#12

When your mind wanders, where does it go? Do you try and stop it, or let it wander free?

Neuroscientist Dr Ben Shofty’s research confirms unchecked mind wanderings can lead to rumination where the same thoughts cycle endlessly, often contributing to depressive symptoms. What’s interesting is this mental state that can negatively impact our mental health “overlaps with the creative thought process”. This means mind wanderings can also lead to positive creative breakthroughs that have the power to bolster self-belief.

We’ve all been spellbound by an idea someone’s come up with or a thing they’ve produced, and professional creatives can learn to spark their creativity intuitively, even though the process is somewhat mystical. “It doesn’t originate from a specific area inside the brain,” says Dr Shofty, “but it originates from multiple brain networks sort of all of a sudden synchronizing to generate that unexpected function.”

“I think the common thing that happens whenever somebody is doing a creative process is that we have infrequent connection between two or more thought processes that weren’t meant to be connected. That’s when we get that sort of eureka moment when we are able to fuse two things, or more, that aren’t meant to be fused, and we generate something that is actually great. And to me, this is one of the most interesting things that the human mind sort of evolved and specialized to do.”

Whatever your brain produces in this magical moment? It’s distinct and unique to you.

That’s a superpower you can keep in your pocket for whenever you need a boost.

Listen to the whole interview with Dr Ben Shofty on The Creative Process podcast.

“Where do creative thoughts come from? How can we harness our stream of consciousness and spontaneity to express ourselves? How are mind-wandering, meditation, and the arts good for our creativity and physical and mental well-being?” Listen now

"Unexpected connections" on a green background
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