Creativity Improvement: How To Access Your Cognitive Cocoon And Your Creativity Cocoon
The Silent Squeak
Hiding In Plain Sight: Two neighbors carpooled daily to work for the past year, with one neighbor always driving the other. They don't talk much on the drive, but that doesn't seem to bother either of them.
One day, the passenger seemingly snaps, exclaiming, "I can't take it anymore!"
The confused driver asks, "What are you talking about?"
Squeaky Fromme: The passenger says, "That squeak!"
"What? What squeak?" asks the driver.
The passenger points towards the floor with exasperation. "Listen! Don't you hear that noise?"
For Whom The Squeak Tolls: The driver pauses and appears to concentrate as he directs his attention to the spot, listens, and then says, "Wow, I never noticed that before... until you just pointed that out!"
And every day for the rest of the week, the driver notices the squeaking from the beginning of the drive to the end and back again.
It Wasn't A Squeak, It Was A Cry For Attention: The next Monday, when the driver went to pick the passenger up, he said, "I meant to say thank you for pointing out that squeak. I took the car to the shop, and the squeaking was the U-joint. It was about ready to fail!"
In this way, silent reflection can often lead to louder insights. But how can we recreate this quiet, reflective state?
"The quieter you become, the more you hear." - Ram Dass
Introducing the Cognitive Cocoon and the Creativity Cocoon
Duality of Dusk and Dawn - Two Sides Of Consciousness: I explained the concept of these two cocoons to a colleague. The hypnopompic (waking up) and hypnagogic (falling asleep) states, though seemingly opposite, are complementary. One represents the gentle immersion into dreams, while the other signifies a rejuvenated return to reality. These states encapsulate vivid imaginations, altered perceptions, and a delightful dance between wakefulness and dreams.
The colleague told me, "Sounds like Rod Serling's intro to a Twilight Zone episode." Sure, I'll go with that.
Sunrise, Sunset: Your circadian rhythm occurs every day. It's your body's clock. When the sun rises, it wakes you. When it sets, you sleep. This natural rhythm impacts everything else—hunger, energy, and the desire to work or rest.
While the sun creates the dominant element influencing our personal response to the circadian rhythm, it's not the sole factor. Other factors also influencing your personal circadian rhythm include artificial light, social and work schedules, eating habits, physical activity, and even environmental temperatures.
The Cycle Within The Cycle: Much like the ocean tides, there is a reflection point where the tide reaches high or low and begins to flow in the opposite direction. Your mind works in much the same way. Consider the differences between how your brain works when you wake up versus when you're falling asleep. Those are called the hypnopompic and hypnagogic states, respectively.
The Cognitive Cocoon State
In the hypnopompic (awakening) state, your mind feels freshly energized, as if every external factor, worry, and distraction is removed. You can focus clearly and think up new ideas and solutions. Your neurons are firing on all cylinders. It's the perfect time to be creative or get stuff done! We will refer to this state as the Cognitive Cocoon.
Why Is It Called The Cognitive Cocoon? First, it resides entirely within your mind. Second, it is stunningly free of outside, irrelevant, or intrusive thoughts. When you awake, your mind is an empty vessel. Once you get up, check your phone, rush around, read the news, and get your kids ready for school, you have lost access to your Cognitive Cocoon.
How Does The Cognitive Cocoon Work? Just as dawn cuts through the darkness, your Cognitive Cocoon starts your day with creativity, bringing forth new ideas and perspectives. Here is an example of how it works.
0 to 90 to 0: When you wake up, you have a calm mind. If you immediately start thinking about everything on your plate for the day, all of your thoughts will rush directly into the mind jail. This is an overwhelming place with all the good, the bad, the important, the urgent, the unimportant, the maybes, the yes and the no, etc.
But when you consciously focus on recognition and awareness, you can enter the Cognitive Cocoon zone. You will discover a distraction-free refuge of high awareness, recognition of connectivity, curiosity, synthesis, idea exploration, and creativity generation.
The Location Of The Powerful, Secret Place: Imagine this Cognitive Cocoon is available optimally once daily and already exists within you. It always has. Most likely, you have yet to discover or become aware of its availability or power.
The Cognitive Creativity State
When the hypnagogic (falling asleep) state occurs, your mind starts drifting. Maybe your thoughts get foggy, and your eyelids feel heavy. Your mind begins to process your thoughts and experiences from your day. We will call this the Cognitive Creativity state.
Mindfulness And Meditation: People use mindfulness and meditation skills to replicate the calm serenity within their Cognitive Cocoon or Cognitive Creativity states, clearing their minds and harnessing their thoughts.
Learn to Listen for Squeaks
Just like the driver who didn't notice the squeak until it was pointed out to him, there are plenty of things in each and every one of us that go largely unnoticed until they are pointed out to us -- or until we embrace silence and serenity to get us there.
By utilizing the Cognitive Cocoon and Cognitive Creativity states, one can learn to listen for the squeaks in our own lives.
"Silence is the great teacher and to learn its lessons, you must pay attention to it." - Deepak Chopra
Click here for our Disclaimers, Disclosures, Disavowals, And Declarations (aka - I told you so).