Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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January 26, 2010

Watering Ideas at the Reflecting Pool

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:42 am

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A Guest Post by
Pamir Kiciman

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Browser tabs are great. Emails, tweets and feeds update so you can switch tabs and see what it is. But what happens when you switch in the middle of a juicy post, mindmap or other creative jaunt? You break continuity at the mercy of an insatiable beast. And breaking continuity can spell disaster for your output.

Ideas are ephemeral. The act of putting them down is a way of preserving them. The mind already computes at high speed and distraction is just too easy. I often wish I didn’t know about ALT-TAB (I’m a PC) which easily switches this in-progress Google doc to that third-party app which just dinged!

After all, it’s the real-time web and it HAS to be important.

What was I saying?

Ideas and the Mind

Fortunately the mind can be harnessed. In fact its real power becomes available only when it is. Why? Because the mind is layered and each layer has its own fluctuation. To get to the layer where ideas are generated, surface fluctuations have to be stilled.

Say you’re a diver and your favorite body of water is very turbulent one day, so you don’t go in. On another day conditions are perfect and you dive. When you do, you find treasures that couldn’t be seen from the surface.

The mind’s fluctuations are called brainwaves. There are four basic brainwaves: beta, alpha, theta and delta, each with its specific cycles per second. Brain states are a combination of these with one or two emphasized depending on the state.

Delta is sleep, but also the deep unconscious (darkest ocean depths). Theta is serene, meditative awareness (depths sunlight penetrates). Alpha is relaxation and comfort (floating atop gentle currents). And beta is conscious functioning in the world (driving to the ocean).

Some ocean creatures that live where sunlight doesn’t reach have bioluminescence which is a wonder to see. The unconscious (delta) may be dark but it stores treasures. In theta we access some of that, and all our creativity. Alpha relates to fantasy and visualization. Beta is logical thinking, problem solving and external attention.

Trouble with beta is that too much of it leads to a churning of unfocused thoughts. And without alpha there isn’t creative recall, for alpha is the bridge from reflection to output.

Single-tasking is actually a form of reflection. The reflective mind is concentrated and unified, making use of logical processes and intuitive ones. To produce anything, everything has to move in the single direction of that thing. Multitasking is like being a jack of all trades, but master of none.

Flowing with Ideas

An idea won’t reach fruition unless you engage the “reflecting pool.” You may not even craft the idea at all. For example, “attentional-blink” happens when two pieces of information are given in rapid succession and the brain doesn’t process the second one because it’s still thinking of the first. You have to flow with an idea and follow it.

The reflective mind is a flow state, which can also erect a dam so an idea can concretize. Often reflection takes place best at times other than the moment of creation. In fact, it’s way of life, an orientation. Your accumulated reflections establish a resource from which you draw at the time of production. There’s in-the-moment reflection too, but without a cultivated well this dries up fast.

Inner and outer stillness engenders reflection, and dipping daily into an alpha-theta state solidifies it. Really good ideas are submerged. The inmost layers of the mind will gladly let them surface but you have to be present. If you’re gasping for oxygen in the infostream, you can’t be present.

There are some apps below to ‘force’ reflection and one-pointedness, but in the end this is an internal discipline that must be developed. Interiorizing the mind is where ideas are watered. Here are some ways to do so:

I’ll be monitoring this space so please use comments to give your input and ask questions so we can dive deeper together.

Useful apps:

—-
Pamir Kiciman, BA, RM, CHt is a Classical/Original Usui Reiki Teacher, Meditation Coach, Healer. He writes at the Reiki Help Blog. You can find him on Twitter as @gassho.

Thanks, Pamir! I’m going to take my time exploring those tools!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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14 Comments to “Watering Ideas at the Reflecting Pool”

  1. January 26th, 2010 at 9:04 am
    bencurnett said

    Thank you for the post, Pamir.

    It’s helpful for me to think of concentration as a muscle. It has a finite supply of work it can do before it gives out.

    I can walk up one flight of stairs easily, but after 10, my legs are starting to burn. After 20, I have to stop and rest.

    Likewise, I can concentrate on an idea. At first, the idea is powerful, and thoughts come naturally. Slowly, I lose interest and my mind wanders. It becomes harder and harder to focus on the idea, and eventually, I have to stop.

    Your bullets for “interiorizing the mind” remind me of a workout. The more I train, the better my concentration becomes.

    I’m curious as to what you might consider the upper limits of concentration. To use my metaphor (if you think it fits), what is the ultra-marathon of reflection?

    Thanks

  2. January 26th, 2010 at 9:20 am
    Kevin Fox said

    Thank you for giving an educated explanation. I find that if I go for a 5k run in the middle of my work day it makes a big difference. I can reflect as I run.

