While driving my thirty-mile commute to and from work, I often listen to music or audiobooks. They have redeemed hours of dull highway driving with entertainment and inspiration. But I’ve been finding that I sometimes enjoy the silence, especially after a day of frenetic work. The car gives me an excuse for uninterrupted reflection.

I think we have far too few opportunities for our thoughts to wander and perform the slow, subconscious processing that brings us the most striking and creative solutions to problems. Maybe we all need to be forced to reflect for part of every day. Maybe it would improve the conditions of our society if it were impossible for anyone to go from morning till night without an introspective or self-aware thought.

There’s a fascinating book I read a while back, called Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, that dealt with the science behind this “slow” variety of thinking. It is definitely worth reading. There’s overwhelming evidence that reflective, intuitive thought is the best way to solve a certain sort of problems.