I got 99 problems but swim ain't one?
I saved this quote a few months ago whilst scrolling through my social media and it really made me think of this course in general. I found it again recently and now find it to resonate deeply with how I am feeling about Module 2.
I have to admit when I first read this I think I actually misunderstood it. I originally read ‘swim in silence’ as its literal meaning. I imagined it to mean he actually went for a swim and then the solution would come to him whilst his is doing a different activity and not thinking upon his problem.
I believe the proper meaning for this quote is that he means that he allows his brain to “swim in silence”. He ceases to think upon his problem and in slowing his brain to drift without direction, the solutions begin to present themselves.
Though I may have taken the quote the wrong way, I still believe that both of my understandings are applicable. I struggle sometimes to turn off my thoughts, "swim in silence" especially when I am stuck on a problem. Oftentimes I have found that the best way to not think about something is by physically doing something else, whether that is cooking, listening to podcasts, or even swimming. Sometimes whilst doing something else, 'turning off' my thoughts, a solution to my problem or a way to move forward will just come into my head, other times it's when I come back to think about my problem the solution seems to appear form my work.
There is some theory that backs corroborates this quote, Graham Wallas' stages of creativity. Jeremy Dean (2012) talks on the second stage of creativity, Incubation, this is when after the Preparation stage, in which you research and think upon the problem, you the take a break from the issue and allow your subconscious mind to mix up and realign your preparation work. This leads to Illumination when all of the subconscious mulling over come together as a conscious thought, which is the consolidated by the Verification stage, when your actively think on the illumination gained and process it and develop the initial idea further.
This applies not only for my study for this course, but for my professional life too. I could be struggling with some picking up choreography or specific timing, I would then leave it, go on to try something else or even have lunch, then when I come back to the part I was struggling with it will seem easier. The application of this thought to this module seems to particularly apt. Over the past few weeks I have been reading literature around the subject area I want to investigate further, whilst informative and useful it have also provided me an issue. Most of the literature tends to agree with each other, not leaving a lot of space for obvious discussion and seeming to create a dead end to my line of thinking. A little frustrated with this I decided to leave it alone for while.
I went to work and focused on learning the new choreography, socialised with my colleagues and tried to switch off. After all of this I have come back to my work and whilst I don't necessarily have 'the answers' I can at least see a way past this dead end, a glimmer of light coming through the tunnel. The point of this course isn't to have the answers, the journey and the learning is the point, as such I shouldn't know why exactly my enquiry question should be yet as we still have a way to go in the term.
This is something I need to remind myself off more often!
Also tell myself that it is okay sometimes to not think about my study and that when I come back to it my thoughts will more than likely be clearer, and I will be more able to carry on with it.
This is a little rambling but I think it is an interesting point to think about and understand a little about how my brain works.
Though I may have taken the quote the wrong way, I still believe that both of my understandings are applicable. I struggle sometimes to turn off my thoughts, "swim in silence" especially when I am stuck on a problem. Oftentimes I have found that the best way to not think about something is by physically doing something else, whether that is cooking, listening to podcasts, or even swimming. Sometimes whilst doing something else, 'turning off' my thoughts, a solution to my problem or a way to move forward will just come into my head, other times it's when I come back to think about my problem the solution seems to appear form my work.
There is some theory that backs corroborates this quote, Graham Wallas' stages of creativity. Jeremy Dean (2012) talks on the second stage of creativity, Incubation, this is when after the Preparation stage, in which you research and think upon the problem, you the take a break from the issue and allow your subconscious mind to mix up and realign your preparation work. This leads to Illumination when all of the subconscious mulling over come together as a conscious thought, which is the consolidated by the Verification stage, when your actively think on the illumination gained and process it and develop the initial idea further.
This applies not only for my study for this course, but for my professional life too. I could be struggling with some picking up choreography or specific timing, I would then leave it, go on to try something else or even have lunch, then when I come back to the part I was struggling with it will seem easier. The application of this thought to this module seems to particularly apt. Over the past few weeks I have been reading literature around the subject area I want to investigate further, whilst informative and useful it have also provided me an issue. Most of the literature tends to agree with each other, not leaving a lot of space for obvious discussion and seeming to create a dead end to my line of thinking. A little frustrated with this I decided to leave it alone for while.
I went to work and focused on learning the new choreography, socialised with my colleagues and tried to switch off. After all of this I have come back to my work and whilst I don't necessarily have 'the answers' I can at least see a way past this dead end, a glimmer of light coming through the tunnel. The point of this course isn't to have the answers, the journey and the learning is the point, as such I shouldn't know why exactly my enquiry question should be yet as we still have a way to go in the term.
This is something I need to remind myself off more often!
Also tell myself that it is okay sometimes to not think about my study and that when I come back to it my thoughts will more than likely be clearer, and I will be more able to carry on with it.
This is a little rambling but I think it is an interesting point to think about and understand a little about how my brain works.
References
Dean, J. (2012) 'The Incubation Effect: How to Break Through a Mental Block' Psyblog. Available at:https://www.spring.org.uk/2012/07/the-incubation-effect-how-to-break-through-a-mental-block.php. (Accessed: 23/02/20)
Dean, J. (2012) 'The Incubation Effect: How to Break Through a Mental Block' Psyblog. Available at:https://www.spring.org.uk/2012/07/the-incubation-effect-how-to-break-through-a-mental-block.php. (Accessed: 23/02/20)
u/SpiritualFoodForLife (2019) 'Albert Einstein Quote'. Reddit. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlbertEinstein/comments/bbmtji/i_think_99_times_and_find_nothing_i_stop_thinking/ (Accessed: 23/02/20)
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