Noodling

by | Feb 11, 2013 | creativity

Have you ever wondered why we have so many of our good (even our best?) ideas in the shower?

There are quite a number of theories – that we’re by ourselves, that warm water somehow draws them out, that out-of-tune singing is good for thinking, that the negative ions a shower abounds in is conducive to creative thought – but my personal favourite is that we allow ourselves to daydream in the shower.

Answer honestly: When you are in the shower, how often are you actually there? Usually, I’ll wager, you’re somewhere else, having conversations in your head with that person who deserved the witty one-liner, planning your day, living in the past or the future. Wild scenarios where you 007 your way out of difficult spots, accolades for future greatness, riding a horse even though you never have, or living in France sometime last century… Or whatever your daydreams happen to be.

There is a very certain value in just allowing our minds to wander. When we noodle, or zone out, we allow ourselves to mull, to turn our thoughts over and over like pebbles in a pocket, to discover the ways that they fit together that we just couldn’t see with our everyday, analytical eyes. Relaxing our brainwaves down, our minds finally let go of all of the reins they’ve been holding and keeping track of, the horses we’ve been controlling stop, and suddenly decide that this is a very good field indeed for a browse.

The thing is, our daydreams are unique. They are our expanded selves, living it up and getting out in the only way that we allow them. If we follow the common thread in them, we find our truest selves. I don’t mean that you were meant to be a 007-type spy, living a life of daring adventure. I mean that in this scenario, there is a part of us that is daring, that can and will help us be brave when we need to be, so that we can get our best work out into the world. That part can be discovered by paying attention to our wandering minds. This article says it nicely!

I think that this is why for many, meditation is such a necessary part of our modern lives. For those of us who don’t allow daydreaming into our everyday lives, meditation is a sanctioned stopping-point that allows us a space in our day. It’s the daydreaming for the modern monkey-mind, giving it something to do while the rest of our brain gets on with the important work of processing and making important connections. Meditation means that we pay attention to our thoughts, even while we are keeping separate from them.

Basically, I think that daydreaming is a necessary sport for our brains. When all the knots are untangled, we can see ourselves more clearly, and a word or image forms and becomes a theme. Paying attention to these recurring themes, we can build an idea of what we are trying to express, and the right words will come.

If there’s a theme that recurs in your daydreams, pay attention. Your power lies there, no matter how insignificant it may seem on the surface.

Anger & Activism

I’m angry because Sinéad O’Connor is dead. I’m angry because she wasn’t looked after, when she should have been. I’m angry because all the effort; the pain; the raising of her voice; the effort to keep looking at the pain of the world when looking away would be...

Main Character Energy

I’ve been thinking lately about my life – must come with being in my mid-40s – and it occurred to me that I wasn’t giving myself main character status in my own life. I think that’s something that happens to a lot of people who are enculturated as women in our society...

Why defining your reader is crucial to writing a successful book 

You’ve got a message to get out there into the world. You know you need to write a book. Also? You know you need to have it done yesterday. This book needs to be out there, helping people, changing lives, making a difference, entertaining. It’s doing nothing while...

0 Comments

0 Comments

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. The different sides of stuck | Tamara Protassow - [...] on your keyboard, brain in a total fog… I think I have something from a while ago on daydreaming.…
Copyright © 2024 Company Name