12 May

Posted at 19:10h in Neuroscience & behavior, Social currents by
0 Likes

 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

There was that summer, many years ago, when my travels through the rough seas of mental pain hit a category 5 hurricane. My heart grieved losses so catastrophic, so life-crushing, that I lost all anchors. It felt like my brain had detached from my skull, that is was swirling and shifting inside my head.  I was in depression severe enough to have me dissolve into rivers of tears, so sudden, that I had to bolt from the dinner table and go hide until the storm passed. I needed to do something to not drown.

Know when you need help

And I did: I explored everything. The magic of therapists, and of mind-bending gurus; Medications; And meditations, kirtans, retreats, temples in Indian valley villages, I needed help. I did everything by the book: Sat through deep breathing exercises, trying to let my thoughts come and go without engaging them, without judging, passively staying in the one breath.

“You can do anything for one breath”, they said. “Your mind will be constantly buzzing, just let it be”; “try slow-eating a raisin for 5 minutes”. The problem was the mind, the mind, the mind. “We need to silence the mind”. Everybody was convinced that therein laid the root of human suffering.

(more…)

09 Aug

Posted at 21:23h in Social currents by
0 Likes

Photo by Haley Lawrence on Unsplash

I was a just little girl.

That evening, I was playing on the floor next to my father’s armchair, when I accidentally knocked over his cigarette holder. His cigarettes all spilled out. He got fuming mad. He demanded that I pick them up and replace them in the holder. He yelled at me to apologize. I refused to do either. I froze as this went on for a couple of hours. I cried, but never apologized.

It was downhill from there. As a teenager, he imposed a 9 pm curfew. If I showed up at 9:05, there would be punishment. Delivered with a belt with a buckle, on the front steps of the house, no discussion. I remember the day that the rage in me became a distinct object that lived in my throat: I had just gotten t my hands on my first Beatles record, when he pulled it from the player and smashed it on his knee — because he did not like the lyrics. I was devastated.

For decades, I carried that fury around. It seeped into everything in my life. I remained stubborn, I couldn’t trust anyone, I had authority issues.

What do you do with all this damage?

(more…)

22 Jul

Posted at 13:00h in Better thinking by
0 Likes
questions hands
Dazed by rhetoric, sounds bites, and  confusing messages?
Figuring out what is going on can be done: by learning to ask better, deeper, sharper questions.
Yet, no one teaches us how to ask – what exactly to ask, whom and what to question. Here is a simple guide.
No one teaches us how to ask Questions. Everyone is constantly focused on our answers.
(more…)

06 Apr

Posted at 17:52h in Better thinking by
0 Likes
Most guides to decision-making focus on project management or people management skills. Yet, the core of clear decision-making is, undoubtedly, problem-solving. Without excellence in problem-solving, the task- and people-management skills – as important as they are – will not shed light on the issues! This is how to recognize and practice skillful problem-solving.

How can you tell world-class problem-solving from sloppy, incomplete or inaccurate work?

(more…)

10 Aug

Posted at 15:22h in Better thinking, Neuroscience & behavior by
0 Likes
oculusbrain

http://www.businessinsider.com/image/5373d131eab8ea310d52974e/

My brain seems to be going a million miles an hour, every hour. It is constantly busy. I cannot find peace, it bothers me.

Is there a way to stop this? Is it any good anyway?

The good news is, the answer is yes. There is a way. The bad news is that it takes work. Effort. Until you make it a habit (See here about habits).

  • My brain is firing constantly because that is what brains do. It’s a muscle.
  • What I am really after though, is some relief. A destination. Some point where there is meaning, not noise.

A useful brain is a disciplined brain. The other kind is just torture.
(more…)

09 Jul

Posted at 18:18h in Better thinking by
0 Likes
The-Thinker-Auguste-Rodin-French-1840-1917
The point of thinking is action. Unless we target an action – decisions! –  all our thinking has zero impact. Focus your mind away from mindlessless and towards decisions.
Thinking is a much revered activity. We do a lot of it. So we should really ask the ask the Question:

What is the point? In other words, what comes out of all this thinking? What should come out of all this thinking?
Take a moment to think about that… 🙂

(more…)