A new idea is a light that illuminates presences which simply had no form for us before the light fell on them.
Susanne K. Langer
How many neurons does it take to enhance a barely verbalized thought flickering in your mind? How many neurons are required to keep an idea glowing brightly? Since we have hundreds of billions – trillions – of brain cells, how can we even imagine the neural activity in the sixty seconds it might take to illuminate the first second of a burgeoning new idea?
As we proceed from the endoceptual and conceptual stages to transform what might have begun as a fleeting glimpse of a possibility into a created form, the light bulbs of our minds, keep illuminating brilliantly. Trillions of brain cells are deployed to keep our ideas generating and our creative urges fulfilled. The amount of electric impulses sent out by each brain cell during even a small activity such as a quick flash of inspiration is hard to imagine. It simply is a LOT!
Your engagement in creativity is invigorating for you and for those around you – plus it’s healthy! So why not look for opportunities to take a new, seemingly good idea – a hunch – to lunch and wine it, dine it and explore it. The time to create, whatever your age, is NOW . A while back I wrote a blog touching on this theme titled:
RETIREMENT IS REWIREMENT: CREATING THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES:
https://ellenpalestrant.com/retirement-is-rewirement-creating-throughout-our-lives/
I like the theme “Retirement is
Rewirement”!
Thank you for your comment, Nadine. I am a strong advocate for replacing the old-hat concept of “retirement” with the positive, energetic concept of “rewirement”.
I suspect that some recently retired folks feel less driven to create because they aren’t sure anyone is on the receiving end anymore. But creating an environment that enables others to create is a very creative act in itself. That’s what you do, Ellen 🙂 I was a volunteer art teacher for 1-3rd graders, and I found that to be one of the most creative, rewarding, and useful activities I have done.
Good point, Lisa, that some recently retired folks might be less inclined to create because of being unsure that there is someone “on the receiving end anymore”. Thank you for your comment about what I do and it is what you do too, create “environments that enables others to create.” From founding a creative writing department in a college to being a volunteer art teacher for 1-3rd graders and finding that “to be one of the most creative, rewarding, and useful activities” you have ever done is indicative of the fact that creativity can and should be ongoing throughout the many stages of a person’s life – the areas of engagement might be different but the pleasure experienced from creating an environment conducive to creative exploration for both yourself and for others, can be invigorating and gratifying.