in this short survey, you’ll receive 10% off ANY of my classes or coaching packages in 2026.
“Wisdom is a blaze, followed by a leaping spark.”
Don’t miss my upcoming Thought Salon Workshop:
More Time for Art:
How to Conquer Your Calendar,
De-Stress Your Schedule,
and Grow Your Goals in 2026.
Friday, December 12th at 11am (CST)
There will be a replay - Sign up today!
I’m behind - but that’s ok. I’ll just keep going!
