Chapter 17. Relaxation

We have seen by now that in addition to the ideas you may get from the outside, there are those you get from the inside. There are certain ways of getting these, as they are based on information which you already have on hand or in your mind. What we do not always realize is how much we really know. This is why we stress all through this book the importance of asking ourselves questions that will bring out of us what is within.

In a manner of speaking, the subconscious mind is just as conscious, just as capable of perceiving and thinking, as the objective mind is. People who are engaged in creative work can direct their subconscious to give them ideas and inspiration. This is something everyone should know how to do.

We have discussed at length the preliminary ingredients you must gather, classify and prepare. In addition to the material you provide to the subjective mind, the latter also draws upon its own large fund of associated and related material which it has stored on the subconscious levels but which you have seemingly forgotten. It may even go so far as to draw upon the material of the racial memory, if it becomes sufficiently interested in the task and if it is adequately aroused by your strong desire and your confidence in its ability.

Interest is the force which holds the attention and directs the mind to creative achievement. It is aroused by fanning the flame of feeling. You must surround the subject with as much positive emotional power as possible. Constructive imagination will not work without it, so build up your interest from as many angles as you can.

The source from which powerful ideas come may also be thought of as deep within us. The greatest ideas arise from a profound level of wonder and awe, a level available to all humanity, but a level so deep that we are aware of it only rarely if at all. Even experienced writers, artists, and other creative thinkers feel a certain form of frustration, an intense loneliness, a sense of impossibility of achievement when they sit down to their work. This deep level is the place where they often get the exciting plot twist, the appealing character or the genuine surprise ending that marks fine and original writing.

Not only are your subconscious mental activities of immense power, but they are extremely sensitive at all times to suggestions from your moods. Think of what happens to someone with stage fright, or one who is so in love that he has no appetite. Right in your own experience you can see how interdependent these functions are with your emotions.

Naturally the creative process differs to a degree for everyone. In some cases there is more control and less inspiration. In other cases there is less control and more inspiration. But unless both factors are present, there cannot be a very distinguished result. Just to turn out to the world as a completed product anything that "comes to you" from within, would lead to an immense amount of plain nonsense, for the material must be worked over by the conscious mind and adapted to realistic conditions. Pure fantasy has little practical use. On the other hand, mere control without some inspirational fire is cold and wooden.

The creative thinker need not feel tense or frustrated in undertaking a new task if he knows how to give specific and direct instructions to the subconscious. It is much better to do this in a certain way, than to grope along hit or miss, and let it happen or not, either because of a slip in getting the message down, or for failure to establish contact for getting the answer up after the subconscious has it ready.

Bernard Baruch is one of the many who place strong reliance on the subconscious. He sees it as the author of those hunches which in a long and active life he has learned to trust. But Baruch does not adopt a passive attitude of waiting for ideas to be served up from within. He feeds his subconscious mind in order that it may supply his conscious mind. The right condition for a good hunch, he says, is to get the facts together and put your intelligence to work on them at full speed. Then, all at once, you see the solution. Your subconscious has come up with it. But teamwork had to be employed.

You should formulate in your conscious mind a clear idea of the mental task to be performed, and should reason out why such and such a course appears to be desirable. You should perceive it in general outline and also should form a clearly defined notion of just what task you wish to have accomplished-just what kind of work you want to be performed for you. Then bathe it in the emotion of strong desire, which is the driving force of the subconscious.

For reasons already given, it is wise to write down the plan you have devised, as well as each of the steps which must be carried out to bring it to completion. When this has been decided, definite tasks should be assigned to the subconscious to carry out for the forwarding of the plan. With this done, you will want to know the best method for turning these tasks over to your subconscious mind.

There is one rule that always holds true. You must give your problem to the subconscious in the form of definite assignments, and as we have seen, this can only be done successfully after you have assembled all the facts, figures, arguments and other information essential to the problem. The subconscious "cooking" process begins by first focusing the mind on this information long enough and intently enough to get it thoroughly "heated" with the best thinking we can give it consciously.

When this has been done, you should form a mental picture of the thought material being lowered to the subconscious levels of your mind, just as though it were being dropped through a trap door. You then deliberately, positively and earnestly, give the command to the subconscious to work out unknown factors. Tell it, directly and specifically, for instance, "Please, Subconscious, analyze, organize, and clarify this material. Add your special inspiration and send it back as soon as possible."

The subconscious works best when the conscious mind is not functioning. The best time to implant suggestions into the subconscious is therefore during sleep. Nothing is better than sleeping over a problem. That is when the sub- conscious does its best work.

You will probably remember occasions when you went to bed with some perplexing problem and awoke the next morning to have the answers "flash" into your mind. This is such a common occurrence that everyone often says, "Let me sleep on it first" when he is faced with making an important decision.

When we are awake we depend almost entirely upon our thinking, conscious mind. Impressions are continually coming to us from without, via the senses. The conscious mind is in charge of voluntary actions, and most of our thinking is taken up in registering and interpreting the impressions that enter the mind from without. We are so engrossed with this "passing show" that it is almost impossible sufficiently to quiet the mind so that the subconscious can be consciously directed with any great degree of success.

Sleep, if correctly used, can be a great means of solving problems through the natural workings of psychic forces. This is a fact that has been recognized by wise men for thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt, "Sleep Temples" were built where adepts could sleep unmolested and use their psychic powers.

In more recent times we still find sleep associated with inspiration and the development of psychic or creative forces. Many great writers, composers and inventors have received their ideas while asleep.

The late Edgar Cayce, one of the world's greatest psychics, was able to diagnose disease by going to sleep, even when the patient was thousands of miles away. When he was awake he knew practically nothing about medicine or anatomy, but when asleep he talked in such technical terms that sometimes the doctors had to resort to a medical dictionary to learn what he was talking about. Cayce could do this only when he was asleep.

