I've spent the last few days at my company's National Convention. I had the privilege of seeing our keynote speaker yesterday, Erik Wahl, talk about unlocking different areas of the brain, in order to not only embrace change, but to champion it through creative thinking. It's actually the second time I've seen him, and it was no less entertaining than the first time. For anyone who's interested, you should check him out (www.theartofvision.com, or on twitter @ErikWahl). He has a very relevant and timely message, which he delivers with humor, cool music, cool videos, and an amazing aptitude/talent for art. It's very cool...I'm a big fan.
While his message was tailored for my company and its future direction, much of it resonated with me in a different way. To paraphrase Erik's keynote message...we grow up, get into the business world, become more logical and numbers driven, and shut off the creative sides of our brain. Unlocking the creative sides of our brains allows us to be intuitive, creative, and to see different ways of tackling issues and understanding that change is not only good...it's often necessary.
Followers of this little blog will know that my thing is all about finding and maintaining balance. After listening to Erik's message yesterday, I realized its impossible to be balanced without tapping into both sides of your brain.
Think about it...we all know somebody who is totally dominated by one side or the other. Everyone has a friend who has 1,000 great ideas a minute, but cannot focus for even 10 seconds on the logical steps required to execute one of those ideas. On the the flip side, we all know somebody who is so logical that they have no sense of humor, and cannot tolerate anything "outside the lines" of that part of their brain. For me, whether this is in a professional, emotional, spiritual, physical or financial context, both of these scenarios represent imbalance...and...unfulfilled potential.
For those of us dominated by the logical side, Erik spoke of how the smell of a crayon can actually reduce blood pressure in adults by 10 points. Sniff the crayon, people! I know I will be...every day...from now on! For those in the "1,000 ideas a minute" crew, take 25 deep breaths after one of those ideas. Focus on how to implement one of them, because I'm sure it will benefit all of us in the long run.
In closing...there's two halves to our brains. There can be no proper balance when one half totally dominates the other. Open up both sides. Explore your full potential!
Namaste
Absolutely brilliant posting Mike! Thrilled to see you continuing to write and enjoyed your perspective on what you got out of Erik's message yesterday as well! See you later tonight.... and keep up the great work my friend
ReplyDeleteVery cool Mike, I took away that you also have to be willing to throw away old perspectives before you can actually let both sides of your brain be fully open to new ideas and thoughts.
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