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Have you ever been perplexed? Have you ever asked a question for which there was no answer? Have you ever needed to come up with an answer, only to find that nothing is coming? I know I have been there so many times, and I still end up there multiple times per day. Some questions are “bigger” than others; some are “tiny” questions, but they still need answering!
I think back to my younger days, when I enjoyed “dabbling” in electronics, specifically audio media. I loved to play around with making audio recordings, manipulating audio, and other experimentations. Sometimes I knew what I wanted to do with the audio, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it happen, especially with the limited resources I possessed. However, I learned early on that many times I would receive absolute clarity on the exact answer to my question in that short time between wakefulness and sleep at night. Over and over, it would happen again and again. I had a question and it would be answered as I was dozing off. The only problem was that many times I would not write anything down, so I had to struggle the next day to try to recall exactly what the answer was!
As I have matured, I have found other ways to bring out the answers to these questions, such as running, or doing any other sort of rather “mindless” activity. It appears that the key is just that — not pressuring yourself into finding an answer — rather, just letting the answer find you. What is it about “mindless” activity, or the period right before we fall asleep, that puts us in a position supremely “primed” to come across answers to such perplexing questions?
In his book Psychocybernetics, author Maxwell Maltz discusses this idea of coming up with answers to questions we cannot answer. He says, “when we set out to find a new idea, or the answer to a problem, we must assume that the answer exists already—somewhere, and set out to find it.” By setting the wheels in motion of assuming that the idea already exists, we enter a place mentally where we are priming the subconscious mind to grab onto it if it happens to pass through sometime in the future.
He goes on to say this: “If you really mean business, have an intense desire, and begin to think intensely about all angles of the problem—your creative mechanism goes to work — and the ‘scanner’ we spoke of earlier begins to scan back through stored information, or ‘grope’ its way to an answer. It selects an idea here, a fact there, a series of former experiences, and relates them—or ‘ties them together’ into a meaningful whole which will ‘fill out’ the incompleted portion of your situation, complete your equation, or ‘solve’ your problem. When this solution is served up to your consciousness—often at an unguarded moment when you are thinking of something else—or perhaps even as a dream while your consciousness is asleep—something ‘clicks’ and you at once ‘recognize’ this as the answer you have been searching for.”
But still, something has to be said about a person’s state of mind when they receive this sort of inspiration. What can be said about a person’s state of mind or consciousness when they get hit with the answer or inspiration? Thomas Edison famously took cat naps so that when dozing off he could find inspiration. I think the key here is what the conscious mind is doing (or not doing). It appears that if the conscious mind is active, it’s too “noisy” to allow the workings of the subconscious to rise to the surface. If we’re consciously concerned about this or worried about that, we are engaging in too much “forebrain” activity.
Maltz discusses this as well in his book, saying, “creative ideas are not consciously thought out by forebrain thinking, but come automatically, spontaneously, and somewhat like a bolt out of the blue, when the conscious mind has let go of the problem and is engaged in thinking of something else. These creative ideas do not come willy nilly without some preliminary conscious thought about the problem. All the evidence points to the conclusion that in order to receive an “inspiration” or a “hunch,” the person must first of all be intensely interested in solving a particular problem, or securing a particular answer. He must think about it consciously, gather all the information he can on the subject, consider all the possible courses of action. And above all, he must have a burning desire to solve the problem. But, after he has defined the problem, sees in his imagination the desired end result, secured all the information and facts that he can, then additional struggling, fretting and worrying over it do not help, but seem to hinder the solution.”
So, in other words, to solve the question that has no answer, here are the keys:
1. Tell yourself with absolute certainty that the answer does exist.
2. Have an intense, burning desire to find the answer.
3. Think about and study the problem intently, from many different angles, for a dedicated amount of time, creating a picture of what the solution would look like in the end.
4. Let it go and wait for it to come back to you.
5. Relax and just enjoy life.
And then maybe…Just maybe…You’ll find that solution to the question which has no answer. 🙂
Have you experienced this yourself? Have you been perplexed by a problem, only to have the answer strike you before sleep or “out of the blue?” I’d love to hear about it! Please share!
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Victor, I grew up believing that if we can identify the problem, we can also find the solution. I always feel positive and never give up until I find it. You are right about not stressing over it, as it blocks the thought process and wont let one progress.
As always, loved your post!
Vidya,
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it. I like your approach of staying positive. That’s a great bit of advice. I’ll have to use that. Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Have always loved Maxwell Maltz Victor. So cool to have you write about him! I use this technique when I’ve ‘misplaced’ something. I do the usual looking for it. Then I say…I’m thankful that I found it. And the surprising thing is a little while later when I’m not even thinking about it, I get a thought, and sometimes it’s about looking in a bizarre place where I can’t imagine I would have put the ‘lost’ item…but sure enough, there it is.
Great reminder that these techniques really do work. Good job you…as we say over the pond.
Love Elle
xoxo
I have come to “love” Maltz too. The problem is that I have to read everything so slowly because there is so much to get from his work. He always throws in these other resources too, so I find myself on a wild goose chase trying to find these other works that he references along the way.
Thank you for your kind words and sharing your experiences. 🙂