Part 2: The Brain- Body Solution
-Do Be Do Be Do
“The meaning of life is to give
life meaning.”
―
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“The point is not what we
expect from life, but rather what life expects from us.”
―
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Are these the only ways?
With human endeavors,
the paths are as varied as the richness of human experience. Perhaps, we can
explore another path. This is the helicopter tactic, what I call the out of
body approach.
Imagine you
are 10,000 feet looking down. At yourself. Reflect deeply on his guy. The
values, the beliefs, the character traits. Happy times and the sad. What are
his predominant thoughts? What are his life’s works? What does he engage in at
play? Write down the insights and revelations.
Write broad
categories of the interest he is most likely to be passionate about. Volunteering,
creating, innovating, playing, communicating, selling, teaching and so forth.
It is best to work this out with close friends or family members. Once you nail
a category, you would then explore the specific opportunities. You are the best
person to feel if the opportunity fits.
It’s so much effort. Would I be wasting my time?
Anything
action that you take towards achieving a desired outcome, whether a physical
action or a thought is never wasted. It will grow your speed and power towards
that achievement. Neuroscientists have discovered that the massive action you
take on a focus through doing and thinking, the concept of deep practice and
deep thinking, will strengthen your neural connections along the pathway of the
brain regions associated with your deep desires. Depending on your effort, you
could speed up your thinking response by 100 times and the processing power by
up to 3000 times, making you so much more effective in finding and achieving
what you desire.
Fundamentally,
to get out of the stuck, you must do. It is the brain-body connection. The more
you do, the more and faster you will discover what elevates you.
Okay. What if I think I have my passion but still face inertia?
People in all
fields face inertia, more so at an inflection point in their career or life.
Writers,
experiencing writer’s block are recommended to do free writing. Setting a
duration which they will have to write on pieces of paper, anything. Anything
that comes to mind. The famous Julia Cameron morning pages. Write every morning,
whatever that comes to mind, in long form on three pages of full size paper.
Writing to discover.
Innovative
entrepreneurs get out of their rut by taking existing innovations apart and fix
them in a new way. Or they improve a function. They might even take the best of
two ideas and merge them into a new product. New does not have to be really
new. NIH (Not Invented Here) paradigm is dead. Large consumer product
corporations often unabashedly ask their R&D to copy and make better
existing products. I read that one of the corporate strategies of a popular
consumer maker is to get 40% of new ideas outside their company.
For artists,
sometimes, they are asked to steal. Steal ideas, add your original twist and
make it your own. When I wanted to draw after laying off for a long time, I
could not get the strokes right. They were clumsy and not flowing. Luckily, I
did not lose it all. I persisted with my effort. Sometime, copying others. I
copied Manga comics. I copied cartoonists. I copied You Tube artists. I feel
that I am slowly getting back my kungfu in sketching. The other thing that
neuroscientists found is that, if you don’t use it you lose it. You will lose
the neural connection over time, through weakening, if unused.
Dire
consequences may befall. Scientists also found that being stuck will lead to
boredom and depression. It will accelerate the onset of heart disease, Alzheimer’s
and dementia.
Another way
to stimulate your brain is to be curious. Albert Einstein, arguably one of the
greatest scientists ever claimed, “I have no special talent. I am only
passionately curious.” To be curious, pick something and ask ‘why?’ “Why is the
sky blue.” Spend time finding out. My joy is looking at graphic designs and try
to figure out its’ correlations to the brand, asking, “what can I see?” One of
my favorites is the Fedex logo. I think the designer is a genius with
simplicity.
Other suggestions include strategies that reduce stress, which may be one of the causes. These include visiting different places, talking with different people, simplifying your environment and, simply, taking a break. Take long walks. Be with nature. Meditate.
Other suggestions include strategies that reduce stress, which may be one of the causes. These include visiting different places, talking with different people, simplifying your environment and, simply, taking a break. Take long walks. Be with nature. Meditate.
Do you have a favorite way to get out of stuck?
Other than
the timeline exercise, I think stuck time is a time for you to prepare. Prepare
for what? Make a positive, life enhancing choice and focus on the preparation.
For me, I have decided to write a book. I just made the decision. No pressure. I
started work on what I wanted to write and I am doing the research. I have
decided on the title and have designed the book cover. I have framed a few
copies and placed them at my favorite places in the house. My visual boards. Getting
stuck is prep time.
To force deep
thinking, I write notes from the books I read. I have three folders. Notes.
Contemplation. Action plans. I will review the notes and contemplate on each
idea. Challenge it or extrapolate more ideas which are beneficial. Once I achieve
clarity, I proceed to application, developing action plans. The action plans
will force deep practice.
Ask Viktor Frankl's two catalyst questions, "what meaning can I give to my life?' and "what does life expect of me?"
Ask Viktor Frankl's two catalyst questions, "what meaning can I give to my life?' and "what does life expect of me?"
Trust your
inner self. You will lead you out of the muck. Just keep taking actions. The
solution cannot be processed like a continuum. Sometimes, you have to take a
break. Don’t set expectations, stressed yourself for a quick fix. It doesn’t
work that way. Make this your mantra; “results take time and effort.” Let the momentum you have created in your brain stir, simmer and percolate. One day, at
the most unlikely time such as when you are in the midst of a serious business
in the washroom or when you are on the way to a dinner, you will get the ‘Aha!
moment.’ You will be shown the way out of your predicament.
This is a
summary of an explanation by neuroscientist Dr. Mark Beeman on how we come to
the final idea, by way of other activities. I can’t remember where I steal this
passage from, my apologies to the original writer, but I am stealing it with
pride.
“A series of
studies have used the electroencephalography (EEG) and the functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural correlates of the ‘Aha! Moment’ and
its antecedents. Although the experience of insight is sudden and can seem
disconnected from the immediately preceding thought, these studies show that
insight is the culmination of a series of brain states and the processes
operating at a different time scales.”
Great stuff! I am going to do something
with this information.
Please do. It’s
all about doing.
What about
you? Do you have anything to add?
End.