The Mind of Thuse!!

The Mind of Thuse!! Thriving Within Effortlessness: To those who experience life as struggle, hard work, and constant effort, the concept of effortlessness may seem incomprehensible. But is it really? Stop and think about a time when you could work on a project for hours. Perhaps you were fixing a car, baking a cake, or creating a make-believe story for a child. Did you lose track of time? Did you forget that you were hungry? You may have been experiencing the flow of effortlessness. The experience of effortlessness is for everyone, including those holding fast to the idea that this sort of flow belongs only to "creative" people. "The Mind of Thuse" is a guide describing the neuroscience, philosophy, and new thought behind the process of creativity that can lead us into this sublime state of effortlessness.

The Mind of Thuse!! Thriving Within Effortlessness: To those who experience life as struggle, hard work, and constant effort, the concept of effortlessness may seem incomprehensible. But is it really? Stop and think about a time when you could work on a project for hours. Perhaps you were fixing a car, baking a cake, or creating a make-believe story for a child. Did you lose track of time? Did you forget that you were hungry? You may have been experiencing the flow of effortlessness. The experience of effortlessness is for everyone, including those holding fast to the idea that this sort of flow belongs only to "creative" people. "The Mind of Thuse" is a guide describing the neuroscience, philosophy, and new thought behind the process of creativity that can lead us into this sublime state of effortlessness.

Linda Smarzik has taught visual design and problem solving with a local community college in Austin, Texas for over two decades. During the first decade, questions concerning creativity began to surface as she noticed differences amongst her students' creative abilities. "What process allows some students to access creativity more easily than others?" and "How can individuals more readily tap into the creative process to complete a project or goal?" In 1999, during a trek in the Nepal Himalayas, long sought-after answers began to unfold. On the second evening of her journey, she experienced such intense altitude sickness that she was told to immediately return down the mountain to the next lodge, two hours away. There was little light left in the evening sky as she and her guide, Dawa, began running back down the mountain on a crumbling, rocky trail. As her footing became uncertain, she began to slip and stumble close to the sheer drop offs. Yet, during that dangerous Himalayan descent, something amazing happened. Exactly what transpired on that Himalayan mountain range has taken years to sort out. At some point, Linda realized that what had happened during my descent was no different from the experience of a painter effortlessly surrendering to the next paint stroke or a writer letting her fingers fly across a keyboard. Furthermore, she realized this process of creativity or effortlessness does not pertain just to "creative" individuals. Rather, everyone has the ability to tap into their own effortlessness. This realization, this new understanding, now serves as the foundation for her writing, research, and teaching.