Take a Mental Holiday to Stimulate Creativity

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I recently had the luxury of spending 5 hours on a bus going through the Chinese countryside, i.e. being thrown from side to side and shaken up and down more times than when I was 5 and sitting on the back of my mother's bicycle as she conquered the Bruges' cobble stones.
As it was too bumpy to read (my eyes kept jumping around the pages) and I didn't dare get out my electronics since everything kept being lurched out of my hands, there was absolutely nothing to do but sit and wait for it to end.
...

And wait some more.
....

And then some.
...

And ... Wait! All of a sudden, I caught myself thinking of something. A glimpse of an original thought. An idea.

Your in-between and waiting time is not wasted time. It's time that has been given to you to let your mind do its own thing. You are in control of your mind, mostly. You guide its thoughts and you choose the input minute to minute. Your mind thus walks predictable paths every day, and after a while, this mental routine becomes your reality. It's who you are.
But hold on now, one sec. Do you really think it's possible to know all that's going on in your mind? Are you even aware of all your thoughts? How about all your memories? Can you honestly remember and think every thought in your brain? 
And isn't it possible there are thoughts in there that you didn't put there, but that arose out of that mix of neurons and axons without your knowledge?

Leave you brain alone for some time and follow your thoughts to where they lead you. Get lost in thought, but make sure to keep pen and paper ready, because you may just find your best idea yet.

On that bus, bouncing incessantly, I came up with a new plot for a novel and a couple of short story ideas. I found myself getting inspired and itchy about writing again. New ideas appeared vividly and effortlessly, or so it seemed.

Let me know what crazy/inspiring/weird/fun/beautiful thoughts pop up in your mind if you just let it wonder for a bit.