In a recent article in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researcher Rex Jung and his colleagues concluded that when you want to loosen associations, let your mind wander freely, imagine new possibilities, and silent the inner critic (a.k.a., get creative and come up with interesting and novel ideas), it’s good to reduce the activation of the Executive Attention Network and increase the Imagination and Salience Networks.

In other words, you want to block out the external world and retreat inwards.

I'd like to tell that inner critic to take a hike. Thanks for the inspiration!