This quarantine is really giving our day to day routines a makeover. For starters, those working from home are able to enjoy a little more sleep. Since there is no long commute to work, or time spent looking spiffy, or even rush to get the kids out to catch the school bus, we are able to take advantage of our sleep like never before. We are not only getting more hours to dedicate towards sleep, but we are able to wake up differently than we ever have. For most people before the quarantine, people would hit snooze once or twice maybe and roll out of bed. They’d be in autopilot as they go to take a shower, or workout, or get the coffee started. During that first half hour of being awake, how much thought is being stimulated? How much brain power is really being used when we are in that autopilot mode? With our new routines, many of us are able to gradually wake up seeing how we have more time in the morning. And this is where I want to focus our attention on. This state of mind where we go from being asleep to waking up is extended longer than ever for us since we have more time to do it. If you’ve never noticed, be sure to try tomorrow morning. During this time, you may be back and forth between sleep and awake a few times, you may be delirious, or you may be in a dream like state while being awake. Our brains are so creative during this time, this is where some of our best ideas occur. The only problem is we forget them. How many times have you had a dream or an idea that you thought was the best idea you’ve ever had, but then forgot it. Too many times for me. This is exactly where I want to bring more of our attention to. And with us having more time in the mornings and being able to wake up gradually, we have more time to utilize this no limitation creativity.
There are a couple different ways I have noticed that help me come up with thoughts during this time. Let’s call it the mid dream state. This mid dream state is a beautiful state. It is where we aren’t fully conscious yet but, but incredibly creative dream like ideas are exploding in our heads. It’s just a matter of whether we can catch them or not. One way to take advantage of the surplus of ideas would be to write it down. I highly recommend this method. Have a notepad and pen next to your bed so you can easily transfer the ideas down on paper. I suggest not going into too much detail when you start writing down your ideas. Instead, write down key words so you can easily remember what the idea was. Getting too much into detail may bring you fully out of this state and lose your train of creativity that gave you the idea in the first place, making it difficult to sink back into the mid dream state. Keep the writing concise. Another way to harness the power of this mid dream state would be to simply bring your attention to it with practice over time. This is the method I prefer, but takes a little practice. I would suggest for beginners to start by writing down their ideas on paper first. This method works by just bringing your attention to this consciousness, but not trying to control it. If you have ever meditated, you will already know what it takes to utilize this method. During mediation, we are trying to clear our head and focus at the same time. That is exactly what we want to utilize during this mid dream state. We don’t want to become fully conscious, but we want to have a clear head. We don’t want to have control, but we want to be focused. This balance comes easier to those who’ve practice mediation before. The idea is to sit in the meditative balance of watching your thoughts go in your head without judgment. Judgement will lead to becoming conscious and shut down the creativity of your mind. Simply be. With practice you will get better at this over time. Watch your ideas come and go. Once you get good enough, you can even channel your mid dream creativity power on a specific idea or area of your life. By using a specific idea as like a mantra to this meditative state, you can channel you creative energy to the area you’re guiding it towards without hurting the mid dream creativity. Once you fully wake up, that is where you write your ideas down on paper. The reward of this second method is that you stay fully in the mid dream state longer and deeper, waiting until you come out of the state to write down your ideas. But like I said, this takes practice and it’s better to start of writing the ideas down as they come for most people.
You will get out of this state of mind eventually, but the point is that we have more time to focus on it now more than ever with our more relaxed wake ups and routines. We can really benefit from this mid dream state and these are two easy ways to utilize the surge in brain power during this time. Next time you get that great idea, do not let it just pass and convince yourself that you’ll remember it. You won’t. Make sure you write it down or meditate on it so you can be sure you’ll remember it.
Dabbl 