Right Brain Creativity & Idle Boredom
This picture reminds me of being still and just letting my mind wander. Or rather, it reminds me of the opportunity to do that. While I know I can do it anywhere, really, this seems like a way nicer place to be one with my thoughts.
I was reading a book the other night: The 4% Fix, and came across this passage:
“Have you ever had a brilliant idea or solved what felt like an unsolvable problem in the shower, or just before falling asleep, or maybe when you’re sitting alone in nature? The quietness and stillness of your mind during these types of activities allow for thought processes that couldn’t get through the noise before.”
All the time! I underlined the whole paragraph, wrote “mind blown” and immediately texted a friend about it. I laugh because it’s a bit of a joke with my friends that if I call them and say, “I just got out of the shower,” then they know I’m about to tell them about some great (in my mind anyway) idea that I just had. I never knew why that was my golden time, I just accepted it and encouraged myself to take more showers (2-3 day is reasonable, right? Most of the time, it’s more that I’m cold so I want to try to warm up and not that I am trying to have great ideas).
The paragraph is part of a chapter titled “Dare to be Idle.” I read that title and laughed, thinking, she has no idea how idle I’ve been during Covid. As I read through, I realized she was writing this book during Covid, so in fact, maybe she did know what she was talking about.
Immediately preceding the passage above, she writes:
“Perhaps instead I should have spent that weekend slacking off – which, according to a 2014 paper (‘Doing Nothing and Nothing to Do: The Hidden Value of Empty Time and Boredom,’ by psychoanalyst Manfred Kets de Vries) may be ‘the best thing we can do for our mental health.’ Kets de Vries says that during periods of inactivity (slacking off counts), the right hemisphere of our brain, which is the workhorse for meditation, daydreaming, creative endeavors, and imagination, has the opportunity to express itself. While we’re busy doing all the things, our left hemisphere is especially occupied with managing logic, analytical thought, reasoning, and language, and so it calls on the right hemisphere to lighten the load. When we are idle, or bored, the left hemisphere is less needed and the right hemisphere seizes its chance to shine.” (p. 195)
So, there is science behind my shower brilliance. Who would have thought? I started thinking, if it’s the quiet stillness, and not the glorious hot water that elicits my creativity, can I create that situation in different ways. While I find no issue with taking multiple showers a day, it likely isn’t the best means to wider-spread creativity for me.
How else can I quiet my mind to create opportunities for my right brain to shine. I’ve never thought of myself as creative (see this post), and never considered it was a matter of shutting up my very active left hemisphere so that I could hear the much quieter right one. Hmmm. I tried meditation for a little while, and (shocking to no one who knows me) I struggled with it, and never felt I did it well. I always thought I needed to have no thoughts, but what if I changed my goal from no thoughts, to quieting the logical, analytical thoughts and to not pushing out the other ideas, creativity or solutions. I’m not sure if I can do that, but maybe it’s worth a try. After all, I seem to be able to do it in the shower.
Brown talks about how we can’t seem to be bored or idle and I’d completely agree. We can not seem to focus on only one thing and I know I’m guilty. Why do I need to play Wordscapes when I’m watching a TV show? Surely, if the show is worth watching, it can hold my attention. There is a short Simon Sinek video where he talks about how we can’t be bored and gives the example of being in a restaurant and our dining partner takes leave to go to the washroom. Rather than simply looking around and being with our thoughts, we immediately pick up our phones. Guilty. Why can’t we let ourselves be idle and bored? I’m not sure I have the answer to that question (or if I do, it’s likely a whole new blog post), but maybe the question should be, “Can I practise being bored and idle?” Now that I know some science behind why it’s a good thing, and what can possibly come out of it, can I orchestrate other opportunities?
Maybe it’s taking a walk without music or a podcast? Possibly it is just sitting alone outside. I already try to get up earlier than my family and relish in the quiet, but I am generally journaling, reading or generally doing. Perhaps I could just sit wrapped up in my blanket and let my mind go. I’m not generally a let my mind be empty and go kind of person, but I think it’s time to try. I never know what might show up, and if it might be my next great idea.
Learn more about The 4% Fix by reading my Book Review on my Resources page.