--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I work on two levels. I occupy my…" description: "\"I work on two levels. I occupy my conscious mind with things to do, lines to draw, movements to organize, rhythms to invent. In fact, I keep myself occ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/bridget-riley-21227_conscious_i-work-on-two-levels-i-occupy-my-conscio_1277542.png" --- # I work on two levels. I occupy my conscious mind with… ![“I work on two levels. I occupy my conscious mind with things to do, lines to draw, movements to organize, rhythms to invent. In fact, I keep myself occupied. But that allows other things to happen which I'm not controlling... the more I exercise my conscious mind, the more open the other things…” quote by Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/bridget-riley-21227_conscious_i-work-on-two-levels-i-occupy-my-conscio_1277542.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/bridget-riley-21227_conscious_i-work-on-two-levels-i-occupy-my-conscio_1277542.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/bridget-riley-21227_conscious_i-work-on-two-levels-i-occupy-my-conscio_1277542.png) > “I work on two levels. I occupy my conscious mind with things to do, lines to draw, movements to organize, rhythms to invent. In fact, I keep myself occupied. But that allows other things to happen which I'm not controlling... the more I exercise my conscious mind, the more open the other things may find that they can come through.” [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Conscious effort in planning frees subconscious creativity to emerge. **In simple terms:** Planning frees subconscious creativity. Key Takeaway Balance focus with openness. Themes creativity mindfulness productivity Mood thoughtful inspired Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - artistic work - problem solving - daily planning Key Concepts conscious vs subconscious flow state Questions to Reflect On - How can you create space for unexpected ideas? - What tasks benefit from strict planning? A Different Perspective Over‑planning can stifle spontaneity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Conscious mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious-mind/) [Draws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/draws/) [Exercise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exercise/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens/) [Levels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/levels/) [Lines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lines/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Mind Open](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind-open/) [Movement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/movement/) [Occupy Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occupy-conscious-4116857/) [Organize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organize/) [Organize Rhythms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organize-rhythms-4116858/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Rhythm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhythm/) [Things to do](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-to-do/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) ## Related quotes > [Using your imagination to create mental images stimulates your mind, helps organize your life and keeps your focus in a particular direction. It allows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-st-pierre/using-your-imagination-to-create-mental-images-stimulates-your-mind/) [Georges St-Pierre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-st-pierre/) > [Keeping the mind open to new ideas, not being too anxious about success, putting 100% effort and meditation is the formula for entrepreneurs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/keeping-the-mind-open-to-new-ideas-not-being-too-anxious-about/) [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/) > [When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being. Youre able to keep your eyes open, your heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-open-yourself-to-the-continually-changing-impermanent/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Touch my mind and I will open my heart, play with it and I will shut you out. Be caring and persistent and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-brown/touch-my-mind-and-i-will-open-my-heart-play-with-it-and-i-will-shut/) [Sam Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-brown/) > [“It is one thing to have a mind that is open. It is quite another to have one so open that the birds can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-bowden/it-is-one-thing-to-have-a-mind-that-is-open-it-is-quite-another-to/) [Oliver Bowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-bowden/) > [“Homeschooling is a journey not a destination, always seek to improve what you are doing and teach with a mind that is open to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tina-razzell/homeschooling-is-a-journey-not-a-destination-always-seek-to-improve/) [Tina Razzell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tina-razzell/) > [Miracles are happening all the time, but if your eyes aren't open and your ears aren't open and your mind's not open and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/miracles-are-happening-all-the-time-but-if-your-eyes-aren-t-open-and/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [To feel the love ,u need a heart and the eyes of your mind to be open](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coralia/to-feel-the-love-u-need-a-heart-and-the-eyes-of-your-mind-to-be-open/) [Coralia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coralia/) > [Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don't know about. Limit your 'always' and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-poehler/try-to-keep-your-mind-open-to-possibilities-and-your-mouth-closed-on/) [Amy Poehler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-poehler/) > [“If your mind is open to opposing ideas, your intelligence will go up. If”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-t-kiyosaki/if-your-mind-is-open-to-opposing-ideas-your-intelligence-will-go-up-if/) [Robert T. Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-t-kiyosaki/) > [Breathing meditation can quiet the mind, open the body, and develop a great power of concentration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/breathing-meditation-can-quiet-the-mind-open-the-body-and-develop-a/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [A person who has power has an open mind. Their mind is open and they can see on other levels. Seeing is a quality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/a-person-who-has-power-has-an-open-mind-their-mind-is-open-and-they/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [If the mind is open the individual will soon perceive the preciousness of a truth which initially appeared rather dull to him but now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/watchman-nee/if-the-mind-is-open-the-individual-will-soon-perceive-the/) [Watchman Nee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/watchman-nee/) > [“An open mind with an open hear opens doors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alin-sav/an-open-mind-with-an-open-hear-opens-doors/) [Alin Sav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alin-sav/) > [Education turns an empty mind into an open mind. It turns information into behavioural transformation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shiv-khera/education-turns-an-empty-mind-into-an-open-mind-it-turns-information/) [Shiv