189) Creative Realizations Come When the Brain Is Relaxed…

  1. Creative Realizations Come When the Brain Is Relaxed, Solitary, Peaceful-So Schedule Daydreaming into Your Days We have introduced meditation in this book, which is one highly recommended method of letting your brain go a little. Daydreaming is another way to pay close attention while you relax and find peace. Daydreaming is also a great way to solve problems. Setting aside ten minutes a day to daydream is a meditation in itself. Staring at an outdoor scene is really not very different from closing your eyes or gazing at a candle. If your mind starts wandering, just come back to the breath and the scene. You're not stopping daydreaming, just using this method to observe daydreaming. See what happens when you embrace the art of daydreaming. Try to see and feel your surroundings, or close your eyes and relax your breathing. Let this shift your brain into its nerve-connective symphony.

— from The Mind in the Cockpit

In the book

And cultivate insight, the slow system's reward. Insight is an unexpected shift in the way you understand something — the sudden click when a known thing connects to a new one. You cannot force it by gripping harder; the great realizations tend to arrive when the brain is relaxed, solitary, and at peace, which is why you should actually schedule the daydreaming and the walks. Reflection is the machine that turns raw experience into insight — experience alone teaches nothing; reflected-upon experience teaches everything. […] Watch your emotions as they rise and name them in the moment, which slips a sliver of space between the feeling and whatever you do about it. Schedule the conditions for insight. Since the best realizations arrive when the mind is relaxed and unhurried, build in the walk, the shower, the daydream; and turn experience into wisdom by actually reflecting on it, rather than just accumulating it. Adopt the growth mindset deliberately. Learn to hear the voice of the fixed mindset — you can't, you're not good enough, don't risk looking stupid — and answer it with the word yet. — The Mind in the Cockpit

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