Flow of Consciousness

In section 2 we encouraged you to examine your life goals. Now we talk about daily goals, and their relation to your daily cycle of mental states. Your own daily cycle, or circadian rhythms, will probably be different from what we mention here… observe yourself for a day and see for yourself.

Different times of day can be useful for doing different things. Morning may be a good time for to take care of practical things that need to get done (some people report higher tolerance to boredom in the morning). The afternoon is the time of day when most people are physically strongest, making it a good time for exercise. Many people feel more extroverted and communicative at night, which may also make them desire more to think creatively.

The period of time, from when you go to bed to when you get out of it, has an undervalued role to play in thinking at your best. When you sleep, scientists believe, your brain is still at work, only at a different setting. It´s processing the information you took in during the day, getting rid of less important information and transferring important information into long-term memories. This means that sometimes going to bed early is better than staying up late to study the night before an exam.

A very special state is that which comes in between full sleep and full awakeness. At this time your mind is very open to making lots of new and different types of thoughts and connections it wouldn´t otherwise make. Your mind is not responded to sensory data or to direct, voluntary commands, so it´s free to act upon itself for it´s own purposes. This gives you a unique opportunity to observe the working of your unconscious mind. Many famous creators, such as the inventor Thomas Edison or some of the French Surrealist painters, looked forward to this time as it provided a wealth of opportunities for perceiving new, strange ideas and sensations that were somehow already present in their minds but not otherwise identifiable.

Such people have also used various types of meditation while awake to achieve the same goals. Maybe some of these techniques will be helpful to you.

• The traditional methods employ good posture, relaxation, focus on breathing and focus on either nothing, everything, or one thing such as a sacred word.
  
• Relax, sit down, close your eyes and wait. Tell yourself what you "see" in your imagination. Focus on it. As it changes try to be as aware as possible of what you are seeing and describe it to yourself as you see it. This can be done to a certain extent also with sounds and feelings.
  
• Relax, sit down, close your eyes and ask yourself a question about how you feel or what you really want in regards to a decision you need to make. Don´t rush yourself, wait for the answer to come.