Say you are in a brainstorming session at work, and everyone’s ideas sound fantastic save for yours. You’ve spent more time on the project than anyone else, yet for all your thinking, your mind seems to have left the premises. Later that night on your drive back home, the ideas pop back in your head, one by one. Don’t be frustrated it didn’t happen any sooner; your brain just found some time for itself.
“We say ‘an idea just came to me’, but that idea did not just come to you, it has been forming for days, months or even years,” Dr Upasana Gala, Neuroscience PhD holder and founder of mental wellbeing centre Evolve Brain Training in Dubai, told Gulf News. “Eventually when your brain comes across a problem, it might be able to come up with a solution.”
We say ‘an idea just came to me’, but that idea did not just come to you, it has been forming for days, months or even years.
Some of our best thinking is done in the shower, too. Have you ever wrung your brain dry at a problem, only to have a ‘Eureka!’ moment when shampooing your hair? You had the answer all along; it was just a matter of letting your mind arrive at it – slowly.
So stop feeling guilty about daydreaming, experts tell us, since it’s the easiest way to let the creative juices flow. The catch? There is a healthy way to go about it, and some of us are not going to like it.
‘We’ve lost the ability to be bored’
People who are creative are not the smartest of the lot. The difference lies in their ability to connect the most important networks of the brain, at the same time, finds a 2018 study published in the peer-reviewed journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
One of the networks that the creative brain taps into, happens to be the default mode network. It comes alive whenever we space out or daydream. This is where we invent novel ways of doing something, and also when the brain gives out theta waves.
What happens in the world today is that we’ve lost the ability to be bored. We’re not letting the brain process information and think of novel ideas.
“In theta mode, a daydreaming state, the brain starts making connections between whatever it has processed in the past few days to years,” said Dr Gala. “What happens in the world today is that we’ve lost the ability to be bored – if we’re standing in line waiting for our coffee, we look at our phones, constantly bombarding our brain.
“We’re not letting the brain process information and think of novel ideas.”
The answer is not multitasking
Let’s try an exercise. How many times did you check your phone today, while you were working on something else? The device conveniently sits next to you throughout the day, pinging every now and then, and you’re gladder still for the distraction.
Sometimes that diversion takes the form of music, a game on your phone or even a book on the go. Playing through an entire album as you reply to emails might offer momentary relief. But we wish the same could be said for our minds.
Our brain is not a happy multitasker, says Dr Gala, nor do these distractions help us zone out: “When you do things together, it’s constantly switching between the two tasks. We’re not being efficient during either.”
The divided attention slows us down. Taking a break from work does not mean piling on another activity. Rather, relax with a non-activity, something Dubai-based psychologist Dr Gallini Gallini calls a ‘healthy distraction’.
How do I do nothing?
A healthy distraction can be anything from a walk in the park to staring out the window, watching the cars pass by. The mind is still busy shooting off neurons, but it also has a lot less to process now. Mindless tasks, ones where our bodies seem to be moving on autopilot, are the key to reaching that pool of creativity.
“It’s healthy to distract ourselves from time to time. If Nature makes you happy, then go to the seaside. Even a power nap from 10 to 15 minutes will really help,” Dr Gallini told Gulf News.
It’s healthy to distract ourselves from time to time. If Nature makes you happy, then go to the seaside. Even a power nap from 10 to 15 minutes will really help.
Dr Gala makes it a point to take out an hour in a week “to de-stress and not actively do any task or consume any media”. If there is a nagging problem, she lets it sit in her mind but doesn’t consciously think about it. It’s even helped her come up with an idea for an online workshop, during the long lockdown period in 2021.
“What you can do is practice ‘boredom’ 30 minutes a day – don’t do anything, don’t read anything,” advises Dr Gala, adding that even a little bit of procrastination helps complete a task more creatively.
‘I survive on distraction’
It could be a phone distraction for some, a mental relief for others. People crippled with anxiety constantly look for ways to dull the voices in their heads. Dr Gala says such clients of hers often face a creativity block, because they cannot think beyond their restless state of mind.
“You have to address the anxiety first before you can go into daydreaming mode, or else it’ll be counterproductive,” she said. “I’d tell them to try yoga or some breathing techniques.”
Next time there is a looming task ahead of you, take a power nap, go cloud watching or vacuum the entire house. Your mind definitely has your back.
