
This may be part of the reason that when you bring a way to record your thoughts into the equation-such as a notebook, voice recorder or word processor-the thoughts worth recording become scarce. Even when resting or taking a break, anxious brains tend to obsess on linear solutions. This makes sense, because when you’re anxious you’re less likely to take a chance on creativity. Research has shown that your brain builds bigger creative webs when you’re in a positive mood. It’s not clear how your brain decides which are the right connections, but it’s obvious that the farther your brain can roam, the better. Shower thoughts aren't always attached to a specific problem, but fixation forgetting still helps psychologists like Kounios understand those random cocktails of revelation. Eventually, it finds one-or several-that click together and rise up like Voltron into a solution. The problem gets removed from the mental ruts and mingles with other ideas you're carrying in your head. “If you take a break however, those thought patterns no longer dominate your thinking,” he said. Kounios says these are like ruts that your mental wheels get stuck in. Like Archimedes, when you are working on a problem your brain tends to fixate on one or a few different strategies. It's called the default mode network.Īrchimedes emerges enlightened from his bath. There haven't been a lot of experiments on why we get random insights, but psychology does have a theory that describes a mental state that seems to foment these kinds of thoughts.
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It turns out that aimless engagement in an activity is a great catalyst for free association, but introducing a pen and paper can sterilize the effort.

They also happen to be activities where it's difficult to take notes.

Long drives, short walks, even something like pulling weeds, all seem to have the right mix of monotony and engagement to trigger a revelation. We all get these kinds of thoughts, and they don't just happen in the shower. Maybe it's the answer to a vexing problem at work, the location of your lost USB drive, or perhaps it's just a random, inconsequential (yet totally satisfying) insight.īut, by the time you towel off, the idea already has spiraled away down the drain. You've just started to lather up and suddenly, you're hit with a flash of brilliance. The water sounds like a gentle, rainy static, and feels like a Plinko massage.
