This social media post by organisational psychologist Adam Grant was prompted by the research findings reported below.
“Drifting is a special form of attention where we are engaged with the world around us but not focused on getting something done” … meaning we have left mundane world and entered either primal world or a combination of mundane and primal worlds.In the book Blue Mind, marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols states “Being near water allows us to access a semi-meditative state known as ‘drifting’. Drifting is a special form of attention where we are engaged with the world around us but not focused on getting something done.”
A study done by the University of California Davis showed that just looking at a body of water can decrease heart rate and blood pressure.
There is a reason why many of us enjoy sitting near rivers, lakes and beaches. Being near natural water is one of the powerful ways to nurture the nervous system.Reference: Richard G. Coss, Craig M. Keller, Transient decreases in blood pressure and heart rate with increased subjective level of relaxation while viewing water compared with adjacent ground | Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 81, 2022, 101794 | Download pdf
My source: Instagram, @scienceofessentials
Recent studies show that living near parks or natural green spaces reduces anxiety and depression by about 20%.
The Guardian, 13 March 2026 | See also How a dose of nature is treating mental illness in the same issue of The Guardian
Rick Beato (prominent music YouTuber): Do you write while you’re touring?
Dominic Miller (Sting’s guitarist): I don’t write while I’m touring. It doesn’t inspire me so much. I like to write when everything stops. I need to summon the ideas, to turn on the signals. I turn on the wifi. And I go for long walks. And I get into that creative zone. And I open the windows to creativity.Dominic Miller Wrote The Most Famous Riff Of All Time — YouTube video (1:03:43) featuring Rick Beato and Dominic Miller
View more stories from songwriters and others about co-creating with intent
Faith is the precondition
Faith is a much-abused term, often derided in modern secular circles as the blind obedience to some arbitrary authority. But it has a wiser and more useful meaning: faith as a critical but curious mind’s readiness to adopt a reality model (even if provisionally) for which there is less than absolute, empirical proof.
Jay B. Gaskill, The Dialogic Imperative (download)
View more quotes about faith
Faith — believing without believing, acting without certainty — is the essential precondition for transcending the mundane.
It enables the newcreator to establishing a connection with the originating and fulfilling aspects of intent (also known as spirit, source, the Tao and many other names). enter primal world and activate natural imagining.
Read more about intent’s dual aspects
The newcreator’s breathing cycle
Before you begin, you must be in a state of faith, with all rules, norms, codes, taboos, beliefs, dogmas, narratives and ideologies packed into a suitcase and left in a locker, to be reclaimed later.
Next, imagine the top of your head is a satellite dish that receives intent’s originating aspect.
Also imagine you have a tail that extends right down to the ground and receives intent’s fulfilling aspect.
As you slowly inhale, imagine intent’s fulfilling aspect rising from the earth, through your tail, all the way up your spine to the top of your head where the satellite dish is perched and into the atmosphere. If you feel comfortable doing so, subvocalise Earth to Heaven.
And as you slowly exhale, imagine drawing the originating aspect down from the air around you, through the satellite dish, all the way down your spine to your tailbone, then down through the imaginary tail and into the ground. Completely empty your lungs. While this is happening, subvocalise Heaven to Earth.
As you continue with this breathing cycle for several minutes, you may become aware of a warm radiance in your heart. This is intent, love, faith, desire or whatever word works for you.
With a bit of practice, the breathing cycle will become second nature.
Walking the talk
When out walking in the countryside or elsewhere, you can combine the breathing cycle with your footsteps.
Right foot down: inhale and subvocalise Heaven to Earth.
Left foot down: exhale and subvocalise Earth to Heaven.
If you sense that these are the wrong way round, it’s OK to transpose them. The important thing is to be consistent from one occasion to the next. The aim is to wire the conscious breathwork into your neurology.
Continue until your intuition says stop, perhaps after five minutes or so.
That’s all there is to it.
Some other ways
River Kenna outlines various ways of balancing the brain’s hemispheres in this Substack. They include the books Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, and The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
Ways to enhance the right hemisphere
Source: Brain Hemispheres & Woke (video) – Iain McGilchrist in conversation with Mark Walsh
- Prayer
- Meditation and mindfulness
- Listening to classical music
- Looking at depth art
- Gazing into the distance
- Watching the clouds
- Star gazing
- Bird watching
- Attending to nature around you
- Doing jigsaw puzzles
- Gratitude practices and blessing people
- Practicing compassion and humility
- Reading spiritual writings
- Reading, writing or listening to poetry
- Dabbling in creative art
- Singing in a choir
- Dancing and graceful body movements
- Communing with your pets
- Day dreaming
- Listening to sounds in nature and focusing on distant sounds without identifying them
- Humming
- Sitting in churches and cathedrals
- Feeling the breeze in your face
- Experiencing the aroma of damp earth, leaves and trees in the rain
- Listening to a waterfall or standing by one
- Imagining any of these
Read more
The newcreator’s seven powers and three superpowers
Pure perception — what it is, why it matters and how to attain it
Songwriters and others tell stories of co-creating with intent
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