In a world constantly buzzing with noise and distraction, silence can feel elusive—yet it holds a quiet, transformative power. For many of us, it’s within these moments of stillness that inspiration speaks the loudest. Yet, embracing silence can unlock creative potential, allowing us to tap into new ideas, clarity, and focus. Whether you're an artist, writer, or innovator, discovering inspiration in silence can transform the way you approach your craft, as it has for me.
Where do you go for inspiration? A year ago, my answer would have been the library, the cinema, or my comics collection. But lately, the productive state of “flow” that we artists are constantly chasing has been emerging for me in unexpected places—in the closest thing to pure silence one can find in an increasingly noisy world.
As I near the end of making one of the biggest books I’ve ever created, I find myself entering what I like to call the “post-mortem stage” of editing. During this phase, I’ve come to appreciate what I call "watching the project make itself." In other words, I’ve stopped looking outward for motivation—no more music, podcasts, lectures, or audiobooks to accompany me. Instead, I work in silence. In its absence perhaps my family’s laughter downstairs, or the clickity-clack of my dogs' nails as they wander through the house become less distracting, and more melodic. Triggering memories, which trigger feelings, that then tend to turn into ideas and scenes!
Da Vinci and Mozart had their musings in literature and art, but I believe they did their best to keep their working state as pure and meditative as possible. Not seeking overactive places to polish their work. Most of the ideas that have yielded the greatest fruit—the ones I’m still developing to this day—came to me during the quietest moments of the day. Coincidence? Not at all! When our minds are at their calmest and clearest is when ideas tend to be abundant.
Where will you go for quiet? There, waiting in the stillness, you may find some of your greatest ideas.
Until next time, keep changing how we see!
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