  3. January 26th, 2010 at 11:13 am
    Pamir said

    Thank you Liz. Ben & Kevin, I’ll be getting back to you when I’ve a little more time.

  4. January 26th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
    James said

    I can’t count the number of times I’ve been working on something and completely lost what I was heading toward after a distraction. I also think my attention span has lapsed in recent time. I think it might be good to use some of the techniques mentioned to help.
    Of course, none of it helps when your browser crashes before you save that post.

  5. January 26th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
    Rick Morgan said

    For me running, long showers and quiet walks all help reflect and create. Thanks for a post on which to reflect.

  6. January 26th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
    The Baum Group/Dr. Rae and Associates said

    Staying in the moment works for us :)

  7. January 26th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
    Pamir said

    @Ben: The brain is a muscle of sorts, but the wetwater we have is only the beginning. And concentration is a piece of it, but the post is really about reflection. As for the upper reaches of concentration, I’d have to say enlightenment, but let’s keep it practical here.

    I’m not sure there’s a continuous state that’s unbroken. That’s why it’s not so much about reflecting in the moment, but having an orientation of reflection. Then you’re able to dip into it again and again. In the mechanical model of muscle & exercise, tiredness is the outcome. If you have a well of inspiration fed by a spring of reflection, mechanical outcomes are moot.

    @Kevin: There’s no doubt that physical exercise has a settling effect on the mind. I don’t run so I don’t know what it feels like after say 1K, but being in that ‘zone’ is a form of reflection, yes.

    For me, it’s after the exercise that I get the real payoff. Endorphins are flowing, body tensions have been worked out, the mind is fresh and one is grounded. That settled feeling is perfect for reflection.

  8. January 26th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
    Pamir said

    @James: Attention spans do vary. Being passionate about what you’re working on helps a lot. More optimal states can be cultivated. It takes some practice but once you reach a certain plateau the next elevation is easier.

    @Rick: Those activities are conducive and even more so if you can carry over the state they create when you sit down to produce.

    @Dr. Rae: Staying in the moment is a lifelong practice. That is the ultimate solution. Our world isn’t designed for that though. Zen in work would be tremendously beneficial for the world, because then work would produce with values, rather than some of the other destructive ways work/biz produces these days. I hope I was able to inject some Zen for the person who’s in the trenches.

  9. January 27th, 2010 at 8:59 am
    The Baum Group/Dr. Rae and Associates said

    Thank you Pamir for your response.

    Re:”Our world isn’t designed for that…” Aren’t we the ones that have been and are designing this world?

    Acceptance, accountability and action for this are the first steps to changing “…some of the other destructive ways work/biz produces these days.”

    We applaud you efforts in this regard Pamir, remembering always that staying in the moment without thought works wonders for us :)

  10. January 27th, 2010 at 10:06 am
    Pamir said

    @Dr. Rae: This is going off on a worthy tangent which I’m not going to prolong in this space after this comment.

    Of course we’re responsible. At the same time, a less fragmented way of life isn’t mainstream yet. There are forerunners, but in general “our world isn’t being designed” (edit) that way currently. Can we help trend it in that direction? Yes. Meantime, we work with the status quo.

    I always attempt a balance between the lofty and the practical. It’s laudable and vital to stay “in the moment without thought…” For the average person, or even the serious practitioner, this isn’t constant.

    The real culprit is discursive thoughts. Once those can be stilled to some measure, right thought/right action seems to be the best model. Otherwise there isn’t a reason to be embodied.

  11. January 27th, 2010 at 10:26 am
    The Baum Group/Dr. Rae and Associates said

    Thank you Pamir for taking your time to share your thoughts with us. We leave with this thought — we are “embodied” spiritual beings :)

  12. January 27th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
    Amanda said

    Thanks for the post! As much as I am a product of this generation that has infiltrated us with the technology that forces us to multitask, I am always trying to remind myself to slow down and let my mind work and ideas flow.

  13. January 27th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
    Arsene Hodali said

    Just wanted to help with the apps.

    Writer & Mind42 are great, but I think they can be better replaced with WriteRoom (http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom) & Mindmeister (http://www.mindmeister.com).

    Evernote is a great “external brain” app too (http://www.evernote.com)

    Hope that helps.

  14. January 27th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
    Pamir said

    @Arsene: WriteRoom is for Mac. Since Mac apps are well-known I listed some PC ones. Mindmeister looks good, thanks. I remember the first version of Evernote…endless tape & mine was looong. :)

    @Amanda: Kudos to you for reaching beyond your generation, taking the good & leaving the bad.

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