How to Create More Revelations and Break Throughs

In this competitive world it would be great if we could spend eight hours coming up with revelations and breakthroughs. We could all be Bill Gates.

Some people are clearly better than others in tapping into their subconscious and getting the solution to burst to the surface in a revelation, epiphany, or aha! I get them now and then and am always very excited when I see the light.

Jacquelyn Wonder in “Whole Brain Thinking “ spells out how the mystery can be more organized or planned.  With the right routines, we can be accustom or train our minds to be more inventive more frequently.

We use our left brain and right brain hemispheres to solve different kinds of problems. If we can use both together or alternately, we can be more effective.

Real creative thinking might start with a process of left brain first where we define the problem. Then we want to move to right brain where we work on various alternatives whether they are useful or fanciful. This was labeled by Edward de Bono in processes he called “Lateral Thinking”

Then we want to move back to the left brain where we evaluate and judge the alternatives for a few or the best solutions. Then we move to the right brain again to integrate our thoughts and evaluations into the best possible solution to the problem we defined.

Revelations are most likely when we have spent time researching and working hard on a problem by developing research or writing out what is known. Then when the left brain is suspended, the right brain will often see the whole picture, a pattern, a visualization, a thought or an inspiration.

These revelations often burst forth as a single sentence, thought or picture that might contain hundreds of words or even thousands of pages behind the one quick visualization.  One guru that was teaching commercial real estate agents how to be more effective sales people said he received all his hundreds of hours of lectures and exercises through one revelation.

I find my best revelations arise in the low hertz mental states of pre wake up theta brain wave state. In the sleeping delta wave state our brain waves are at .5-4 hertz. In the subconscious theta states that we experience before waking, in meditation, or in very relaxed activities often with the eyes closed we are in the 4-8 hertz range. I often wake with the topic I am going to write about popping into my head in this stage.

At other times we might suspend the left brain thinking in more “brain less” activities like house cleaning, hobbies, gardening, or car washing. Some states we know suspend the left brain because they are rhythmic and monotonous like walking, running, dancing, swimming, and so on.

Marathon runners often report great revelations or even hallucinations.

Normal left brain hertz cycles are in the 14-22 range with over active and anxiety stages at 22-33 hertz and even short bursts over 33 hertz for memory consolidation and acute problem solving.  Very high stages of sustained beta can develop into the adrenaline over powering our dopamine as a side affect and result in ADD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Alcohol can also suspend the left brain and even though it throws us into the child like state of our right brains and makes us often more sociable, it doesn’t seem to give way to many useful revelations.

So we can create the atmosphere for revelations by giving our minds time to unwind while working on important problems. Staying up for 24 hours might help create research and facts that may solve problems begging for logical outcomes but is not likely to evolve into creative breakthroughs.

I follow the habits of many writers who know that creativity occurs in waves. We work at times we know we are most creative and usually set up the circumstances. Then when we are “burned” we get into other activities to give our left brains a rest.

I have several activities I engage in to refresh. After a morning session of writing and research I will go exercise, surf, or even just go to the beach (where I live) and read or look at the ocean. I will then return to do different work or less demanding routine work. In the afternoon I will again do something that gives me a break and try to come into more vigorous work in the evenings.

If you are working hard on something in which you need a “creative break through” or if this is an important part of your job, you need to schedule the “mind less” and the rhythmic activities to into your routine to get those “pops ups” that will hopefully solve your problem.