Creativity and Meditation

dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story, offer a simple practical tip about how you or a loved one can stay a bit calmer in your life, and then we'll end each episode together with a moment of gratitude. My hope is that I can share what I know to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey. I want to talk with you today about Jerry Seinfeld, not his humor, but about the brain and about creativity.

I got a phone call that Jerry Seinfeld would like me to teach his wife and children transcendental meditation. So the way that you learned t M is taught over four consecutive days for about one hour a day each day, and on the second day I was back at their house and Jerry walked in and I was talking about the importance of meditating twice a day, once in the morning for fifteen or twenty minutes and once in the afternoon. And he interrupted. He said, twice a day. I've just

been meditating once a day. Why would I do twice a day? And I said, well, actually, the research shows meditation in the morning wakes up the brain, and then you do again in the afternoon when you're tired, and it washes off the stress and then you sleep better at night. And he was doubtful, but I said, we'll just try it for two weeks. So he called me in two weeks and he said, it's a game changer.

What he loved about transcendental meditations the rest was deeper than sleep, so he had much more energy and far more creativity. That's what I want to talk about right now. I want to talk about the creative process. How does

meditation allow Jerry Seinfeld to be more creative? The creative process we employ every moment of our day when we're solving minute problems, little squabbles with the kids who are trying to figure out finances, and there's a problem at work, and for the longest time, there was this thought the creativity was lodged in the right hemisphere of your brain, and if you are analytical and a numbers crunchure and mathematician,

then you are a left hemisphere person. Well, it turns out as widespread as that understanding was, it's not true. Creativity is a product of networks within the brain. One of the key networks and the creative process is the ability to focus, to concentrate to get the job done, and that is lodged in the front of the brain, in an area called the attention network or the executive control network. Scientists were wondering what happens when you're not

focused and productive, when you're not working hard. They found out that there is in fact a complex series of networks in the back of the brain, the middle of the brain, in the front of the brain, which they called the default mode network. And they were kind of dismissive about that part of the brain. They said, that was this sort of the wandering brain, the daydreaming brain, the unproductive brain. But now they have a new name for it. That part of your brain is now called

the imagination network, or better yet, the genius lounge. And that's where innovative, nonlinear, very creative ideas bubble up. The default mode network is activated. Sometimes when you're taking a hot shower, or you go for a long walk where you're listening to music and you've been trying to solve a problem and do answer comes some change in venue, some change in the activity where the mind can just rest. We are not stuck with the level of creativity or

problem solving that we have. Now we can do some very foundational things that can awaken the imagination network that can actually strengthen the communication between all the different parts of the brain. It starts first and foremost with some meditation techniques, exercise, giving yourself downtime to not work hard. One of the most significant tools for waking up creativity

and the imagination network. Sleep. Every day, I'm going to offer a tip that we can do to contribute towards a substantial calm, a transformative calm, an inner peace that can help us navigate our lives. We know getting enough sleep can wake up our creativity. So my tip to you is get a good night's sleep by breaking your habit to something called blue light. Blue light emanates from

your computer screen, your television screen, your smartphone. Blue light suppresses melatonin, which is the sleep hormone which allows us to get a good night's sleep. So I would suggest, as impossible as this may sound, if you want to get a good night's sleep, then turn off your television, particularly if it's in your bedroom, close your laptop, put your cell phone on mute an hour before bed. Don't just do it once, do it for several days and

see if it helps. It'll sure help over time. All right, let's end this time together doing something that I think should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment. It turns out when we do that it's good for our health as well. I'll be right back, all right, Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm,

Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and be true to yourself. Pay all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you. You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at

meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward to hearing from you