Thinking is something that we all do. Some more than others.
Due to quarantine, many of us have been confined to our homes and have been spending a lot more time with ourselves. This can be a Godsend or torture for some. As French philosopher Blaise Pascal famously said,
the biggest problem for a man is that he cannot sit quietly in a room by himself
Lately, I’ve been learning more about Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest electricians and inventors in human history. Tesla was a man who thought through his inventions, performing calculations in his mind and visualized his invention fully completed in his mind before working on it.
Edison on the other hand was a man who believed in trial and error through experiments. After Edison’s death Tesla had this to say about Edison, “With a little more thought and calculation all his extra effort would have been been able to be avoided”.
You see, there is much value in thinking, whether that be creatively, analytically or just thinking. Many of the great so called “geniuses” or “savants” in history were thinkers and would often think or daydream about issues and had solutions to a problem come in flashes of thought. Tesla, Albert Einstein, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs were some of these “thinkers”.
Personally for me, I find thinking to be super helpful as well.
For example, yesterday I went for a walk in the woods with my family, sat quietly by a lake and just found myself lost in deep thought. During my moment of quietude I thought about the trees, life, the vastness of nature, the healing power of nature, breathed in the fresh air, felt deep gratitude for being alive, being able to experience this moment with my family. I was able to enter this trance like state where all my worries, fears and doubts evaporated and all I had to do was enjoy the present moment. I then went to play with my wife and son in the flowing stream. I even floated, hearing the under water sounds of the rock sediments and water flowing together in unison. It was pure bliss and I was truly at peace. In that moment, I realized how simple life was.
I thought about nothing when floating, but when I got out of the water I thought about what I felt, the sounds I heard while floating, how it all relates to life.
Essentially, this time I was able to spend with my thoughts and reflect in the woods and in the water allowed me to reduce my blood pressure, be at total peace, and just be. It allowed me to not take life so seriously and move forward by flowing through life in a more peaceful, carefree and simple way.
In one of my favorite books, Think And Grow Rich, author, Napoleon Hill, interviews some of the most successful men in history and shares that these men all had a “white hot burning desire” for their goals, visualized themself achieving it. They even formed masterminds, which is a group of people coming together to share ideas with one another in hopes of assisting each other in their pursuit.
Hill said,
Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve
Albert Einstein, would often daydream and find himself lost in thought. He famously said,
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them
Einstein calls on us to create our problems rationally, and solve them creatively. To do so requires changing established thinking patterns, and switching into a creative state of mind. And this leads perfectly into his other famous quote,
imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge
Elon Musk mentioned he loves showers and does most of his “thinking” in the shower. He feels “it’s where I get most of my big ideas and solutions to problems. I don’t know why but something about showers that just relaxes me and allows me to generate a flow of ideas.”
Steve Jobs was a big fan of walks and would often take long walks to just think and boost his creativity.
When was the last time you allowed yourself to just think?
