Insight vs. Figuring Things Out

I had a conversation yesterday with a client who came to me as a very successful person, but who dealt with a lot of dread.

As we talked, we began to discuss the nature of dread, and that dread is a thought, not a real thing. The more we looked in that direction, the more ideas came to us about the tasks being dreaded. And suddenly there was an opening in the cloud of dread for inspiration, fun and creativity.

And there was an almost instantaneous desire to get to work on the task that had previously been something to avoid.

That is how true insight works.

It is sometimes called an Ah Ha moment. Some call it an idea out of nowhere. I experience it as something so new showing up that it takes my breath away or makes me giggle.

Most of us, particularly the accomplished, successful ones of us, have a level of pride in our intellectual ability.

We are good at solving problems and at figuring things out. However, this is never going to bring anything new to the table. Ask any true creative and they will tell you that new art comes from nowhere; it just shows up. That is true for all of life, by the way. When we are distracted by something, or are doing a physical task like gardening or walking, we often allow our minds to soften.

We notice more, we hear more, and we are in a state of no intellectual thought. And suddenly, ‘out of the blue’ comes a solution or an idea that is so exciting we will never forget it. All the circumstances surrounding that new idea suddenly shift to accommodate the new thinking, and it’s as though we have found the missing link or piece to the puzzle.

Sydney Banks called this well of unlimited intelligence Divine Mind.

Some people call it Life Force Energy, God, or Wisdom. It is a pool of all the intelligence that ever was or will be, just waiting for us to invite it to be known in our very circumstances, now. And that takes a quiet mind.

Many, many years ago, I was told a true story about a medical device company whose engineers would occasionally get stuck with a particularly vexing issue in engineering one of their new designs.

They had a secret weapon, though, in the form of a very, very tall employee who, by his own admission, was geeky and a bit awkward at everything he did. He was not an engineer. But he had a particular gift that had been so reliable that the company paid him a 6-figure salary in the 1970’s. Here is how his gift worked.

He would listen to the engineers describe the stuck issue.

He would ask enough questions to feel like he knew the dilemma, then he would go home, and take a warm bath in his custom-built, huge tub. And invariably as he relaxed in the warm water, the solution would pop into his mind. This went on for years, as I understand it, and was almost infallible. What was going on? He KNEW and TRUSTED that the answer would come to him if he relaxed and waited for it to appear. And it always did.

A warm bath is not required, but there is a way that your mind quiets.

It might be listening to music, gardening, driving, or cooking a meal. Whatever it is, if it reliably returns you to a calm perspective, try that, and trust that something new to consider will show up in time. And when it does, consider it. Do not immediately discard it because it does not fit your ideas of what might work! And try this when planning your holidays this year. You may just be able to enjoy your holidays in a new and fun way.