This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "Principles: Life and Work" by Ray Dalio. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.
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What are the benefits of meditation? How does meditation help with creativity?
According to Ray Dalio, meditation can help sprout new innovative ideas by reconciling the two yous: the conscious you and the subconscious you. When you are only engaging your conscious mind, you are missing out on the fountain of creative ideas buried in your subconscious,
Here is how meditation can help you unleash your creative potential.
Ray Dalio on Meditation
Dalio argues that the best ideas and decisions may come from the cooperation of the two yous, not when the rational you completely subjugates the subconscious you. For example, sometimes the greatest inspiration “pops up” from our subconscious. This happens most often when you’re relaxed and not consciously forcing yourself to come up with great ideas. The conscious logical mind then examines the ideas for how good they are.
(Shortform note: You can see the power of your subconscious mind in action when you dream. In Why We Sleep, author Matthew Walker writes that in the dream stage of sleep, when you’re fully relaxed, you create novel connections between ideas, which increases creativity and problem-solving ability and leads to a higher-level comprehension of ideas.)
According to Ray Dalio, meditation creates an equanimity that allows clearer and more creative thinking. Dalio personally likes transcendental meditation to connect the conscious to the subconscious.
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- How Ray Dalio lost it all on bad bets, then rebounded to build the world's largest hedge fund
- The 5-step process to getting anything you want out of life
- Why getting the best results means being relentlessly honest with everyone you work with
