Just Stop and Think

What do all the mega influential people have in common? Einstein, Tesla, Musk, Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci.

A special something that the more time that passes the less and less we see of it.

They were all great thinkers.

You see, such a fundamental human skill is slowly dying out.

We are literally thinking less,

Something so basic; the ability to think, yet so many people don't, or worse, don't even know how to do it,

There are some answers only you can give, you have to find them, you can't just look them up,

You have to go deep in your conscience and look around, dust certain corners of your mind, take down a few spider webs here and there, maybe you have to decorate a room, or paint a wall,

This is all metaphorical talk yet if I were to ask you;

How's the environment in your mind? Is it a friendly one?

If your mind were a room what would it look like?

Could you answer these questions?

Or even just stop for a bit and spare a thought.

Modern Day

You see nowadays we are surrounded by screens, nothing new for us, yet the problem stems from exactly that,

Because the screens always have our attention our mind is always occupied, and since our mind is occupied then it cannot conceive new things,

The mind is there to create you see,

Imagine you're on the bus or you're waiting in line at a coffee shop and your phone is dead, no battery,

It can't help you fight the boredom of waiting,

THERE your mind will start to work, it is when the mind is bored that it will start to invent, to come up with things on it's own,

Why do people get light bulb moments in the shower?

Cause they're not distracted, they're doing a normal activity, and even if you don't realise it, the brain is still working, that's why sometimes all of a sudden you'll get a million dollar idea when you aren't doing anything interesting, the brain will try to come up with it's own entertainment.

Sometimes when I need to come up with an idea or take a decision I literally grab a chair and stare at the wall, or at the moon,

I call it Thinking Time, you can call it reflecting or whatever you want,

But don't you see, like that the brain has time to think, you're forcing it to work.

And besides, it's less demanding on the brain to be bored than to look at your phone or at the TV, these literally zap your energy,

That's why sometimes when you want to wind down and you play some video games you feel worse after, you feel even more tired than you were before,

It's cause screens are not restful for us, they are stressful for our bodies,

FUN FACT : There used to be a great inventor, Mr Elmer Gates who used to get paid just for coming up with ideas for companies. He had a designated room in his house just to think.

What You Can Do!

If someone asks me 'How do I get better at thinking?' I'd suggest they do this exercise;

Grab a chair and sit, simple as that,

Maybe grab a notebook to write down some ideas,

Or a cup of tea,

Something to help you relax (I usually get in my pyjamas),

Don't force your brain to think, just let it be,

Let go and let ideas come to you.

This simple exercise of just sitting and thinking will help you in so many ways,

     1. You'll become more aware and in control of your thoughts so you won't be bullied by your brain anymore,

     2. Your cognitive thinking will get better, the simple stuff like reading, listening, paying attention, learning, all those aspects will improve,

     3. Complex thinking will also drastically improve as you'll naturally ask yourself questions and so you'll find the answer yourself just like a join the dots exercise from when we were kids. That's critical thinking, objectively looking at some facts and being able to come up with outcomes.

Critical thinking is how good you are at making a whole out of just parts

I've also noticed that when I do this exercise I have deep thoughts, not just when doing it but even when I'm doing everyday routine stuff. It trains your mind so that your deep thinking is better.

As I said this exercise has helped me when I need to take a decision.

It has also helped me when I need to come up with an idea for whatever I need at that time (usually work) and in general helped me reflect on myself and on certain experiences, like whether I took the right decision, what went wrong, why and what I can learn from it. 

Occasionally it has even helped me relax as I have a lot on my mind and need somewhere to dump it.

I recommend you start doing it at least semi-regularly.

You'll feel a big difference.