It’s the opening scene of Raging Bull and I know exactly what I’m getting my husband for his birthday. A boxing robe with his surname blazing across the back—it’s the best surname after all—PRINCE. Never mind that I’ll enjoy its glory spread-eagled in front of the fridge rather than bouncing off the ropes. But I can still remember the moment the idea popped into my head. That wonderful sense of novelty akin to magic. We’ve all felt it: the spark, the sudden flash of insight, the light-bulb moment, the breakthrough, the eureka! But do you have any idea of what is happening in your brain during this moment? Because behind this magic are brain mechanics. And a little more understanding of the mechanics can help produce a lot more magic.
New neural pathway!
The brain is full of billions of neurons. But the most important part is how they connect to each other. Everything we do is a result of a pathway through these neurons that we have figured out or learned. Drinking through a straw? (A straw pathway.) Singing “Happy Birthday”? (A “Happy Birthday” pathway.) Yelling at the TV? (A yelling pathway.) When you have a new idea, you are experiencing a new neural pathway. As Steven Johnson beautifully explains in his book Where Good Ideas Come From, “When a new idea pops into your head, the sense of novelty that makes the experience so magical has a direct correlation in the cells of your brain: a brand new assemblage of neurons has come together to make the thought possible. A good idea…[is] a specific constellation of neurons—thousands of them—firing in sync with each other for the first time in your brain, and an idea pops into your consciousness.” A new idea feels novel because you’re experiencing a new neuron pathway for the first time. Not so much a Eureka! moment but a New Pathway! moment. The delight you feel is the very real magic of a new journey happening in your mind. Here’s how we can increase the chances of this journey happening.
Have lots of neurons.
You can’t have an epiphany on three neurons. Fill your brain with inspiration, aka billions of extra neurons. The more neurons you have, the more chances you have of novel connections. Yeah, yeah, but how exactly? More to come on rethinking inspiration, but here are some good places to start. What’s your problem? (That’s a bunch of neurons.) Who has solved similar problems in interesting ways? (Billions more neurons.) What can you steal from other disciplines about your problem? (Billions upon billions of neurons.)
Have flexible neurons.
Be capable of creating new pathways. Be bendy, flexible, and ambidextrous in your thinking. The brain has roughly 100 billion neurons, but they are useless for creating ideas unless they can make new connections with each other. Neuroplasticity is the ability to try out new connections in the brain. This plasticity is what the famous creativity tests are often based on. For example, can you look at a brick (which fires up a specific pathway) and then pivot to find new pathways (new uses) for this brick?
Beyond the famous 30 Uses for a Brick creativity test is another way to gauge your neuroplasticity…how are you with jokes? Why is it so cheap to throw a party at a haunted house?*
*Answer at the end.
The best (dad) jokes get us to find new connections between two subjects. What word/thought/sound shows up in the world of parties that also shows up in the world of ghouls? Are you feeling the new neural pathway magic yet?
*Because the ghosts bring all the boos.
Source: Where Good Ideas Come From