When I first started meditating during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had my doubts that a practice like mindfulness and meditation could help with creativity. To me, it seemed like a busy mind had a better chance of stumbling on something exciting. A quiet mind sounded boring.

After all, being creative involves connecting seemingly disparate ideas, combining them to come up with something new. Right? So, shouldn’t we let our trains of thought run off the rails? One idea bumps into another idea, mixing and mingling in your mind until – EUREKA!

As a bit of a slob, I preferred the notion that having a cluttered desk is a sign of genius. If Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and even Steve Jobs had messy desks, then maybe we need chaos instead of tranquility if we want to be more creative.

However, there’s merit to both disorder and order in the creative process.

Think about the blank page or an untouched canvas. If you’re a writer or a painter, that empty space is calling out for you to create. On the other hand, an eye-popping collage, a social media rant, or a screaming guitar solo could also inspire you to break some rules and start creating.

The clarity of creative flow is a meditative state in which you are 100% focused and shut out all distractions. Yet, there’s research indicating highly creative people are more easily distracted.

So what gives?

It could be that it’s all about inputs and outputs. We need fodder for ideas. But we also need time and space to process and form them.

We want organization, structure, and productivity as we get to work. But we also want the freedom to play, make mistakes, and get messy.

Find a balance. Do what’s right for you and the task at hand.

Is the distraction keeping you from doing the work or pointing you in a new direction? Is your empty mind clearing the way for something special, or do you actually have writer’s block from a lack of research and inspiration?

If garbage in = garbage out, then nothing in = nothing out.

I’ve since found that spending time in meditation really does lead to a more creative and productive day thanks to a mind that’s more stress-free and open. Maybe cleaning my desk every now and then wouldn’t be such a bad thing either.