Khera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shiv-khera/) ## More by Bridget Riley > [It is important that the painting can be inhabited, so that the mind's eye, or the eye's mind, can move about it credibly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/it-is-important-that-the-painting-can-be-inhabited-so-that-the-mind-s/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I work with nature, although in completely new terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-work-with-nature-although-in-completely-new-terms/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [It was only after I had been out of the art school that I actually copied a small Seurat, and I copied it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/it-was-only-after-i-had-been-out-of-the-art-school-that-i-actually/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [Painters have always needed a sort of veil upon which they can focus their attention. It's as though the more fully the consciousness is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/painters-have-always-needed-a-sort-of-veil-upon-which-they-can-focus/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [An artist's early work is inevitably made up of a mixture of tendencies and interests, some of which are compatible and some of which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/an-artist-s-early-work-is-inevitably-made-up-of-a-mixture-of/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [If you can allow colour to breathe, to occupy its own space, to play its own game in its unstable way, it's wanton behaviour,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/if-you-can-allow-colour-to-breathe-to-occupy-its-own-space-to-play/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [The word 'paradox' has always had a kind of magic for me, and I think my pictures have a paradoxical quality, a paradox of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/the-word-paradox-has-always-had-a-kind-of-magic-for-me-and-i-think-my/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [An artist's failures are as valuable as his successes: by misjudging one thing he conforms something else, even if at the time he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/an-artist-s-failures-are-as-valuable-as-his-successes-by-misjudging/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [His failures are as valuable as his successes: by misjudging one thing he conforms something else, even if at the time he does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/his-failures-are-as-valuable-as-his-successes-by-misjudging-one-thing/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [The actual basis of colour is instability. Once you accept that in lieu of something which is stable, which is form, you are dealing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/the-actual-basis-of-colour-is-instability-once-you-accept-that-in/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [In my earlier paintings, I wanted the space between the picture plane and the spectator to be active. It was in that space, paradoxically,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/in-my-earlier-paintings-i-wanted-the-space-between-the-picture-plane/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [Painting is, I think, inevitably an archaic activity and one that depends on spiritual values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/painting-is-i-think-inevitably-an-archaic-activity-and-one-that/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I never make studies from nature. They would get in the way. I make use of my mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-never-make-studies-from-nature-they-would-get-in-the-way-i-make-use/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I used to build up to sensation, accumulating tension until it released a perceptual experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-used-to-build-up-to-sensation-accumulating-tension-until-it/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I learned from Seurat this important thing about colour and light, that 'a light' can be built from colour. I learned a great deal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/i-learned-from-seurat-this-important-thing-about-colour-and-light/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) [Explore all 29 Bridget Riley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) ## More Conscious quotes > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [Woman, in short, has an unconscious life, man a conscious life, and the genius the most conscious life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/woman-in-short-has-an-unconscious-life-man-a-conscious-life-and-the/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-a-negro-in-this-country-and-to-be-relatively-conscious-is-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [If you are not conscious of all of the different parts of yourself, the part of yourself that is the strongest will win out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-zukav/if-you-are-not-conscious-of-all-of-the-different-parts-of-yourself/) [Gary Zukav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-zukav/) > [One of the noblest words in our language is "grace," defined as "unearned blessing." We live by grace far more than by anything else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-elton-trueblood/one-of-the-noblest-words-in-our-language-is-grace-defined-as-unearned/) [D. Elton Trueblood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-elton-trueblood/) > [Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/repugnant-is-a-creature-who-would-squander-the-ability-to-lift-an-eye/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a conscious choice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wilcock/the-goal-of-the-creator-is-for-each-entity-to-make-a-conscious-choice/) [David Wilcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wilcock/) > [I know one thing: that you can do a lot of things but if you don't educate people into conscious anarchism it gets frittered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-bookchin/i-know-one-thing-that-you-can-do-a-lot-of-things-but-if-you-don-t/) [Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-bookchin/) > [All black people who are even minimally conscious, black people who have ever experienced Europe's technological power crusading in the vanguard of a civilizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-nkosi/all-black-people-who-are-even-minimally-conscious-black-people-who/) [Lewis Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-nkosi/) > [ A mind conscious of right laughs at the falsehoods of rumour. \[Lat., Conscia mens recti famae mendacia risit.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/a-mind-conscious-of-right-laughs-at-the-falsehoods-of-rumour-lat/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [I don't think my paintings are self-conscious but you feel the consciousness of them. Without them being self-conscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-schnabel/i-don-t-think-my-paintings-are-self-conscious-but-you-feel-the/) [Julian Schnabel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-schnabel/) [Browse all 3,716 Conscious quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I work on two levels. I occupy my conscious mind with things to do, lines to draw, movements to organize, rhythms to invent. In fact, I keep myself occupied. 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