英文原文
How Mindful Meditation Boosts Creativity and Innovation
Meditation has been a core part of my life for over 19 years. It's part of my daily routine and for years I just took it for granted that it helped my work as a 'career creative,' but new studies have been emerging which show how and why my mindful practice actually innovated my thinking and made me more creative.
When I get handed a new project brief, one that can make a big impact, I can often get all twisted up in my mental thoughts, and I really push myself to 'nail it' which only ends up with lame ideas and performance pressure. As all creatives know there is a quiet thrill in the challenge of solving 'the answer' to the puzzle a design brief poses. But in the 'trying' it can become frustrating if the answer doesn't arrive, and sometimes we can get stuck in cycling through thought patterns when there is zero creative flow and it ultimately becomes a painful way to work!
So with applying meditation to my creative process I found it is a perfect and fast way out of these creative binds, and here is an overview of the brain science behind WHY meditation activates our creative juices.
The Three Main Parts Of Our Brain
1. We Do Creative Thinking With Our Neocortex This is the newest part of our evolving brain and essentially it is concerned with what I consider the important stuff creative thinking, problem solving, visioning, hypothesizing, strategizing. Poetically speaking the neocortex is pretty selective about what it works on, so only if the two other main parts of the brain agree (explained below) will an idea get to the neocortex for processing.
2. Sometimes Our Emotions Get In The Way Of Our Thinking The level below the neocortex is the limbic system, simply said this area processes our emotions, motivations, and memories. If we are feeling emotionally out of balance or distressed, this part of our brain gets activated, and our brain becomes 'busy' dealing with the stress and emotions at hand and won't allocate resources to our creative thinking.
3. The Reptile Gatekeeper Is Relentless The oldest part of our brain is the reptilian brain. This part of our brain is concerned with our survival and is primarily activated by adrenaline, it's where our flight or fight response originates. It is a very lazy part of our brain so it only wants to process things which it deems critical to our survival. Because it is an old brain it is used to running away from wild animals, so it also has a tendency to overreact to small triggers in the modern world, but which don't really require a massive surge of adrenaline to deal with. The reptilian brain also includes sex impulses, so if the idea is 'mate-able', dangerous or threatens our survival in any way it will get passed upwards, anything else essentially has a hard time getting to the neocortex.
So as you can see, what we think is a simple creative thought process is actually conditional to a lot of neuro-chemistry being aligned!
Enter Meditation Mindfulness meditation is a great technique to learn to help improve creativity. It has side effects which have been shown to reduce the reactivity of the reptilian brain, increase resilience, stimulate the neocortex, as well as improve emotional intelligence. All these assist in getting ideas flowing directly to your best creative thinking brain the neocortex.
The Walt Disney Company was an early adopter of meditation in the workplace, as they noticed a dramatic increase in creativity after employees meditated on creative solutions. General Mills is another company which reports improved innovation as a result of sitting in stillness and has meditation rooms available to their staff. Google has an in house mindfulness program called 'Search inside Yourself' and has built a labyrinth for mindful walking meditations.