Creative thinkers, famous scientists and artists have often solved difficult, intricate problems while asleep-problems that their waking intelligence was unable to disentangle. Mozart composed his opera The Magic Flute while asleep. Stevenson thought out Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in much the same way. Your mind, too, will do some of its best work while you are asleep, but only if you give careful attention to having the right prerequisite conditions.

When we go to sleep, it is really only our conscious mind that "retires" or suspends operations; and the subconscious then "wakes up", so to speak. Each of these two minds comes into prominence in direct proportion to the degree of passivity of the other. Sometimes, in the wakeful state, the subconscious temporarily takes over the reins, as in the case of an emergency, where the life of the body is imperiled. It can think much faster, does not have to follow the laborious steps of a reasoning process to know what to do, and is better adapted to direct the body when quick action is necessary. In such cases we often find that we are imbued with superhuman strength and endurance and accomplish feats that we never dreamed were possible. Afterwards, we often remark that we didn't seem to be thinking at all-we just did the right thing automatically.

Ordinarily, however, the subconscious does not take over the driver's seat until the conscious mind relinquishes it. The only time the conscious mind completely relinquishes control is when it goes to sleep. Thus in sleep the subconscious is able to act on its own without interference, and sleep becomes the ideal physical and mental state for subconscious meditation.

However, since the suggestions are implanted by the conscious mind, and the conscious mind is not active during sleep, the problem arises as to how suggestions can then be given. This is not as tricky as it seems. The conscious thoughts act as suggestions to the subconscious. The last thought held by the conscious mind before going to sleep will be the last suggestion received by the subconscious. Therefore before you go to bed you should have your suggestion worded in simple language and memorized, so that it will require no effort to repeat it. The conscious faculties will tend to remain awake if too much effort is required.

To get ideas while asleep, prepare your mind well for them. The mental bath is more necessary than the physical one. Cleanse away the rasping fears and worries and the discordant, discouraging influences that may have been at work during the day, and substitute for them, pleasant, cheerful, serene thoughts. Never take your worries to bed with you. Stay up with them as long as necessary. Pace the floor with them, take them out for a walk, go to the movies with them. Give them your companionship as long as you wish. But don't take them to bed. There are special techniques for worrying effectively, but they positively do not include worrying in bed.

If you want to make the most of your sleeping hours, go to bed in a state of emotional serenity. Then calmly review the problem to be solved. To solve a problem, you have to organize all possible information about it. Then digest this information. This is a subconscious process, like digesting your food. You give your body the food and it does the rest. Similarly, give your mind the food and it does the work. Oddly enough, if you don't give your mind a specific job to do, it will work anyway, but without purpose; and the result is a confusion of senseless dreams.

This process of employing the subconscious mind during sleep does not in any way impair the value of the sleep. In fact if you are calm and in a hopeful frame of mind, your sleep will be benefited by this subconscious activity. As you lie in bed, assume a relaxed position. Remove your conscious will from your muscles and let go of everything. There is always a kind of dreamy, half awake, half asleep state which is the transition between wakefulness and sleep, during which the subconscious is taking over the controls from the conscious mind.

While everyone should take advantage of the creative possibilities of sleep every night, it is obvious that it is not always possible to go to sleep every time there is an idea ready for subconscious activity. At the same time, relaxation is important, and whether you really go to sleep or not, relaxation of the conscious mind is the only way that contact can be established with the subconscious.

It is typical of America that our people are so busy doing things that they do not pause to take stock of themselves, their thoughts, their goals. By not taking any time to be quiet, to meditate about their affairs and objectives, there is no opportunity for inner growth. And as a consequence, we cheat ourselves of many hours of recreation which in themselves add to the effectiveness of our thinking. For relaxation is the key to the door of the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind works best when we are doing what we like best to do.

Inner growth, or soul growth, depends upon quiet, silence and peaceful contemplation. It then becomes possible to become aware of essentials and to see otherwise hidden values in passing scenes and situations.

We are far too prone to be "in a hurry" all the time. Of course we do not wish to be laggards, and continual alertness is necessary merely to keep up with ourselves. But there should be time made for lifting the pressure, the speedup, and taking time to survey calmly the whole horizon. A few moments of tranquility make up for much haste and hurry.

Therefore if the time is not opportune for going to sleep, do anything else that relaxes you. When Stevenson didn't want to go to sleep to contact his "Brownies," he played the flute. Einstein played the violin. United States presidents and judges often read detective stories. Business men play golf. Others go fishing, play bridge, and so on. Listen to music; read a book; go to a movie; it doesn't matter what, so long as your mind is at rest or at least inactive as far as the particular problem or idea is concerned. You may play chess with a friend, which will surely tax your mind, but in another field of activity. You may work out the solution of a mystery. You may do any kind of an intricate or complicated job, as long as it has nothing to do with your problem. Preferably it should be something pleasing to you, in which you do not feel hurried or tense in any way. Some idea searchers have the habit of dropping into an easy chair in their office for twenty or thirty minutes each day, picking up a book and forgetting all about business. One of these says, "I have never sat in that chair with any thought of developing an idea, but the minute my mind relaxes, ideas begin to develop of themselves."

We don't give ourselves half a chance. I know of at least one employer who fired a creative person for looking out of the window in a relaxed mood. He was one of the millions who did not understand the idea-getting process. There is, then, a real necessity, of letting go when it comes to creative work. This letting go is a sort of surrender to the subconscious, allowing the subtle inner forces to take over.

When all these simple requirements have been met, as promised in the formula, something intangible will become tangible. There will be an increasing sense of victory, and your idea will positively come to you.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...