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Solve Tough Problems with a Brain Reboot

This is a guest post from Scott H. Young.

I’’ve spent a lot of time looking into different methods for solving problems and boosting my creativity. I’’ve come to the conclusion that meditation isn’’t just for the monks. You can use meditation for finding solutions to difficult problems, taking control of your emotions or rebooting your brain.

I’m not big into the fancy mantra’s and religious overtones often associated with meditation. Instead I like to focus on practical meditation to focus your thoughts and cut out distractions. Meditation may sound a bit too New-Agey for your tastes, but looking at it in a more practical light, meditation is similar to turning off unnecessary programs running in the background of your computer so you can devote more CPU power to a specific task.

How to Meditate
Meditation isn’’t hard to do, but it does require practice. When I first started using meditation I found it difficult to hold a visual scene for a length of time without allowing distracting thoughts enter. With patience I’’ve become better at holding my focus and cutting out distractions. Here is how I enter into a meditative state:

  1. Get into a position where you don’t feel discomfort but aren’t completely relaxed. I don’t bother with becoming a human pretzel. The importance is that you shouldn’t have distracting muscular tensions in your body that break your focus, but if you get too comfortable you may fall asleep. I usually sit upright on my bed or a pillow.
  2. Close your eyes and monitor your breathing. It takes a few minutes to enter a meditative state. Focus on breathing in and out and slowly lowering your rate of breathing. I can sometimes go to twenty seconds for a single breath. This not only eliminates distractions but it forces your heart rate down and relaxes your body.
  3. Once you’ve sufficiently slowed your breathing, start with some quick mental exercises. Run your focus around your body. Notice where you hands, feet, elbows and back are. Notice how they feel. In your relaxed state this will further sharpen your focus and drive out distractions.
  4. Finally try a few visualization exercises seeing how long and how clearly you can hold a picture, sound or sensation in your imagination. I find once I can hold an image for about ten or fifteen seconds with enough clarity, I move on to the purpose I had for the meditation.

This entire process of getting into a meditative state only takes me about five to ten minutes. If you want practice, try getting into a meditative state when you are going to sleep. It will help you relax and won’t take up any more time out of your day.

There are a number of ways you can use practical meditation:

Solving Tough Problems
One of my favorite ways to use meditation is to tackle tough problems. With daily distractions present, it can often be difficult to really think through an issue. Meditation can help eliminate those distractions and allow you to get some insight into what you already know intuitively.

Once you get into a meditative state, try to form a visual scene inside your head. If you are new to meditation keep the scene as simple as possible so you don’t get distracted arranging the details. In this scene, imagine you are talking to another person. It could be a friend, family member or someone completely from your imagination.

Now have a conversation with this person asking for advice on the problem you are having. Don’t think about what the other character should say, just imagine the conversation. You may be surprised at what this imaginary character comes up with. Because you are hearing the conversation before thinking about it, the answers you get are reflections of what you already feel but might not have been able to articulate.

Guiding Your Emotions
Another time I use meditations is when I’’m trying to get control over my emotions. Sometimes I use it to relax when stressed or cheer myself up when blue. The basic idea here is that by meditating you can give yourself enough distance from your emotions that you may be able to see around them.

The technique I use for this is that once I get into a meditative state, I focus on my breathing and watch my thoughts. Whenever I feel anything I make a mental note of that feeling. The process of observing your own emotions and acknowledging them gives you a bit of distance you wouldn’’t otherwise have.

Meditation isn’’t going to be a cure for your emotions, but it can give you enough distance to do something about them. If you are feeling lonely, meditating for a few minutes might give you enough distance from that mood to realize you need to go out and see friends. If you are feeling stressed, meditation may help you see more order in your current frustrations.

Reboot Your Brain
Going into a meditative state for ten or fifteen minutes is a really good way to give yourself a temporary break from your problems. Even though I am fully aware the entire time, I often get out of a meditative state feeling completely refreshed and awake. I liken this quick burst of energy to rebooting your brain, giving you a chance to unload that mental RAM for a few minutes to begin fresh.

Other Meditation Exercises
Here are a some other ways you can use meditation:

  • Work on your imagination - Try using it to expand your creativity by thinking of new things that you otherwise couldn’’t before. If you get really good you can almost enter into a dreamlike state, except you have the controls.
  • Gain awareness of your body - Move your focus around to different aspects of your body. Notice the different muscles and tendons and the sensations you are receiving from them. This is especially helpful to master for exercising, as it allows you to focus on the muscles that are being used to ensure proper form.
  • Rehearse Yourself - You can use meditation to rehearse an upcoming event you want to perform well in. Athletes, presenters and entertainers often do mental rehearsals to ensure a good performance. These methods work even better when you enter a deep meditative state before using them.

About Scott Young:

You can check out Scott’s blog on productivity, learning and improvement here or subscribe to his feed (updated 5-7x per week) here. Some of his popular articles include: Habitual Mastery, Double Your Reading Rate and How to Ace Your Finals Without Studying.

