Lehrer writes: “our mind is most likely to solve our stubbornest problems while sitting in a swank Left Bank café. So instead of contemplating that buttery croissant, we should be mulling over those domestic riddles we just can’t solve.”

I disagree- I think that it isn’t simply being in a different environment that helps you to see new problems in a different way- I think that an important piece of the puzzle is notbeing intently focused on those same problems while traveling. When you’re traveling you have more of a clear head- you’re focused only on what’s right in front of you. Your mind ends up wandering back to those same problems, but it can see them in a different way, outside of the patterned thinking that has led you to the same dead end when tackling these problems head-on. I find the same effect when I completely put aside what I am working on and let my mind wander. What are your thoughts?

(If interested, my post on the subject is here:http://www.brettbolkowy.com/2010/01/why-i-travel.html)