For a long time, I have been encouraging students to improvise. In doing so, I find myself trying to describe how improvisation feels, and what kind of things need to happen in your mind. It is an interesting pursuit. Not everyone feels drawn to it either...but then it is something you have to learn to do. To be off-the-cuff actually requires knowledge, experience, and preparation. In any case, here are some of my main points about the process.
You have to not think, while at the same time being awake and aware. This requires not being self-conscious. When you are engaged in this process, you ask your brain to concentrate fully and accept what is happening-- to work with what you've got.
It works best if you don't judge while creating. It is near impossible to judge your own performance accurately while playing, anyway. When you do start evaluating and or worrying how things might measure up, it is best to steer yourself back to the sound at hand.
Thinking of what to play can be a challenge, especially for beginners, but since it is all about playing a note and then another, that's about all you can do. As you play, further ideas will usually suggest themselves. Anyway, some boredom balances out excitement, and repetition makes possible the element of surprise.
By far, the best feeling is when your attention is totally wrapped up in the sounds and in the process. There are many terms for this-- getting in the game, the flow, the zone. As all these terms imply, this is a state that you must learn to evoke in yourself. This takes time, and it isn't always possible to get your notes whizzing and your mind at ease in every improvising situation. The important thing is that you act, going note by note, with intention and, I daresay, with passion.
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