Contemplative Practices of Cognitive Ease vs. Cognitive Strain
Our minds process information in one of two states.
💡 Think about how differently you respond to the following questions:
What is your name?
What is the sum of 18,263,927 and 18,363?
Chances are your answer to the first one was automatic and intuitive. Your answer to the second one...well it may have required so much more effort that you didn't even bother to do it. (Neither did I.)
The first question allows our minds to operate in a state of cognitive ease. In this state, we operate on instinct, similar to how many artists and creatives do when they're in "flow state" or when we let our imaginations roam free. (In this state, thinking feels fairly easy and intuitive!)
In contrast, the second question requires our minds to enter into cognitive strain. To engage questions like this, we have to focus our minds, dedicating more mental energy to the task at hand. It's like the camera lens of our attention hones in and, instead of the intuitive and spacious experience of cognitive ease, we place a level of focused intentionality and attentiveness upon a particular issue.
This might be a useful framework in thinking about the different ways we engage in our inner work and spirituality.
Inner Work Practices that Engage Cognitive Ease
Take some time to think about the spiritual and connective practices you have, or want to have, that might invite you into a state of cognitive ease.
For example, walking is a big one for me. I will frequently go for long walks without my phone, wandering this way and that wherever my body takes me. After 10 minutes or so, my mind tends to settle and I can find myself thinking and seeing in a new way.
Here are a couple practices that might engage cognitive ease and invite you into your interior life: some forms of meditation, freeform journaling, mandala coloring, chanting, drawing, gazing.
Inner Work Practices that Engage Cognitive Strain
If you're anything like me, podcasts are a big part of your (driving) life.
There are certain podcasts that I zone out to, but there are also a few I can't help but pause repeatedly so I have time to internalize what's just been said. Typically, this looks like me haphazardly pressing pause and then muttering my thoughts to myself in the newfound silence. It's my way of focusing and processing the new information or insight!
Here are some other practices that invite us into cognitive strain: wrestling with an experience or personal story, contemplating a specific topic, reading introspective books, focused journaling, questioning.
Ultimately, healthy and holistic inner work requires us to engage both of these cognitive states.
In the next week or so, think about how you engage your inner life and how you might dedicate time to both practices of cognitive ease and cognitive strain!
This teaching is based on the work of psychologist Daniel Kahneman.
📝 Questions:
What is one practice that brings you into cognitive ease and one that brings you into cognitive strain that you might engage with this week?
When and where will you practice these?
🧰 Resources:
Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
How Meditation Affects Your Brain and Boosts Well-Being (UW Medicine)
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