The "Creative Zone" is the dimension where creation and creativity flows. We all move in and out of the creative zone many times a day, and depending on our state of mind and intent, effects how closely we connect to, and what we get out of our creativity. Great works of art touch our spirits in special ways that connect each of us both to ourselves and the whole of Oneness Creativity and creation is at the essence and foundation of life. Creative artists tap into the creative zone to bring out something transcending time and space. Not just learning a craft well, but using these tools to create a work that touches the universality of the human spirit.
Meredith Brooks' first album Blurring the Edges, featuring the popular song "Bitch," is gaining attention, both for its bold statements and emotional freedom. In the following conversation, Meredith talks about some of her ideas on creativity, including staying in the moment, noticing the synchronicity, and reaching into a parallel universe known as the creative zone.
What is your concept behind Blurring the Edges, the title of your new album?
What Blurring The Edges means is stretching and expanding past the boundaries. I even take it a little further because I am a believer in parallel universes. I don't think there's such a thing as linear time. When we allow the rigidity to come off of whatever it is we're doing, then I believe the creativity or energy can flow. That's how I came to name the record because this not only reflects how the record was written, but it's also how the producer was found and the record was made.
So what happens when we let the energy flow? Are we tapping into something?
As much as we can remember our past, we can remember our future. There's all sorts of choices we can make as we're remembering. In sports they talk about the zone, but it isn't talked about much in creativity. When we're in our creative flow--you as a writer, me as a writer in the studio- -we go to this place that is timeless and seamless. Yet, if you think about it, we probably go there 2,500 times a day, not just when we go into our creativity. We just don't notice it, and aren't aware of it. One of those days where everything seems flow, in a way we can't explain. These things all part of the zone.
This would be a creative zone.
Yes, and more, it's a zone we can be in whether we think we're being creative or not. It's natural, and when we stay in that flow, we blur the edges. This is where we can access every piece of information. When everything's accelerated at such a rate because of computers, and the way we travel, things become stressful, and we move out of the natural flow. I did a show for Capitol yesterday, and they had me on the TV Cam to New York, so I was playing in New York and L.A. at the same time. That's a pretty exciting pace to be living at. We as humans can keep up with this fast rate, but it's stressful. What I've discovered is to go the other way, which is go inward, and start accessing on a higher level.
How do you know you're tapping into the zone?
I do it by noticing--I notice energy and I notice people. We can access a higher level of information about people, ourselves, the future and the world, but we usually aren't aware of this information. The main thing is noticing and being aware of what's around you. Notice every time a coincidence happens, or what you think is a coincidence. Pretty soon you'll notice it happening all the time.
Would you talk a little about your creative process when you're tapped into the zone?
I don't have a strict formula for writing. One of my favorite ways to write is work with a girl friend of mine, Shelley. We'll be having coffee, start talking about an idea, and then we'll be laughing about something, and writing the song. I have a lot of fun writing with other people. I also write alone, such as the song "What Would Happen." The depth of it was so personal that it was one of those songs I wrote in about five minutes while driving in a car. I write in the car a lot, especially lyrics. I take a little tape recorder with me, and when I get ideas for lyrics and melody, I record them. I find it great because you're active so you're keeping your left lobe busy with driving, and therefore you can't think so much, so that what comes out is more apt to be right brain and creative. I often write phonetically. In other words, when I'm writing and I sing melodies, it's what feels right in my mouth phonetically. Then I'll go back and put lyrics to the phonetics.
How much does rewriting fit into your songwriting?
I don't like to go back and rewrite songs because it takes something away from the moment for me because there was obviously something I was feeling in that moment. I would prefer to write a new song. There's a sense of when a song's done. I try to stay in the moment as far as my creativity which means usually new and fresh ideas come out, but can also mean recording a song in a different way. Most of the songs on the album are ones that have been with me for a while. When I wrote "Bitch," something opened for me, and I felt like I was saying something I had wanted say for a long time. There was another level that happened to me as far as expressing my songwriting.
What was this other level "Bitch" opened up for you?
"Bitch" is about honoring our moods. In this society we place importance on quickly getting out of our moods because they're negative or too silly for the moment. What we're doing is creating the possibility of losing the pearl, the creativity because it's in the moon of that moment. I've actually found when I'm angry, there is something very deep. When I access what's going on with me at that moment, I find I'm, projecting something onto someone else, my past. Okay, let's access and look at that. What I found is, it's always clear in terms of the energy when I notice what I'm really about at that moment. When I stay in present time, and make this transition, I start noticing. The only way I can do that is to find out where it's coming from. People just get rid of their moods like dumping out the garbage. It's like, I don't want to be in this mood, time to switch channels.
Much of the "New Age" and Eastern philosophy, seems to try to nullify these moods?
Exactly, I used to be the affirmation queen, and "New Age" was my middle name, and what I found was nothing was changing in my life; from that aspect of always trying to get out of the place I was at instead of honoring the place I was at. Once I moved beyond that, it gave me a lot more depth and information. We come from a society where we're not encouraged to honor our places. When you honor your moods, it is at that point you're ready to move onto the next place and move forward, and that's a natural flow. Present time means we're not caught in the past or the future. We're just doing it now. We can't be in moment if we don't honor what comes up for us. It didn't work to say, Okay I'm in a bad mood today, therefore I'm going to affirm to be in a good mood. What I wasn't allowed to show was my tremendous sadness and grief over certain things in my life. Can you image a world where everyone was honored for their feelings as in certain Native American cultures. If you don't move through these emotions on a deeper level, they get caught in the body. This is the reason for diseases like cancer. People trapping their emotions and creativity inside and not expressing them.
