Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth, and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years, helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version of themselves. And now I want to help you do the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey. Let's say you have a
big box you need to move. Now, you could wish and hope that that box will move itself, or you could exercise the particular muscles in your body that will allow you to pick up the box and move it. Well, let's say you have some problems in your life that require a creative solution. Or let's say you're feeling stagnant and you'd like to feel like you're growing and there's
more innovation creativity in your life. Well you and passively sit back and just sort of wish and hope things changed, or you could wake up the particular networks in your brain that support creative problem solving growth. The keyword in this case is networks within the brain. So I want to talk a little bit about what science tells us about the creative process in the brain. There are three main networks in the brain that promote the creative process.
The first is called the executive control network, and that's the part of the brain when you're focused, when you're concentrating. The second part of the brain is called the default mode network. Now, how did that name come about. Well, scientists wanted to know what was the brain doing when it was resting. It turns out that there are three sub networks within the brain that are active when we're not focused on a particular task. Many scientists were very
dismissive about what they called the default mode network. They said, this is just the wandering mind, the daydreaming mind. The mind is not on task, that's not being productive. Well, now they have a new name for it, the imagination network. And here's an even better name for it, the genius lounge. When the brain isn't focused and on task and working hard, it's this network where those nonlinear, subtle creative ideas can
bubble up to the surface. Sometimes it happens when you're taking a hot shower and you go, oh, my gosh, I just realized what I should do. Where you go for a walk in the woods, or you're just spending time with friends off task. That imagination network allows these innovative ideas to come to the surface. Now there's a third network called the salience network. Salience network turns the imagination network on it and turns the executive control network off.
So now I have a creative idea. Now I've finished with the creative idea that gets shut down, and now I'm focused to make it happen. Stress is very destructive to the creative process. And when I'm stressed, it suppresses the default mode network, writer's block. I can't focus, I can't concentrate. I'm distracted in a million different directions. No
new ideas come out of me. Recent studies on the creative process on some of the most creative people in the world showed their brains are hardwired differently than ours. For them, there's not a wall between innovation and concentration. There's a free flow of ideas back and forth so that you can focus and innovate at the same time. And this takes the creative process to a far higher level.
Then we transcend in meditation when we settle down deeply to our own quiet, innermost self, That effortless process wakes up the imagination network and also strengthens the executive control network and the neurons or brain cells that connect together, that fire together like that connectivity in meditation, they wire together out of meditation. So now I'm beginning to bring that innovative creative process into all my actions. Now I can innovate and focus at the same time, and that
makes life much more satisfying. Now a takeaway. We all focus a lot, concentrate a lot, we all overschedule our kids lives. There's an upside to downtime. There's an upside. There's a value to not always be being on task. In addition to meditating, taking time out for walks to enjoy nature, spending time with your kids, not on mission, just quiet, huge health benefits to mind and body. So
schedule into your highly scheduled days downtime. 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. Hey, 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.