Flexible Brains for Hearts, Bodies and Problem Solving

Flexible Brains, Hearts and Lives.

What are brains for?

Learning.

Learning what?

How to stay out of trouble. Hence habits that we cling to since they once “worked” to avoid some problem.

And, learning how to be happier, or do something better. As early as learning how to roll over, crawl and walk. Our brains learned that. How to get along with others. How to have a good time. How to make friends. Our brains learned that.

And now, what would YOUR brain like to learn?

And how could being flexible in your approach radically accelerate your learning?

Learning is what? Let’s get this amazingly useful concept front and center: 

Learning is the noticing of a difference that makes a difference.

That’s worth repeating: Learning is the noticing of a difference that makes a difference.

Let’s take three kinds of learning that might point toward a better, more enjoyable, more potent life.

Emotional.

I’m sure this doesn’t ever happen to you, but some people are known to have people in their lives who annoy them.

To use a brain to change this around, let’s toy with a central variable in how people perceive others who annoy them.

They think the annoying one is wrong and should change.

Okay, if this were about flexible hearts, we could hint at saintly behavior and loving the annoying ones anyway.

But, let’s use the brain systematically  to try other ways of dealing with this.

One, what if the annoying one is not wrong. Wait, wait, this doesn’t have to be believed. Just tried out.

So, one difference: they aren’t wrong.

Difference two: what if, in some small and almost infinitesimal, we are wrong.

Difference three: what if, again, in some small and almost infinitesimal way, there is some change we might bring into the equation.

( Hint: it’s usually to change in the way we want them to change. But that’s a bigger story. This story, is that letting our brains change the construct around gives us a vastly more free and perhaps congenial way of relating to an “annoying” person.

Movement.

This, of course, is the stock and trade of the Feldenkrais® work. So we need only the slightest example, since all the lessons, thousands of them, require a flexible approach to movement, that results in large improvement, by varying something, often varying something rather small.

So, we want to turn to the left to see better over our left shoulder in a sitting position. This could help driving safety,  say.

The old model, is to yank our neck to the left, and then yank a little more.

One variation that is yank free, would be to put the back of our right hand on our left check, and with the hand there, turn to the left in a way that involves our right shoulder and our ribs.

And the turning is easier.

A second variation.

Push your right hip forward so that your pelvis rotates to the left. Do this as you look to the left. See if that is a difference that makes a difference.

A third, and this is similar to the first, but I like it because it’s so self-friendly. Hug ourselves by holding the opposite armpit with each hand. ( Figure it out. It feels good).

In this hug, rotate our ribs to the left as we look to the left.

Finally. Using the self hug, and our right knee forward at the same time, rotate our face and ribs and pelvis to the left and notice the ease and increase in this movement.

Problem solving.

This is a little trickier, since we don’t have a specific problem, and let’s have flexible brains and play with this too.

One variation:

Think of three ways to make the problem even worse. How could we lock it down and make it more intractable?

Two:

Think of three really silly ideas, that have no merit whatsoever, apparently, but write or doodle them out.( Robbing a bank to make more money, say)

Three:

Come up with three possible new approaches, that go against the first variations, and create any small shift.That is: whatever would make it worse, do less or the opposite and doodle, write, brainstorm them out into the world of though experimentation.

Four:

Find the one of the most promising of these ways and find ways to make even smaller sub changes toward making that happen.

This is perhaps too abstract.

Alas, that is one thing brains are good at : thought experiments. You could use your brain to try out the third example in your own real life and your own real variations.

Or, you could skim on to the next thing.

Flexible brains get to make decisions.

Aware brains, know when the decision is being made.

It’s your brain. Enjoy it.

It’s your awareness. Thrive from it.