How Can You Make Cognitive Cliffhangers Work For You?
Assembling A Life 3, Collage and charcoal on paper, 36cm x 26cm. Anne Kearney, 2021
This past summer, I hiked up Puigmal peak in the Spanish Pyrenees. And there at 2910 meters, gasping for air after the final steep ascent, I had an epiphany about how both Billy and the world might be saved from the Mind Flayer.
Those of you who have watched the Netflix series Stranger Things know that the creators are masters of the cliffhanger. The episode stays with you long after you’ve finished it as your subconscious mind mulls over possible story outcomes and occasionally sends your conscious mind questions and tentative conclusions that fan your desire to watch the next episode.
The human brain tends to hang on to unfinished business – and with good reason. The continual tapping of unfinished tasks on our attention can be annoying and stressful but it is also a good way to remind us of what needs doing. And having unsolved problems periodically bubble up to conscious thought can be distracting but it also gives us another crack at solving them.
In my last post, I wrote about how we can quiet the cognitive call of unfinished tasks and unsolved problems in order to keep from being overwhelmed.
But we can also use this ongoing cognitive activity to solve thorny problems by calling on our subconscious.
Subconscious Problem Solving
When we think of problem solving, we often think of directed and focused mental effort. We consider the problem, look at it from different angles, call to mind information that seems relevant, and try out different solutions. Often this strategy works great. But there are other times when this direct problem-solving process leaves us not only empty handed but with a headache.
At times like this, we might benefit from a subconscious problem-solving assist.
In psychology, the subconscious refers to all the quieter mental activity going on below our level of awareness. Because this activity is undirected and meandering it is free to follow tenuous connections and go in unexpected directions.
This exploratory cognition of the unconscious can connect ideas that the conscious mind considers unrelated – sometimes leading to “aha” moments or at least giving you a new way of looking at a problem.
“The essence of creativity is figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go beyond what you already think.”
Tapping Into Your Subconscious
One way to get your subconscious working on your problems is to cognitively activate the problem and then get your conscious mind out of the way.
I find free writing to be a particularly good way to get my mind thinking about a problem. I set the timer for about twenty minutes and simply do a stream of conscious brain dump using pen and paper.
If you don’t like writing, you could draw, do a mind map, talk out loud to yourself or someone else, make some bullet points, or simply spend time mulling the problem over.
Getting Your Conscious Mind Out Of The Way
Once you’ve got your conscious brain thinking, it’s time to get it out of the way. The idea is to push that cognitive activity into your subconscious background where it can have a gentle meander and perhaps discover something new.
The best way to get your conscious mind out of the way is to give it something else to focus on. The trick is to keep that focus soft enough that is interruptible in case your subconscious comes up with something interesting that is worthy of bringing to your attention. A riveting film, for example, isn’t going to do the job because it will capture your attention with a pull that is difficult to break.
How do you distract your conscious mind but not too much?
Take a Nature Break
Spending time in nature – whether it’s a local park or a mini green retreat on your terrace – is an ideal way to softly engage your mind. Humans, as a whole, tend to resonate with nature. Green leaves twisting in the wind, bird songs overhead, rhythmic ocean waves, and the smell of flowers all capture our attention without riveting it. In other words, our conscious mind is occupied but in a soft enough way that thoughts and ideas gaining traction in our subconscious can bubble up to awareness.
The key is to allow your brain to immerse itself by eliminating other distractions. Mute your phone, let your gaze linger, take in the world around you, and relax your mind.
Take a Walk
Famous and not so famous thinkers alike have found that walking can be a great way to solve problems. The physical act of walking (or of pushing oneself in a wheelchair) seems to keep part of the conscious brain distracted while leaving space for other thoughts to percolate and flow.
The same rule about leaving distractions behind applies here. If your goal is creative problem solving, walking is most effective when your phone is off, you are not chatting with another person, and you are walking in an area that doesn’t require you to be too vigilant.
While you’re at it, why not double up on benefits by walking in nature whenever possible?
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
There is a good reason that many people say, “I’ll sleep on it,” when confronted by a thorny problem or big decision. During sleep, the conscious mind rests and the subconscious has free reign.
Although there is no guarantee that you will wake up with a solution to your problem, sometimes the free-association of sleep can bring new ideas to light. At the very least good sleep can restore your mental energy and make it easier to focus your attention on the things that need doing.
The next time you are faced with a problem you just can’t crack, why not try taking advantage of your subconscious and your brain’s tendency to hang onto the unsolved? Afterall, why should Netflix be the only one to benefit from cognitive cliffhangers?
How do you work through problems?
What are your favorite ways of tapping into your subconscious?
Related Posts
