I can see the allure of trains

Currently I am riding on a train to Chicago from my hometown of Kalamazoo. It is only a two and a half hour ride, but here I am, actually going somewhere and I'm able to write. With my back to the engine, I only see where we've been. It's strange for a control freak who has a gun fighter mentality—back to the wall/corner and front toward the door—to like having their back to their destination, yet I find I trust the train. They are a sturdy mode of transportation and with the exception of the movie, The Darjeeling Limited, they can't get lost. They have a set destination, a clear path to their goal. I could use a little of that in my life.

It doesn't make sense in the realm of safety, but I like seeing where we've been instead of where we're going. I know that what I see is safe. Nothing extraordinary is going to pass my view until it passes that of others. I may hear the child behind me, who is playing his video game on low volume, gasp with excitement should something of interest pass us by, but I don't. Instead I hear the horn of the train, the shifting of the rails and my fingers pecking on the keys. The pecking could be my favorite noise, but I have to admit, the horn adds a nice touch.

I should travel like this more often. Trains are a forgotten mode of transportation here in the United States. Maybe that is why I feel inspired. I feel like I could be in Europe or traveling somewhere completely new. I've been on a train before, but I am a virgin train writer. I am a road tripper. I like to drive places, but I may have to reconsider.

A train is like the synapse in the brain. It is the electrical conduit that takes people from one place to another. This in-between space is also where creativity flows, at least for me. It flows through the cracks and you only gain access to it by having a few cracks in your exterior. A train only lets on passengers in certain spots. Creativity is much like that, make sure your frame of mind it set to embrace the creativity.

I find a closed mind has very little creativity. Although to be fair, I think a completely open mind would leave one a little aimless—being constantly bombarded with ideas with no direction. Humans need limitations. At least I do. I need to have a goal, even if it is a hazy blob in the far future. I lay down my tracks toward the destination and I travel as far as I lay. The more planning I do and the more consistently I write, the more track I have and the farther I travel, the more defined my goal becomes. Sometimes I lay my track a little off course and I have to steer it back. Sometimes I run into a hill and have to decide to take the extra time and effort to plow through it, or if going around it will be better. Your track, very much like a train, has to be purposeful. You can't lay bits and pieces of track all over the place and expect to get anywhere. A clear set path, albeit sometimes curvy, is the way to go.

A clear path however doesn't mean to shoot straight through to the end. A train, much like your creativity needs to be fueled. A train needs passengers to go someplace. So stop every once in awhile and pick up a few creativity passengers of your own. Let them ride as long as they want, but give them a chance to hop off when they've gone as far as they want to. Feed them in the cafe car and let them be the conductor for awhile, especially if it is their first train ride.

About the video:

I couldn't find any videos I liked about trains, so I moved into looking into ones about brain synapses, but honestly, the animation of how they work is flat out perverse. So then I decided to look up videos about being creative. I came up with this... and it is perverse... or is it?