Let Your Mind Wander for Your Next Aha
Posted: June 20, 2009, 02:07 PM by Leslie Grossman
First, thanks for all the great comments on my last blog about the letting the joy of our personal lives interrupt our businesses. And I can't wait to hear more about Judy George's latest exciting venture in home furnishings that she shared in her comments... which leads me to today's blog. After a personally crazy week of the WLE Fort Lauderdale conference (wow, what great S. Fl women), a DC Advisory Board meeting of the extraordinary Center for Women's Business Research and 9 hours of flight delays due to weather, I am experiencing some R&R at the Turning Stone Lodge, Verona, NY (where WLE held its most recent business offsite) with husband in tow. After all, he deserves to see me once in a while. Turning Stone is beautiful, simple and tranquil. Coincidentally, today's Wall St. Journal featured an article: "A Wandering Mind Heads Straight Toward Insight" by Robert Lee Hotz. You've got to read it. You can access it at: online.wsj.com. Finally a really good reason to stop working and let your mind daydream. The article provides evidence that some of the biggest ideas and solutions have come from emptying one's mind and NOT focusing. To quote 2 paragraphs from the article: '"People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty," says cognitive neuroscientist Kalina Christoff at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who reported the findings last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As measured by brain activity, however, "mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem." She suspects that the flypaper of an unfocused mind may trap new ideas and unexpected associations more effectively than methodical reasoning. That may create the mental framework for new ideas. "You can see regions of these networks becoming active just prior to people arriving at an insight," she says.' So if this article is right....and I'm hoping it is. I'm in the right place to do the "work" of daydreaming. How about you? Why not take some time off this weekend...and just sit and let your mind go blank. Let's all see what comes up!
Reader Comments
Posted: July 15, 2009, 07:29 PM by Marlene Leff
I wanted to share my thoughts about the seminar in Philadelphia sponsored by IKEA for WLE. This was my first experience and a wonderful one. I am a WBENC woman in the Employee Benefit business which has been traditionally a man's industry. My stories of being a woman in this field are varied and for another time. We wanted to say the seminar was organized, exciting, educational and a worthwhile morning. You may notice, when ever smart, articulate women are gathered the energy is sensational. My last comment is that as women, our minds as we wander, should consider doing business with other women in whatever field or industry we are considering purchasing services or products. Just imagine, never needing referrals, making cold calls, or having dynamic clients to call on, in a perfect world, this is what could be accomplished, if we as business women, decided to do business with other women and forgot the word, my guy. When I looked around the room at all these sensational women with so much to offer these were my wandering quiet thoughts.
Share your thoughts.
Marlene Marlene Leff, Vice President, Sales
The Leff Company mleff@leffcompany.com
Posted: June 24, 2009, 01:41 PM by Name
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