There are a lot of ways to have insights, from quieting your mind to cultivating happiness all around you. Yet it doesn’t stop there, these are conditions that contribute to having insights. But what about active insight recognition?
That’s where observation comes in. Engaging one’s attention, not just seeing, contributes to the ability to make distinctions and then wondering why those distinctions exist.
For example have you noticed that some people, especially women, sit very close to the wheel of the car as if almost driving with their teeth? This can be attributed to many things such as their height, but that’s not entirely true. Elderly people come to mind when thinking about this but they have some physical limitations such as strength, shortsightedness and height. So why do some people drive almost with their teeth?
I don’t have a clear answer but simply asking ‘why’ will lead me to an answer, an insight.
This is the secret of noticing: Spotting things that don’t make sense, that defy expectation. And once you notice a cluster of patterns, ask why this pattern or more specifically: “Hmm, I wonder why that is?”
The better you become at noticing things and then seeking out the truth, the more insights you’ll have and the more interesting the world will become to you. As a by product you’ll also become more interesting to other people 🙂
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- How to have more insights (psychologytoday.com)
- Marc Lesser: The Secret to Insight: Letting Go of the Mind (huffingtonpost.com)