Mental Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a neurological condition characterised mainly by episodes of sleep and a disorder of REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep. Basically falling asleep all of a sudden for a short period and then normally functioning again. Using it metaphorically, I think of it being related to a creative block. You might have heard of it in terms of a writers block; where ideas just stop to come. We all experience this some time or the other. There are many ways given by many people to break through such a block.

What’s Mental Narcolepsy?. In a state of creative block, the ability to think goes into a sudden state of “sleep”. That is related to narcolepsy. Somehow.

Well then thinking of how it all makes sense, and when the block itself has such a established record and local research work being done on it, why give it yet another name. Here the cures for narcolepsy come in picture, assuming creative block a sought of disease and not merely a state of mind. We can come to a cure for it. Before that, there is another thing about narcolepsy that has a strong connection to the block, it is not permanently curable. Only the symptoms can be avoided by various means. The psychological cure for it is very basic. Things like taking short naps, and specially before doing things that are of risk in such conditions(driving, etc). Breaking up larger tasks into small pieces and focusing on one small thing at a time. Carrying a tape recorder, if possible, to record important conversations and meetings. It is quite explicitly visible here the direct application in breaking through a creative block. From personal experience I know it works. Short naps refresh the mind and bring a fresh perspective to the mind, breaking tasks into smaller tasks helps to concentrate on more intricate details and thus refining the thoughts and ideas. Carrying a recording medium helps capture those split second genius ideas that cross the mind just fast enough to miss them yet know they were something productive.

(Written in January, 2007)