“Was it Dali who took naps with a spoon in his hand, so that when he fell asleep the spoon would drop, and wake him up, and that’s when he went to work painting.”
Yes. This is called a “Drop Nap”. Many different versions of this have been attributed to different historical figures, but the first I heard of it was Dali. He had pretty good branding. So.
You are right that naps awaken creativity. If you research some of the the greatest inventors, they figure this out and would sleep with something in their hand that slip when they fell asleep so that it would make noise when it hit a nearby dish. In this manner, this creativity cycle would repeat more frequently and ideas would come up again and again. Thanks for this reminder. Not sure if this was Einstein or who that would do this trick.
Makes me wonder which modern inventors are using it.
I often wake up at 2:30 but never feel fresh. Nor do I have any creative energy right after I wake up. If I sat down with a sketchpad and pencil, I'd be likely to stare and them and wonder what they're for. Maybe I'm an oddball, but morning pages never did a thing for me. But it takes all kinds to make a world.
Early morning is absolutely my most creative time. It's like my inner censor hasn't woken up yet and stuff just happens. I stumble bleary-eyed to the kitchen table, pausing to put the kettle on, and sit down. Most evenings I lay out my sketchbook or whatever piece I intend to work on so it is ready for me in the morning.
I wrote morning pages for about 6 months after reading The Artist's Way. Now I do them on the weekends and keep weekday mornings for actual picture-making. It would be good for me to do them every day, but then I would have lost my window of opportunity for drawing... it's hard to find time for everything.
As for getting up at 2:30am if I woke up feeling fresh... I haven't done it. I consider it occasionally but am worried I will ruin the afternoon by being exhausted.
Ahh! That explains it. I do my best work right after waking up while everyone else is sleeping.
“Was it Dali who took naps with a spoon in his hand, so that when he fell asleep the spoon would drop, and wake him up, and that’s when he went to work painting.”
Yes. This is called a “Drop Nap”. Many different versions of this have been attributed to different historical figures, but the first I heard of it was Dali. He had pretty good branding. So.
(Also. Caffeine naps totally work. Try it.)
You are right that naps awaken creativity. If you research some of the the greatest inventors, they figure this out and would sleep with something in their hand that slip when they fell asleep so that it would make noise when it hit a nearby dish. In this manner, this creativity cycle would repeat more frequently and ideas would come up again and again. Thanks for this reminder. Not sure if this was Einstein or who that would do this trick.
Makes me wonder which modern inventors are using it.
I often wake up at 2:30 but never feel fresh. Nor do I have any creative energy right after I wake up. If I sat down with a sketchpad and pencil, I'd be likely to stare and them and wonder what they're for. Maybe I'm an oddball, but morning pages never did a thing for me. But it takes all kinds to make a world.
Urgh… Sometime[s]
Early morning is absolutely my most creative time. It's like my inner censor hasn't woken up yet and stuff just happens. I stumble bleary-eyed to the kitchen table, pausing to put the kettle on, and sit down. Most evenings I lay out my sketchbook or whatever piece I intend to work on so it is ready for me in the morning.
I wrote morning pages for about 6 months after reading The Artist's Way. Now I do them on the weekends and keep weekday mornings for actual picture-making. It would be good for me to do them every day, but then I would have lost my window of opportunity for drawing... it's hard to find time for everything.
As for getting up at 2:30am if I woke up feeling fresh... I haven't done it. I consider it occasionally but am worried I will ruin the afternoon by being exhausted.
Let me
Know how it goes!