“Habits of the Creative Mind”

1.

Text to World

In the beginning of this reading the author discusses the significance of involuntary thought, which is a topic that fascinates me very much. I recently watch a documentary of wild cats being held in habitats. These animals included cougars, Jaguar, lions and lionesses. the group of cats included some that had been rescued and put into protective captivity as well as some cats that had been born and raised in captivity. Despite all the cats having different life experience and even differences in special instincts, they all showed very specific similarities in some of their habits. One of the most unique was lunging at zoo keepers who turn their back. Zookeepers intentionally put themselves in a vulnerable position by turning their back on cats (behind the safety of fences of course) to see how they would react. Without failure all of the cats immediately approached and lunged at persons who turned their back. The documentary discussed how this was an innate instinct in all of these predatorily cats, a neurological alarm and level of awareness that is so deeply ingrained in them through evolution, regardless of their upbringing.

 

2.

Text to Self

On page 102 the author discusses a flaw with formal writings centered around writings that stem of from theses. As a student currently pursuing a higher education many of my courses have involved developing theses and supporting those questions and topics with large amounts of supporting evidence. The author discusses the significant leap in quality and significance of writing if the use of “but” is implemented. “But” can be used to avoid the “echo-chamber of nothingness” that is straightforward writing. It seems as if the author is saying that drawing attention to information of thoughts that might contradict ones proposed ideas might actually strengthen on’s writing.  I can connect to this in a serious way because of how I am currently working on a research paper in my History of the Holocaust methods course. If a writer avoids ant contradictory ideas or evidence it makes their writing appear weak and very vulnerable for public feedback that can be detrimental the works publication. Using the “but” method can provide much more depth and importance to the work that someone is contributing to the field.

 

3.

Text to text

A few years ago I was sitting at wobbly legged airport restaurant table, as I sat there I could have sworn I was in the waiting room for hell. My father who sat next to me wanted to get home as badly I as did, yet our delayed flight was inhibiting us, so were resorted to $20 hamburgers and glossy paged rumor mills. That is until, a chipper looking man with a rolling briefcase sat down next to us and introduced himself. “Hi, Buddy” accompanied with an extended hand and upturned palm. “This is strange and sketchy” i thought to myself. But we did not have much else to entertain us so my father and I shot each other an intrigued glare and telepathically unanimously agreed to engage. “Do you play a sport? It looks like you do.” My baggy tracksuit and sweat stained hat easily gave it away, but credit to him for recognizing it. He went on to talking about how he played sports when he was younger and even a little bit professionally. I’ve met my fair share of backups and fifth string players who have also claimed the latter so I was skeptical. However, in a non braggadocios way Buddy went on to tell the tail of how he was a started in the 1985 world series for the Kansas City Royals. Long story short, Buddy arose to such a prestigious level from the nothingness that is the lowest levels of minor league baseball. He finished the series with one of the best batting averages and played error-free. He attributed this success to the shifts he was able to make in his conscious thought, during his short time of success he was able to develop what he described as a “quiet mind”. He goes in-depth of what exactly that means in his book “The 7 Secrets of the World Class Athlete”, but in short he was able to turn off his conscious thought and allow his underlying skills and instincts to “play for him”. A practice that served him quite well. He has since retired and made it his mission to develop a method and way in which he can routinely access this quiet mind zone. When the author of “Habits of the Creative Mind” discusses voluntary vs involuntary mental thought it immediately reminded me of my run in with Buddy Biancalana and my $20 hamburger.