Two words came to mind when I saw Rich give this talk: mindfulness meditation.
I've found that when I try and focus too hard on a problem I get tunnel vision and ruminate instead of thinking /about/ and /around/ the problem I'm trying to solve. I really do need to detach and let the problem grow on its own for a bit. But how? What does that look like? It's different for everyone but a couple of things I notice: You'll frequently hear in guided mindfulness practices a line or two about noticing your body's contact with the floor, cushion, mat, etc. so the laying down research seems consistent with my personal experience. On that note, I think hammocks in general naturally lead me to notice that contact, what with the floating, swinging, etc. However, it won't really work for me if I lay in a hammock and actively attach some agenda to the act of laying there. For instance, having the thought: "I'm laying in a hammock to have a good idea." over and over doesn't work for me. I doubt most people get in the shower with a serious plan to have a great idea, it's the kind of thing that just sort of happens when you're in neutral. Finding neutral activities like walking, laying in the hammock, washing the dishes, sweeping up for the experience of sweeping up, etc. doesn't seem to be the hard part. The hard part seems to be getting rid of the agenda or expectation I have that a particular action will yield a result. I suppose that's why I practice. 2c, -- Devin Walters On Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 12:09 PM, Brian Marick wrote: > > On Jun 9, 2011, at 3:27 PM, Jules wrote: > > I'd also like to say this - TAKE THE HAMMOCK BIT SERIOUSLY - there is a > > growing body or research that indicates that you can problem solve better > > lying down. This may stem from the release of certain hormones, increased > > blood supply, maybe simply the fact that you are not wasting cycles and > > bandwidth trying to stay upright etc... > > I heard Guy Steele say he gets his best ideas in the shower. Since he has > more brilliant ideas than any ten impressive people, he must take a lot of > showers. > > I too get my best ideas in the shower. Or on long walks. > > Mileage varies. > > ----- > Brian Marick, Artisanal Labrador > Contract programming in Ruby and Clojure > Occasional consulting on Agile > www.exampler.com (http://www.exampler.com), www.twitter.com/marick > (http://www.twitter.com/marick) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Clojure" group. > To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com > (mailto:clojure@googlegroups.com) > Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your > first post. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > (mailto:clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com) > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
