You can’t go straight from reverse to 1st gear. You have to pass through neutral.
When the mind is stuck on a problem, it will usually refuse to move forward without passing through its own version of neutral.
Neutral is the empty space between two mental points. There’s a danger is saying this: it evokes for some people mystical ideas about “Zen” and “no-mind” and “the void.” Actually, neutral is much more everyday. It’s boredom.
Neutral is when nothing very exciting is going on. Now this is a challenge. Culturally, we’re not good at tolerating boredom. We really don’t like watching the paint dry.
This allergy to boredom isn’t universal. I’ve been in parts of the world where people will wait for hours, for example at bus stops, without doing anything at all. Of course, they may be engrossed in fantastical mental adventures—there’s no way to tell. But I think our culture is uniquely one that demands constant stimulation. Sitting in a crowded doctor’s office, I noticed that every single patient—not just the majority—was bent over their smart phone. (OK, I admit it, me included.) It seems we can’t stand not being stimulated.
The ability to tolerate boredom, to allow the mind to drift along without any stimulation, is one of the keys to good thinking. Boredom is like fallow land. It slowly becomes fertile soil. It is the earth from which fresh ideas spring.
So here’s a tip: if you want to think well, practice the art of being bored.