There is something called the "state of flow" which is one of the areas of brain science, in which it is specifically concern with creativity and learning. The idea of state of flow was first described by an American scientist called Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. We will experience this state when we are totally concentrated in a task that time ceases to matter, such as when we are wholly engaged in painting, or writing something. Or perhaps when we are deep in thought, or meditating, or jogging, with our mind able to reach inside itself deeply. You may have heard of it referred to as being in the "alpha state".

Basically, our brain runs at 4 different "speeds", like 4 different gears in a car. In fact the speeds are different brain waves - alpha, beta, theta and delta. Our brain will "transmit" different electrical impulses, in which it is depending on what we are doing at the moment. If you want to measure the different brain waves operate at different cycles per second, you can use something called electroencephalograph. Delta waves are the slowest and beta the fastest. Our brain will be mainly producing beta waves while we are working, somewhere between 13 and 25 cycles per second. This is the main daytime state of thinking, talking, problem solving, and etc.

Anyway, we gradually realize that the alpha state, some 8 to 12 waves per second, is very important. It is the state when people have their best ideas and thoughts, when our creativity and imagination are really operating. Some people may easily manage to reach this state, yet others need to look for to lower the speed of their busy brain at daytime, through methods such as yoga, brain gym, or other ways of relaxation. Or, through really determined effort, in which, to use the language of driving again, budge our mind up a gear and find its most creative speed.