Can you stop TRYING to get the answer and simply relax and ALLOW it to come to you?

I love movies!

I recognised this principle years ago…

I’ve always loved movies, especially big Hollywood blockbusters… and I prided myself in knowing their names, the actors, directors and so on…

I remember, one day, someone asked me the name of an actor in a particular movie and I knew that I knew it! It was on the tip of my tongue! And the more I tried and strained to remember, I just couldn’t.

Later that day, I was washing the dishes and, bing!, the name just popped into my head. I remembered this because I was so impressed that I could try so hard and not recall it, and when I was not even thinking about it, it just effortlessly came to me.

The big mind

Later in life I learned that this is how our minds work… they’re like computers connected to the internet, there’s limited information stored on the computer itself and when we want to access the entire world of information on the internet we need to relax… if we try to force it with our thinking we block the connection with our thoughts… when we become quiet, calm, with less thoughts, the information can pass to us effortlessly.

In the shower

There was a study done where business people were asked where they got there best ideas and the top of the list were times when we’re most relaxed and not caught up in our heads… when we wake in the morning, taking a shower, exercising, walking in nature, menial tasks like washing dishes, and so on.

IBM even made commercials of business people taking meetings in the shower!

Let your creativity flow

I personally have used this knowledge to my advantage for years. Whenever I’m creating something, be it a new program for a client, designing a coaching model or writing a blog post or podcast like this.

I have an inspiration, an idea… I write down what comes to me or many times draw it out on my whiteboard, I get it out of my head and I unpack it in front of me…

I continue to think it through, mull it over, organise it… and then there comes a point when I feel like rather than flowing, I’m starting to force it… so I stop for the day. I know that if I continue I’m trying too hard to figure it out in my own head rather than allowing creative inspiration to come to me.

I normally sleep on it and wait for the next idea on the subject to pop into my head… and I repeat this process until it is done.

To remind myself, I have written on the top of my whiteboard:

“It comes to you.”

There are many examples of famous, creative geniuses who confirm exactly this concept. One that comes to mind is Paul McCartney. As the story goes, he woke up one morning with the entire song, Let it be, ready in his mind.

What about you?

Where in your life are you trying to hard?

Where can you relax and let it come to you?

Can you stop TRYING to get the answer and simply relax and ALLOW it to come to you?