Tag: creativity

Status of Publicity Campaign

Posted on by japineda

I would like to update you on the success of the publicity campaign for my new book (Controlling Mental Chaos: Harnessing the Power of the Creative Mind, Rowman & Littlefield, 2023). I have been quite busy doing interviews and disseminating the ideas through blog posts in widely-read websites.

While all of this is wonderful, I am really interested in further promoting the ideas expressed since they are timely, given our unending mental confusion and the current state of the world. To that end, I would like to ask you a big favor. Would you help me promote these ideas by forwarding at least one of these articles to family, friends, or others in your social group?

It is the holiday season so this can be a thoughtful gift and may be helpful to someone in the grips of mental chaos.

My deep appreciation for your help.

May you have a wonderful season and may your mind run between wisdom and love.

  • Spiritual Media Blog

 Interview with Jaime Pineda

  • Del Mar Times (Solana Beach Sun)

From Anxiety to Creativity

  • The Good Men Project

Mindfulness and Meaning: How I Found My True Identity

  • The Art of Healthy Living

Mindfulness and Creativity: 5 Ways to Practice the Art of Living Well

The Nature of Creativity

Posted on by japineda 
Nature is the subtle,
Still, softness in our being.
That we relegate to the periphery of life,
While a harder self takes center stage.
This moment calls for integration,
Of divergent aspects of ourselves.


When we do,
Conscious and non conscious minds
Unite and synchronize.
Creating a magical moment,
A moment in which the world feels right,
Justified and beautiful.
We might call this a creative moment,
For it brings a profound sense of joy.

Unencumbered Original Mind

Posted on by japineda

When original mind, the mind we have at birth, is unencumbered and allowed to flourish, it becomes an active, adaptable, dynamic, inquisitive, and inventive powerhouse. Tragedy encumbers it, as it did for Jean-Dominique Bauby, author of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly who suffered from locked-in syndrome, yet still overcame his circumstances. William James, founder of American Psychology, conceived of brain-mind as “endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity.” Plasticity or neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change itself because of experience. It means that seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, feeling, and thinking affects us by altering the wiring connecting sensory experiences to emotions and actions.  As water takes the mold of the container we pour it into, a developing intellect takes the mold dictated by its surrounding. An environment rich with music, laughter, conversation, love, toys, and other people will produce a healthy, curious, energetic brain-mind. An impoverished situation where these elements are missing will not.  Neuroplasticity means the brain develops and programs the skills it needs to adapt to the specific habitat, and experiences the loss of skills unnecessary for that habitat.  This malleability and adaptability makes us different from computers, whose hardware is unchangeable.

We cultivate an unencumbered original mind by encouraging curiosity.

Be like a child. Encourage your curiosity about everything. Ask questions. Focus on a dilemma. Use your creative imagination to visualize the issue. Write the hunches, insights, instincts, answers to the queries your mind conjures up. Writing strengthens the connection to your intellect and intuition.

Try this exercise: As you go to work or to the store, pay attention and note new details you had not observed before. Try to see something new every day on the same route.  Attend to the variety of colors, textures, forms you encounter.