That’s exactly what Einstein use to say. He said he would go by instinct and “circle around it” until the old light bulb would go off, sort of like turning a lens until it was in focus. I found out that is usually the case with great music composers as well like Mozart or Beethoven, Mozart said his best ideas came from the mist, I forget what word he used, while going from a walk or horse ride in a carriage. “It” is there, but they can’t put their finger on it, they circle it by instinct as if another force is directing them. Bob Dylan said the same thing, to this day he has no idea how he wrote those songs. Amazing stuff.
As an intelligent and successful artist, I am of the opinion that it’s more about filtering out / eliminating the worries, etc. that clutter up one’s consciousness in order to allow one to be free to fully focus on the need/task as hand.
I otherwise can’t explain where my ideas come from either.
"Mist" = German word for manure.
Jonathan Swift heartily approves!
Regards,