Would You Like to Be Inspired More of the Time?
Or
Two Uses of the Mind
Most people have had the experience of the feeling of overthinking. The feeling of forcing something into being or forcing a solution to a problem and not getting anywhere. It's a tight tension-filled feeling, like your skin is on too tight and you just need to get out or get a higher perspective. Often, I interpret that feeling as a need to double down on trying, on focusing, on getting into the details. As if pushing harder would cause inspiration to come.
I have found that the exact opposite is true. Inspiration and creativity come when we stop trying. Often people "give up on a problem" and the answer comes in the shower or just as they are falling asleep. I heard a story about a large corporation that used "management by ski lift". If an employee was stuck on a problem and not seeing possibilities, they would be encouraged to take the day off and go skiing. More often than not the answer they were seeking would come on the ski lift. It became a joke and an actual strategy within the company.
This is because there are two different uses of the human mind. They both have features and characteristics and reasons to use them. The problem is that we overuse one of these "modes" and try to force output from it that it's not designed for.
We don't commonly understand what these two uses of the mind are and how they work so we innocently misuse them. We expect new and fresh insight to come from grinding through memory and analysis of details. This is not where creativity lies.
The first use of the mind is our logical thinking brain. We could call this our personal thinking. It’s the collection of thoughts that we think using the Universal energy of Thought. This collection of thoughts creates how we perceive reality. Our thoughts become our perceptions. Is a sound loud? Maybe. I happen to know that if you think a sound is loud and annoying it becomes louder and more annoying in your perceptions. I do it all the time. This use of the mind is what we train in school, when we look to debate a topic, give five reasons supporting our decision, or when we want to do a repetitive task. It's very useful because if we had to figure out all over again how to open a door every time we encountered one it would take a lot longer to get around in our day. There are a lot of thought groupings we use to navigate our daily lives to make often repeated tasks (laundry) quicker. This use of the mind goes to our memory to access information and does it very quickly. How do I run the dishwasher? How does one drive a car? Do I like sweet and sour chicken balls or chop suey? (My vote is for the chop suey, every time).
The second use of the human mind is our connection to the energy at the heart of all life. Scottish mystic, Sydney Banks, called this energy of life "Mind" or "Divine Mind". It's the energy that sprouts acorns into oak trees, the energy that shines the stars, and the energy that beats our hearts. Everyone has experienced an idea just popping into their mind or inspiration that comes out of the blue.
It can be experienced in the very commonplace trying to answer a question, going quickly to our memory, and having nothing come up. Commonly, people respond to this experience by saying "I don't know" and looking for the answer outside of themselves. However, if we stay with our question or creative pursuit for longer and sit in the unknown. Stay with the "I don't know" feeling by holding it lightly. Get on the ski lift of Universal Mind.
This allows the second use of the human mind to kick in. It can seem slower than the first use or more subtle, quieter. The more you use it, the more obvious it gets. It's often talked about as something mysterious or esoteric. Intuition. I just knew even though I couldn't have. I don’t know how I knew; I just did. The story downloaded into my brain. The poem wrote itself. I relaxed and you know what? That music doesn't seem so loud and annoying anymore.
We vastly overuse the logical mode of the mind and vastly underuse the intuitive connected inspired use of the mind.
Our natural flow state uses this "mode" of the mind. Athletes. Writers. When you cook good food. Looking into a baby's eyes. We drop into our flow mode so often without noticing. When we enjoy something, savour something. All that is required is to notice where we are. Are we using our mind with a tight feeling in the body? Then we are likely trying to use the logical mind or personal thinking for a purpose it's not built for. Are we using our mind with a flow feeling? Then we are in our natural "second" use of the mind.
If you have access to small children you can watch them be present and flow along with ease as they play and explore in the world. Adults can also operate this way. We never lose it. Perhaps just get a bit out of practice. It's just there waiting for you.
With Love,
Sara Joy