The best ideas come to us when the brain isn’t trying.
Did you ever notice how your best ideas pop from nowhere during showers and you are tempted to keep a notepad in your bathroom so that you…
Did you ever notice how your best ideas pop from nowhere during showers and you are tempted to keep a notepad in your bathroom so that you don’t miss out?
Or when your creativity bulb has fused off, how a simple walk gives you a fresh perspective and helps you restart.
These are the moments when your brain has relaxed. It’s not actively working because showering and walking have been ingrained in our muscle memory.
Most cultures around the world have cultivated this idea and given a name to it. We will explore that later on but first, let’s dive into the actions that give you mindgasming ideas:
1. Showers
It’s a universal truth that the ideas that come to you during showers make you feel like a freaking genius. You just get this insane urge to just write it down somewhere so that you don’t forget it.
Kudos to our muscle memory, because sometimes you would be completely lost in your world and voila, you are showered and dressed.
2. Doing Dishes
The act of doing dishes is so methodical and therapeutic as if you are cleaning your mind along with the dishes. Everything has to be done in a systematic way. You separate the bowls and plates, you get in the process of repeating —
Rinise-Wash-Dry.
This is effective when the music is soothing and there’s a calmness around you.
3. Walking
Walking is like opening the floodgates of ideas. No matter how troubled life gets, walking helps you to think it through.
Showering, doing dishes or walking is still an act of doing, it just gives our mind a rest. But there’s an art of doing nothing. You might think well, what’s new about it? Time wasting isn’t an art.
Well, there’s a difference between not doing anything at all and mindlessly scrolling your phone.
You don’t give your brain the time and space it needs to process. And in this way, you lose yourself a bit.
Or let's say, you are way too productive and constantly in the mode of doing, doing, doing — you’re not allowing yourself to dive into the mode that will actually lead to the greatest creativity that you have.
And isn’t creativity that reflects a part of you? And if you can’t tap into that then what’s the point?
In many cultures, people cultivate this art of doing nothing.
1. Italian
In Italy, we have this saying of “la dolce far niente” that literally means ‘sweet doing nothing.’ I came across this phrase from the book, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s one of those books that gives you a fresh perspective to life when you feel confined.
2. Japanese
In Japanese, there’s a concept called ‘Ma.’ It signifies the space or emptiness in an artwork, architecture or conversation. It is believed that the pauses and emptiness in between actions and words enhance their significance and beauty.
3. Dutch
Niksen is the Dutch practice of setting aside time to do absolutely nothing. ‘niksnut’ the near cousin to ‘niksen’ actually means an individual who does nothing and doesn’t contribute to society. But in 2017 ‘niksen’ went into a rebranding when a journalist named Gebke Verhoeven published an article titled “Niksen Is the New Mindfulness”
It is awfully hard work doing nothing.
— Oscar Wilde
The miracle when you have completely given up and just relaxing and suddenly this all-winner idea comes to you, is nothing but the art of doing nothing.