From where did that idea come?

It's an interesting thing to be standing in the shower, staring at the wall, enjoying the nice warm water as it rains down my head, neck, shoulders, and back. My mind seems empty, and I'm in no hurry to finish this time to myself. When suddenly out of nowhere, seemingly, an excellent idea pops into my head. It's a thought that hadn't occurred to me earlier in the day, nor recently. Yet it's a thought that has some significance and meaning to stuff that's going on for me.

As I was pondering the uniqueness of this thought, I had to ask myself where do these ideas come from. And why do they come to me at times when I'm least expecting them or trying to get them? In all my years learning about thought, consciousness, and awareness, it has become quite apparent to me that there must need to be a slowness of thinking, or better said, a passiveness of thinking where the mind is not focused on any particular thing in order for new thoughts and ideas to penetrate the conscious mind. It seems the busier our mind becomes, the less room there is for a clear path upon which an idea can come.

This leads to the next question: What is that place from where those ideas, insights, and intuitive thoughts and feelings come? Certainly, it is not a place that has been accurately discovered by modern science simply because it is not observable and measurable. Yet you and I both know that there is a place beyond the physical, the metaphysical, where lies greater wisdom and knowledge than we both have. A brief look at history shows that generally we seem to learn more about many things with each passing generation. All of the “discoveries” that we now enjoy had to be somewhere before they made their way into the minds of the discoverers.

It seems to me, that having the ability to tap into this greater mind on a regular basis should be one of our most valuable practices. The conundrum, curiously, is that the connection with this higher mind requires a different type of effort than we are commonly used to. An effortless effort that occurs commonly in times of meditation, swimming, jogging, while waking up in the morning in an unhurried way, while praying, and while watching sunsets, sunrises, and other beautiful moments in nature. If this is the case, it also seems to me, that we better carry a notebook around with us.