What are ‘a-ha’ moments, and why are they so important?

An ‘a-ha’ moment is when you realise something. Understand something. Make a mental connection. Figure something out.

The proper name is cognition = ‘the mental process, or part responsible, for gaining knowledge; that which comes to be known, as through perception, reasoning or intuition; knowledge.’

Basically it means the moment you go from not-knowing…to knowing…and it happens in an instant.

Yes there may be a lead up to the moment, and yes, it may be a long one — but the actual transition from not-knowing to knowing can be measured in the blink of an eye.

Describing an ‘a-ha’ moment

It’s like a ‘Ping’ or a ‘Pop’ that then spreads out as ripples in a pond — at least, that’s how it is for me.

Take notice next time you have one, of the actual feeling that takes place, and more importantly, whereabouts in your body you experience it. (We’ll come back to this shortly.)

So why are they so important?

There’s the obvious answer — that ‘a-ha’ moments are the gaining of knowledge. But there’s something else going on, at an energetic level, that can have much greater effects on your health and wellbeing.

‘A-ha’ moments are an evolutionary process.

Now before we come at this head-on, I’d like to revisit something I mentioned earlier — the feel of an ‘a-ha’ moment.

Having brought my own attention to these strange occurrences over an extended period of time, I truly believe there is something unique and powerful happening here. I hope by bringing your attention to them, you too will see the importance of cultivating an awareness of their existence.

As to the feeling itself, here’s a few ways to describe it:

• A light comes on

• One’s mind expands

• A ‘ping’ that reverberates throughout the body

• The thought washed over me

• I was flooded with perception

• A wave of understanding

Now to the actual process. While it is definitely instantaneous, there does seem to be two parts:

There is the ‘ping’, the ‘pop’, the ‘aaa-…’ part of ‘a-ha’ — followed by the reverberation, the wave, or the ‘…haaa’ part.

From a purely physical perspective, what’s happening is a new connection has been made in our brains, a gap has been bridged, a new pathway forged. These are the effects of our ‘a-ha’ moments as the wave spreads out or the ripple of knowing sinks in.

But if these are the effects, what is the cause?

And more importantly, what is happening on an energetic level?

Inspiration

Anyone who has ever received an inspirational idea, or had a unique thought will tell you, the idea or inspiration just ‘popped into my mind’.

From ‘out there’ to ‘in here’ — from non-mind to mind.

Now a thought is electrical by nature, and it has its very own unique electromagnetic signature, as do all things.

(You can think of the electrical part as the cause and the magnetic part as the effect — or, as thought and emotion.)

The thought is an electrical pattern we receive — by creating the conditions that allow ourselves to do so — and the emotion is the effect of that thought = energy-in-motion, on the body. 

[Note: It’s easy to see how we can block inspiration — by closing ourselves off from new thoughts or getting stuck in old ones — and thus close ourselves off from our potential self.]

But what happens when we do receive these electrical patterns, and they start to mix with all the other patterns we’ve gathered over time?

• New patterns are formed

• New blends

• New connections

• New waveforms and electromagnetic fields and rewiring of the brain and new ratios of chemicals flowing throughout our bodies.

What’s holding you back?

Can you imagine all the possibilities and potentials being held back when we remove the ability of people to draw their own conclusions?

Of having and experiencing their own ‘a-ha’ moments?

What happens when we give someone an answer — a synthetic form of energy made up by another — rather than allow them to create the conditions needed for the answer to occur naturally?

This is why ‘a-ha’ moments are so important.

This is why they must be drawn out or educed (to educe = ‘to draw out’ = the true meaning of education) — not forced or pushed in.

There is no formula for this process, only the creation of receptive states and the allowance of time.

But the creation of these states is of utmost importance if we are to build and maintain strong minds, agile bodies and dynamic self-awareness.

The more ‘a-ha’ moments we have, the more we evolve, thrive and feel energetically alive.

And…the more we come to understand what it is we’re here for.

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"Master the Simple, Master the Complex."

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