Here’s an interesting article about how our most creative, “aha” moments often come when
we allow our minds to wander. Backed by some interesting scientific research, the writer makes a distinction between solving a problem with insight and solving a problem analytically.
“People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty,” says cognitive neuroscientist Kalina Christoff at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who reported the findings last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As measured by brain activity, however, “mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem.”
My favorite quotes of the article are:
We often assume that if we don’t notice our thoughts they don’t exist. When we don’t notice them is when we may be thinking most creatively.
Also, I love this thought which I have heard in many other contexts:
Researchers determined, Insight does favor a prepared mind.
It seems that analytical thinking is crucial after all!
Apparently Brahms used to take a 2-hour walk every morning when he woke up. Nowadays, I think we would see such an activity as a frivolous waste of time, but I’d hate to think what we might have missed had Brahms stayed home and “worked” instead.
Yes, in our hurried world it seems that we don’t value those “silent” moments in which we actually listen to our thoughts, embracing the true and sifting out the damaging ones. I’d love to see what would happen if we composers could learn to value and prioritize those times.