For
as long as I can remember, I have been a devout daydreamer, and all
my father's efforts to knock such “time-wasting” out of my skull
proved futile. I can understand where he came from – daydreaming
has a bad reputation mainly due to a misconception about what's going
on in the daydreamer's mind. In my school days, a child caught
staring out the classroom window in school got rudely brought back to
earth with a well-aimed stick of chalk and was made the subject of
ridicule. Traditionally, daydreamers have been thought of as cosmic
slackers, but it's more than likely they’re exhibiting the
behaviour of innovators. While teachers recognise and applaud
“focused attention”, daydreamers like me are actively engaging in
a less-recognised but very creative learning milieu of “relaxed
attention.” I do most of my writing from this space.
Relaxed
attention lies somewhere on a scale between meditation, where you
completely clear your mind, and the laser-like concentration you
apply when tackling a tough logical problem. During relaxed
attention, a problem or challenge is simmering away in the background
of your brain. Our minds can make cognitive leaps when we’re not
completely obsessed with a challenge, which is why good ideas
sometimes come to us when we’re in the shower or taking a walk or
on a long drive, or anywhere else you might be relaxing. My daughter,
who has brain damage, is unable to speak. But at night, she has been
known to spontaneously ring for attention and speak quite lucidly.
Relaxed attention opens up huge possibilities. Look what happened to
Archimedes while he was taking a bath, and Newton when he was sitting
under an apple tree.
But
a lot of schooling has taken us away from unstructured play and time
engaging in arts—both prime opportunities for switching gears into
relaxed cognition—and toward more structured, standardised
curricula. In my experience, a focus on finding the single right
answer for a test instead of exploring many alternate solutions
results in “a significant decline in creative thinking. Using the
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), and a sample of 272,599
pupils in the USA (kindergarten to fourth grade), the results suggest
that the decline of unstructured thinking is steady and persistent,
hobbling teachers’ and pupils’ ability to think creatively,
imaginatively and flexibly.”
There
are a few things, though, that you and your school-age children can
do to enhance your creative capacity through engaging relaxed
attention:
+ Walk
away from the problem,
literally. As the philosopher-poet Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “All
truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” Whether it’s the
increased blood flow from exercising, or the emotional distance
gained by putting space between yourself and a problem, or something
else entirely, whatever it is, walking away works for me.
+ Carry
a notebook with
you at all times, even by your bedside. You never know when good
ideas will come. Having something nearby to jot them down ensures
they won’t be forgotten along the way.
+ Turn
your “snooze button” into a “muse button.” About
an hour before I plan to retire at night, I pose an unresolved
question I can be with overnight, then put it on the back or to one
side of my mental and emotional stove. I also use
those few minutes of half-consciousness every morning to let my mind
wander over problems I’ve been wrestling with during waking hours.
With some practice, you’ll start discovering fresh insights before
your first cup of coffee. I usually come to full wakefulness, busting
to get to the computer and get down everything that comes pouring out
from God-knows-where.
And
don't forget the notebook on your bedside table ready to take
dictation. Jot down anything that occurs, when it occurs. I've been
caught too many times thinking “I'll remember it later”. I rarely
do.
When
have you experienced the benefits of daydreaming?
[Lord
Sitar – Daydream Believer – 3:24]
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