Waking Up With Solutions

I am a big believer in manifesting one’s reality, mainly because I have seen the positive results of my own intentional materializations. The first time I remember learning about the power of visualization, I was around ten years old and the Olympic Athlete Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn Jenner) was being interviewed about his training process for competitions. Jenner used a powerful combination of rigorous physical training and mental preparation to excel in the decathlon, including visualization and mental rehearsal. Training extensively for four years, logging 6-8 hours a day, every day, Jenner visualized winning, including specific details like standing on the victor's platform with a gold medal. 

Visualization seemed like a brilliant idea to me and I began experimenting immediately! I visualized winning tennis tournaments, going on vacation to Disney World, traveling to Hawaii and what it would feel one day when I lived in my own apartment without any strict patriarchal influences. I basically taught myself how to embrace daydreaming and parlayed it into a significant coping mechanism which I believe helped me achieve higher test scores throughout my high school and college career. What it didn’t deliver on was my pining to become popular and attractive to my peers…Aw-well!

Fast forward a few decades, and I still continue to flex and develop my practice of visualization expanded it to meditation and taking time each week for a few intentional walks where I focus on lining up new, but achievable goals.

Just the other day, during a business meeting with a potential new client, I was asked if I ever get stuck and how I have dealt with writer’s block or a creativity drought. That got me thinking about my best method of solving problems as issues arise. And that’s when it hit me about how much effort and time I have put into visualization over the years as it relates to problem solving. I also wondered if I could begin to utilize lessons learned to help some of my clients and teams with manifesting their own solutions. I never considered this a formal practice, but the more I researched visualization techniques, the more I realized I had created a successful process with great outcomes and I should share this!

Manifestation techniques encompass varying methods to attract desired results, including visualization, affirmations, gratitude journaling, scripting, vision boards, and meditation, all aimed at aligning thoughts and actions with desired results. 

Steve Calechman, a contributor at Harvard Health Publishing of Harvard Medical School posted an article in May of 2021 about how one can use sleep to solve problems. He stated, “ The brain is doing its nighttime job of finding connections, so when we wake up, we have a different take…there are ways to accept the nightly review of the day so it doesn't turn into a sleepless assessment of our entire lives.”

So, as we settle into bed, our brain begins a kind of mental sorting process, scanning through the day’s events to identify anything unresolved. It zeroes in on experiences that carried emotional weight—those with an “affective buzz.” These emotional signals act like markers, telling the brain, “This mattered. There’s more here to unpack.” In a way, it’s as if the brain is offering to lend a hand: “Let me work on this for you.”

Two key factors contribute to this process. First, the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for logic, impulse control, and decision-making—powers down. With this rational filter removed, the brain is free to make looser, more creative connections, allowing background processing to take over.

Then, during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the brain dials down the activity of two important chemicals: norepinephrine and serotonin. Norepinephrine, in particular, is linked to focused, task-oriented thinking. “It’s why you don’t want to hear about someone’s amazing idea when you’re racing to meet a deadline,” Without it, the brain is better able to explore possibilities without fixating on immediate concerns.

Solving problems through sleep is a real phenomenon, and it’s rooted in how the brain processes information when we’re no longer consciously focused on it. Here’s how the process works, step by step:

🧠 1. Tagging During the Day

As you go about your day, your brain keeps track of emotionally charged or unresolved issues—especially those that feel important. These moments get "tagged" in memory by emotional cues (called affective salience), signaling that there’s something worth returning to later.

😴 2. Wind-Down and Pre-Sleep Sorting

When you get into bed, your brain starts a kind of mental triage. It reviews the day’s events, especially the unfinished ones, and pulls out the ones that feel significant. This isn't a conscious process—your brain is doing this quietly in the background. You may want to take some time to jot down a specific problem that you would like your brain to work on solving.

🛌 3. Prefrontal Cortex Powers Down

As you fall asleep, especially in deeper sleep stages, the prefrontal cortex—the part responsible for logic and control—shuts down. Without this "editor," your mind becomes more open to free association, letting unusual connections and ideas come together.

💭 4. REM Sleep: The Creative Engine

During REM sleep:

• Levels of norepinephrine and serotonin drop, which means you're less focused on external tasks and more open to internal reorganization.

• The brain becomes more associative and creative. It blends memories, ideas, and emotions, allowing for problem-solving in novel ways.

• Dreams often occur in this stage—and some people even report breakthroughs or sudden insights in dreams.

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🌅 5. Waking Insight

Sometimes you wake up with a clear solution, a new idea, or a fresh perspective. Even if you don’t consciously remember dreaming about the problem, your brain has been quietly working it out while you slept. I have found that many times the answer you wake up with tends to be an excellent solution!

To re-cap… Sleep helps solve problems by removing mental filters, boosting creative associations, and giving the brain uninterrupted time to process complex information in the background. Keep a pen and some notepaper or a journal on your nightstand next to where you sleep. Once you wake up, be intentional about taking notes because I have found that I often forget the details and wish later on that I had jotted down my initial insights.

Tell me about any problem solving you have done in your sleep or better yet, see if you can get into the practice and share your stories. Imagine what we could solve as a village if we were all intentional about this process!

Link to article Harvard Health Publishing: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-to-solve-a-problem-202105242463