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On a recent road trip, I loaded the \u201cup next\u201d feature of my podcast player with every episode that sounded intriguing. One episode would play after another without my having to touch it.\nHours of Filling the Mind\nAs I rolled down the freeway, I listened to hours and hours of podcasts, filling my mind with interviews, ideas, tips, and strategies related to writing and publishing, creativity and productivity, social media and marketing.\n\nThat continuous input felt like taking back-to-back sessions at a conference or classes at college. Hungry to learn, I gorged on the steady diet of nourishing information.\nHours of Stilling the Mind\nWhen I arrived at my destination, I turned off the podcast player.\n\nSilence.\n\nMy brain grew still.\n\nThat\u2019s naturally what happened at the end of my long journey. But of course that\u2019s exactly what I needed next. After filling my mind, I needed to still my mind.\n\nI needed to build in space and time to process and ponder the content I had taken in. I needed time to decide which ideas I could \u201cown\u201d for myself and integrate into my life and work. How could I test them out without some degree of stillness?\nHours of Input Need Hours of Silence\nMy outing was my Grand Gesture, if you recall from the last episode. I was near a beach. I made a commitment to walk every day, at least an hour. Sometimes two.\n\nAs I walked, all that input from hours of listening and learning tumbled around in my mind, mixing with whatever I\u2019d dropped in there over the years.\n\nWaves spilled against sand and lulled me into a relaxed state of trust in the directions my mind meandered. Freed from overthinking and overanalyzing, I solved a few sticky issues and casually outlined a few projects. I gained excitement and vision for the year ahead.\nFill + Still = Breakthroughs\nWhile I have a lifetime of input floating around inside me, I believe in the importance of continuing to fill myself with more. I\u2019m a lifelong learner, I guess. I want to keep my mind sharp.\n\nBut I also see the value\u2014the necessity\u2014of following the filling with a stilling my mind, giving it space to make connections and arrive at breakthroughs.\n\nWe have those a-ha moments while walking, showering, folding laundry, washing dishes. When we aren\u2019t actively problem-solving, our minds are still enough to wander, think, make connections. This is a valuable state for a writer in need of breakthrough for a sticking point in a project.\nEffortless Breakthrough\nAfter a period of filling the mind, take time to quiet the noise. Turn down the volume, whether literal or figurative. Give the brain some down time. In the stillness of those quieter, less mentally demanding times, we figure it out:\n\n \tI just realized how my heroine will escape the trap!\n \tAh! I know the third stanza in the poem\u2014I can hear it in my head.\n \tFor that essay, I\u2019ll allude to a line in a play and write a section on how it resonates with our society.\n\nOur rested state allows us to arrive at clarity and vision.\nFilling and Stilling, We Write Unique\nWith your insight, you can put the idea together in a way that only you can. That\u2019s why you and I could both write about the same topic or respond to the same prompt and your final product would be completely different from mine.\n\nNot only are our styles different, but we\u2019ve filled our minds with different content.\n\nYou read this book while I read that. You came across a quote in your travels and I found one in a letter my mom wrote to her best friend when she was in college. You pored over medical research, while I had a conversation at a party thrown by a friend.\n\nWe have it all inside, ready to increase the clarity and quality of our writing.\nKnow When (and How) to Fill\nOne time I came across a quote attributed to Anne Lamott: \u201cSometimes you\u2019re not blocked; you\u2019re empty.\u201d When you feel empty, dry, lacking inspiration, spend some time filling your mind.\n\n \tRead great books\n \tListen to great books