If You Can’t Hear Yourself Think, You Can’t Hear Yourself Create
What happens when you hold space for your creativity? Only amazing things. Try one of these techniques to hush the brain and create more.
There’s a reason your best ideas often show up in the shower, on a solo walk, or just before sleep: Your mind finally gets quiet enough to listen.
But what happens if your brain never gets quiet? 🧠
If every hour is filled with input, like the endless ding of notifications, scrolling content, being inundated in others’ opinions on social media, listicles, the news, and just the noise of everyday life, you start to lose touch with your own creative voice.
Not because it’s gone.
But because you can’t hear it anymore over the cacophony of everyday life.
A Little Bit Of Shhhh
The concept of “hushing” your brain isn’t just silence. It’s deliberate quiet to awaken your creative mind and bring your flow back into focus.
It’s a choice to pause the endless internal commentary and make room for new signals to come through.
Here are just a few ways to quiet your brain:
🧘♀️ Whisper “shhh” or “ommm” aloud to yourself when your mind is racing. It works better than you think! Or in my case, I may whisper “om nom nom” just to keep things light.
⏳ Set a 5-minute timer and sit with your breath. Don’t chase thoughts. Just hush.
🌿 Go on a no-phone walk, and pay attention to what you see, hear, and feel.
🕯️ Light a candle and stare at the flame. Let your eyes and mind soften.
🎧 Listen to ambient sounds (rain, white noise, waves) while doing nothing else.
✍️ Write one word per line in your notebook for two minutes and let your brain slow to a crawl.
☕ Sip something slowly (tea, coffee, water) with full attention and no multitasking.
📴 Turn off all notifications on all of your devices for an hour and notice how much mental space opens up.
🚿 Use daily tasks (showering, washing dishes) as hush time: No podcast, no news, no agenda.
🛏️ Lay still in bed for 3 minutes after waking and hold a good thought for the day. No scrolling, just sensing.
This isn’t about productivity.
It’s about presence. It’s to soften the static so that what wants to emerge can finally be heard.
It’s about listening to what your imagination is trying to tell you: The images, scraps, and sensations that only surface when things slow down.
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Most creative blocks don’t begin with laziness. Creative blocks usually begin with noise.
We stop creating not because we’re out of ideas, but because we’re out of quiet.
If you can’t hear yourself think, you can’t hear yourself create.
Try one of the techniques above today to hush the mind.
Hold the idea.
And listen for what’s been waiting to speak.
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❓Q For You: What’s your biggest distraction when it comes to your creative work?
Drop a comment on the post or share your thoughts in Creative Enabler’s Creator Chat!
Wonderful tools to add to our creative toolbox!
Hi Luca, my biggest distraction is my current addiction - reading all the humbling and amazing writer's Substack such as this post. I'm trying to finish my next book and procrastinate by endlessly rabbit holing on here. At least it's a healthy addiction but yes... i need to put the app down and take a walk and think and write. Thanks!