Day Dreaming can lead to your next BIG IDEA !

Started by Samantha, August 13, 2010, 11:19:19 AM

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Samantha



Every business owner wants to think of themselves as hard working and focused. Daydreaming is better left to artists, most MBAs would say. But a wealth of scientific data says that a wandering mind can lead to the kind of insight, that “aha!” moment, that every entrepreneur hopes for.

 

George de Mestral was out walking with his dogs when the idea for Velcro hit him. And, today, some of the world’s most successful companies, like Google, let their employees spend up to 20 percent of their time thinking about whatever they want. Many use that freedom to let their mind wander, hoping to generate big ideas.  

 

When you’re awake, your mind wanders about 30 percent of the time, according to studies by psychologists from the University of North Carolina. Consciously you may be thinking about winning the lottery or scoring the winning run in your office softball league. But beneath the surface, your brain is often hard at work on big picture problems.

 

\"People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty,\" Kalina Christoff, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told the Wall Street Journal.  But after studying brain activity, Christoff found that, \"Mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem.\"

 

Samantha

While you’re zoned out, the brain activates what neuroscientists have identified as a “default network”. This area is especially active when people are reflecting on their personal experience or imagining the future, typical daydreaming preoccupations.

 

During complex reasoning, the mind switches to an “executive network”, which is better suited to pursuing immediate goals. This top down system is more efficient at rational problem solving, but unlikely to produce any unexpected breakthroughs.

 

Occasionally both areas of the brain will be active at the same time. This state is critical to generating that eureka moment. John Kounios of Drexel University looked at images of the brain at the moments before someone realizes the answer to a puzzle. What he found was a flash of activity from both the default and executive networks, almost as if the two were working in concert to produce the inspiration.

 

Jonah Lehrer, writing in the New Yorker, points to Joy Bhattacharya, a psychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London says he can tell when test subjects will solve a puzzle a full eight seconds before they arrive at the answer. A crucial clue was the appearance of alpha waves, which typically correlate with a state of relaxation.

 

There are lots of ways to foster this kind of creativity. Jogging, knitting or just doodling can relax the mind and set it off down a whimsical path. The trick, according to leading researcher Dr. Jonathan Schooler, is to be ready for a good idea when it comes.  

 
“For creativity you need your mind to wander,” Schooler recently told the NY Times. “But you also need to be able to notice that you’re mind wandering and catch the idea when you have it. If Archimedes had come up with a solution in the bathtub but didn’t notice he’d had the idea, what good would it have done him?”  

Ravi Varma

yep. many times my life\'s best and improving ideas came while i was lazing around or day dreaming while travelling

SaSirEkha

yeah. thats how newton got idea for those LAWS while day dreaming below apple tree

gauranggroups

Yeah, that\'s true. Even our own Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam has told every one to dream.

The reason for this is our subconscious mind knows most of the information available in the atmosphere. It\'s only our conscious mind doesn\'t know that. If we are able to relate both are subconscious and conscious, we can get answers for many of the things. That\'s why people are asking us to meditate. With proper meditation, we can achieve that. The meditation stage is called as \"Alpha Level\" or \"Zero Level\". At that time our brain pulse will be between 4 to 7 cycles per second. If we are able to take the control of that Alpha Level of our brain, we can do wonders.

This is why our ancient people used to say that most of the early morning dreams will come true. Coz during that time, our brain will be in that Alpha Level. Deep sleep is called as unconscious or REM(Rapid Eye Movement) stage. During the early morning before waking up, our brain will try to come from unconscious to conscious thru this subconscious. Hence we\'ll get more information from the atmosphere about our surroundings. That\'s why most of the early morning dreams are coming true. The same thing can be said for Day Dreaming as while sitting you cannot go to unconscious level. Hence mostly you\'ll be wavering between Alpha Level and Conscious Level.

By practicing proper and severe meditation, our old sages / siddhars / rishis have done wonders.
Thanks & Regards,
Gaurang

Whoever you are & whatever you do, if your attitude is not good you are just 'Nothing'.