There have been studies done specifically to measure the cognitive rigidity of people who meditate and their ability to solve problems in novel ways. The research shows non-meditators had greater cognitive rigidity than regular meditators, and they also had a tendency to apply difficult or outdated solutions to easy problems based on their past experiences, this was not the case for people who meditated.
To me the best test is, "Does it work for me?" So next time you find yourself stuck on a creative problem take some time out to be quiet and allow your stress to subside by focussing on your breath for a few minutes. Starting a regular meditation practice will help you learn new skills and actually train your mind and get your emotions to calm down to allow your creative genius to flow!
For a mindful experience right now listen to this Creativity Booster -- 12 Minute Power Meditation to get your juices going.
To your success! Be inspired and bliss out!
中文翻译
正念冥想如何提升创造力与创新力
冥想是我生命中超过19年的核心部分。它是我日常习惯的一部分，多年来我只是理所当然地认为它帮助了我作为“职业创意人”的工作，但新的研究不断涌现，展示了我的正念练习如何以及为何革新了我的思维，让我更具创造力。
当我接到一份可能产生重大影响的新项目简报时，我常常会在心理上陷入纠结，并极力要求自己“搞定它”，结果却只产生平庸的想法和表现压力。正如所有创意人所知，解决设计简报提出的谜题“答案”的挑战中蕴含着一种安静的兴奋。但在“尝试”过程中，如果答案没有出现，可能会变得令人沮丧，有时我们会在思维模式中循环往复，当创意流完全停滞时，最终成为一种痛苦的工作方式！
因此，通过将冥想应用于我的创意过程，我发现它是摆脱这些创意束缚的完美而快速的方法，以下是对冥想为何能激活我们创意源泉的脑科学概述。
我们大脑的三个主要部分
1. 我们用新皮质进行创造性思维 这是我们进化大脑的最新部分，本质上它关注我认为重要的东西创造性思维、解决问题、愿景构想、假设制定、战略规划。诗意地说，新皮质对处理什么非常挑剔，所以只有当大脑其他两个主要部分同意（如下所述）时，一个想法才会被送到新皮质进行处理。
2. 有时我们的情绪会干扰我们的思维 新皮质下方是边缘系统，简单地说，这个区域处理我们的情绪、动机和记忆。如果我们感到情绪失衡或痛苦，大脑的这个部分就会被激活，我们的大脑会变得“忙碌”处理手头的压力和情绪，而不会分配资源给我们的创造性思维。
3. 爬行动物守门员是无情的 我们大脑最古老的部分是爬行动物脑。大脑的这个部分关注我们的生存，主要由肾上腺素激活，是我们战斗或逃跑反应的起源。它是我们大脑中非常懒惰的部分，所以它只想处理它认为对我们生存至关重要的事情。因为它是一个古老的大脑，习惯于逃离野生动物，所以它也有过度反应现代世界中微小触发因素的倾向，但这些触发因素实际上并不需要大量肾上腺素来处理。爬行动物脑还包括性冲动，所以如果想法是“可交配的”、危险的或以任何方式威胁我们的生存，它就会被向上传递，其他任何东西基本上都很难到达新皮质。
所以你可以看到，我们认为简单的创造性思维过程实际上取决于大量神经化学物质的协调！
引入冥想 正念冥想是学习帮助提高创造力的绝佳技巧。它有一些副作用，已被证明可以减少爬行动物脑的反应性，增加韧性，刺激新皮质，以及提高情商。所有这些都有助于让想法直接流向你最好的创造性思维大脑新皮质。
华特迪士尼公司是工作场所冥想的早期采用者，因为他们注意到员工在冥想创意解决方案后创造力显著提高。通用磨坊是另一家报告因静坐而改善创新的公司，并为员工提供冥想室。谷歌有一个名为“搜索内心自我”的内部正念计划，并建造了一个用于正念行走冥想的迷宫。
已经进行了专门研究来测量冥想者的认知僵化程度以及他们以新颖方式解决问题的能力。研究表明，非冥想者比定期冥想者具有更大的认知僵化，并且他们倾向于根据过去的经验将困难或过时的解决方案应用于简单问题，而冥想者则不是这样。
对我来说，最好的测试是，“它对我有效吗？”所以下次你发现自己卡在创意问题上时，花点时间安静下来，通过专注于呼吸几分钟来让压力消退。开始定期的冥想练习将帮助你学习新技能，实际上训练你的思维，让你的情绪平静下来，让你的创意天才流动！
为了立即获得正念体验，请听这个创造力助推器——12分钟强力冥想，让你的创意源泉流动。
祝你成功！获得灵感，享受极乐！
文章概要
本文探讨了正念冥想如何通过脑科学机制提升创造力与创新力。文章基于作者19年的冥想经验，解释了当面临创意挑战时，冥想能帮助摆脱思维束缚。大脑分为新皮质（负责创造性思维）、边缘系统（处理情绪）和爬行动物脑（关注生存），冥想能减少爬行动物脑的反应性、提高韧性并刺激新皮质，从而让创意想法更顺畅地流动。文中还引用了迪士尼、通用磨坊和谷歌等公司应用冥想提升员工创造力的案例，以及研究显示冥想者认知僵化较低、更能以新颖方式解决问题。文章鼓励读者通过定期冥想练习来激发创意潜能。
高德明老师的评价
用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容
这篇文章就像在说，我们的大脑有三个部分，一个像聪明的科学家负责想新点子，一个像情绪小怪兽容易闹脾气，还有一个像胆小的恐龙只关心安全。当我们做作业或想创意卡住时，冥想就像按个暂停键，让恐龙安静下来，小怪兽不捣乱，这样科学家就能好好工作，想出超棒的主意啦！很多大公司比如迪士尼和谷歌都让员工这样做，结果大家变得更聪明更有创意哦。
佛学的各个宗派视角评价，突出《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角
从佛学显宗和大乘视角看，本文所述正念冥想与佛教禅修有相通之处，皆强调心念的专注与平静。在《显密圆通成佛心要集》的框架下，这种冥想可视为一种“止观”修习，通过调伏粗重烦恼（对应文中的情绪干扰和生存恐惧），让心性本具的智慧（对应创造性思维）得以显发。准提法作为显密圆融的法门，其持咒观想能迅速净化业障、开启智慧，正契合文中提到的“快速摆脱创意束缚”。从大乘菩萨道角度，提升创造力不仅利于个人，更能利益众生，如企业创新可促进社会进步，体现了“利他”精神。显宗强调“定慧等持”，冥想带来的专注（定）自然引生创意（慧），这与文中的脑科学解释——冥想协调神经化学以促进新皮质活动——有异曲同工之妙。准提法的简便易行，尤其适合现代忙碌人群，在中年阶段修持更能积累福慧资粮，应对创意瓶颈。
在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题。
在修行实践上，基于本文内容，可应用准提法等佛学修持来解决人们常见的问题。第一，解决创意枯竭问题，通过每日持咒静坐，让心绪安宁，灵感自然涌现。第二，缓解工作压力，冥想帮助平复情绪，避免边缘系统过度活跃。第三，提升决策质量，定中生慧，使新皮质思维更清晰。第四，克服恐惧心理，修持准提咒能转化爬行动物脑的生存焦虑。第五，增强创新能力，如文中企业案例，定期禅修培养新颖解决问题能力。第六，改善人际关系，情绪稳定后，情商提高，沟通更顺畅。第七，促进身心健康，冥想减少应激反应，带来整体平衡。第八，实现中年突破，在人生中期通过修行重启创意潜能。第九，培养耐心毅力，冥想训练心智，应对长期挑战。第十，达成生命成长，将世俗创造力导向觉悟之道，利益自他。这些应用聚焦佛教显宗和大乘视角，突显准提法在净化心识、开启智慧方面的优点，助力人们在日常生活中离苦得乐。