I suspect many of you have also had something like the following experience. When I am working on creating something, like a piece of computer code, or an animated character, or a procedural texture, sometimes I get sort of lost in the process.
I become so immersed that I forget all about myself. Time drifts by, and I tune out things like hunger or sleep.
When I emerge from this flow state, maybe a few hours later, I sometimes find that something wonderful has been created. Something that didn’t exist before.
And at such times I ask myself “Where did that come from?” Because I don’t quite remember having created what I am looking at.
In such situations I hesitate to take credit for the result, because it seems to have come from somewhere else. In a sense it feels that I was not the creator, but rather the instrument.
Well, whoever it is that I am working with at such times, I realize that I am privileged to have such a great and generous collaborator. All I can say is “Thank you.”
I first learned of this in “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. The creative mind, the right side of the brain, she explains is terrible at telling time, but brims with creativity. So creative people often get lost in their own thoughts. To those around us, we come across like out-of-it space cadets.
My biggest problem is that I’m also ADD. I may notice that hey, I did something cool! and I pop myself right out of the flow.