Brilliant comments (17)

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HBJ Says:

May 18th, 2007, 8:46 am

I really agree with what your article, especially the part about “Rehearse Yourself”. It seems to be apply to lots of folks. I’m a relatively new martial artist (about 3 years) and I’m using that technique to help me mentally get the moves for a new kata in my head, so I’m not having to concentrate so hard on that part while I’m doing repetitions to get it into my muscle memory.

It’s funny how it applys to lots of different areas too. My brother is a plumber, and he tells me that before he starts piping a house, he sits at the entry to the crawlspace and visualizes every run, elbow, turn and connection before he starts. It makes his projects go much quicker as well. Keep up the good work.

B.

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karenlim Says:

May 18th, 2007, 9:32 am

Absolutely right!

Take time off to visualize. It is the key to make Law of Attraction work and attract more abundance

I actually use vision boards to visualize and I got results in 3 weeks. I have also to thank Bob Proctor for his wonderful Free Attraction Report which gives the key points on accelerating attraction:-
http://www.secretofunlimitedprosperity.com/rights/freereport.php

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Christian Tietze Says:

May 18th, 2007, 16:56 pm

This is a very new level of post on Zenhabits. Why not try to focus on mind and consciousness from time to time? Probably that’ll ground the logic-driven approach of all your tips a bit.

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Dan and Jennfer Says:

May 18th, 2007, 23:30 pm

Great article Scott! I love the simple, no-nonsense, benefit driven message about meditation.

We meditate once or twice a day EVERY day, and the results are really amazing.

Have an awesome day!
Dan & Jennifer

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Steve Says:

May 20th, 2007, 20:19 pm

Great article.

One suggestion I would make, particularly when it comes to using meditation to guide your emotions, is during meditation to practice observing your emotional state with absolutely no judgement whatsoever. Just observe your feelings - “I’m angry”, “I’m envious”, etc as you might someone else.

Over time, it’s a great way to understand why we react the way we do in various situations.

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Nissan Says:

May 20th, 2007, 21:51 pm

Your article has helped me understand alot the style of my organisation’s leaders, who are U.S. based individuals.
My own style, learnt on my own working in my homeland of Trinidad, is more in line with the Eastern style and which works well in my local Trinidadian working environment, even though Trinidad is in the western hemisphere.
I hope when I share this article with my peers they can also learn from it in our growth bridging the cultural gaps between Trinidad and US offices.

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no Says:

May 20th, 2007, 23:52 pm

Or just take a hot bath with the lights off.

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Daniel Says:

May 21st, 2007, 0:00 am

Wow, I just tried asking an imaginative person my questions while meditating and it actually helped a lot

I didn’t expect this to work, but it was amazing

I’ve meditated before but not like this, Great post

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John Stoner Says:

May 21st, 2007, 14:42 pm

Great post… two things I’d add:

1. For me, meditation often begin with my usual mental noise, and as that becomes quieter, my mind actually starts to work. It’s as though the gears start to mesh instead of spinning on their own or clanking into each other. I’m more creative: lots of aha moments come in those moments. Then that passes, and a deeper sense of silence moves in. And while I love the part with the increased creativity, I feel like I benefit more from the silence, over the long term.

2. I’m reminded of something you could think of as a collaborative meditation process called the U-process:

http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/tools/sy_05.html

which is explained at length in Peter Senge’s recent book “Presence:”

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John Stoner Says:

May 21st, 2007, 14:43 pm

aack–looks like your site choked on the long amazon url. Just go there and search for “presence.”

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chris Says:

May 24th, 2007, 12:08 pm

Could you put a button at the bottom of your articles that will allow me to forward the article via e-mail to a friend?

I have to cut and paste this article for my daughter to read and would have so appreciated a button instead.

Thank you.

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Leo Says:

May 24th, 2007, 18:13 pm

Hi Chris … actually, there is a link … the one that says “Email this”. Let me know if you have any problems with it. Thanks for emailing it!

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R.S.Parihar Says:

May 29th, 2007, 3:02 am

I agree with your article, as I experienced the issues expressed by you. I am practicing meditation for last two years and find it gives lot of fresh mind after meditation.
Mental reharsal does work for crucial issues, it just works as you really do at work place very smoothly and you can replicate actual after you have gone through in meditation state.
I enjoy that I do some thing for myself and relaxing physically and mentally. It gives positive energy to look things in unbiased manner and help poeple in solving their proble. It develops kindness which is really enjoyment you are looking for.
Reading this article is like revisiting my meditation mode experiences.
Thank you.

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A Key Says:

December 2nd, 2007, 18:43 pm

I don’t know how apt the brain to processor comparisons are. I like to think of the process as more archaeological, unearthing and releasing one’s ancient history and removing some impediments that are blocking everything up. Whatever works is good, though.

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SureshTS Says:

April 13th, 2008, 6:31 am

Intresting Sounds Good! I will give a try

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qhRDO Says:

May 11th, 2008, 17:12 pm

Hi, Your Site is Very Informative, Thanks
Chris mccandless photos

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Limonis Says:

July 2nd, 2009, 10:48 am

Wow, I just tried asking an imaginative person my questions while “Playstation” meditating and it actually helped a lot

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