Our Mighty Brains

When presented with a problem or challenge that defies an instant solution I push the problem to the back of my brain. It may be minutes, it may take years, but eventually the answer spits back out. I refer to them as “A-Ha!” moments, because quite simply, that’s what they are.

Our brains are working all the time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Think about how amazing this is—our brains can work on problems and figure things out even while we are dreaming! Perhaps that is why I cringe when I hear someone say “I’m so dumb” or “My poor little brain”. Negative self-talk aside, which I addressed in a previous entry, these statements are so very far from true.

Each of us has the most powerful organic, problem-solving, creative, and intelligent tool that exists on the face of this earth. Each of us! This tool never sleeps, it never stops, and it begins working long before the moment of our birth and never stops until we take our last breath on this earth. It regulates every beat of our heart, coordinates the deeply complex functions of our bodies, and grows and learns along life’s long journey.

So why is it that we ignore its potential? Why is it that we often sell ourselves short and believe we can’t do XYZ?

I mentioned in a previous entry that I realized out of the blue one day that I was reading non-fiction, and understanding it. Cover to cover, chapter for chapter, I didn’t have the problem reading and understanding the material that I once would have had. What changed? My perceptions changed—for a short while I literally forgot that I was ‘incapable’ of reading non-fiction. When I realized that I had been reading non-fiction books and understanding and learning and retaining the information, my pre-supposition was shattered. My dad would call it ‘re-visiting premises’, I call it an “a-ha” moment.

For years I asked myself, “What do I want to do with my life?” Or tongue in cheek I would say to others, “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” I set my brain to work on that question and it finally spit out an answer the other day. I’m 37 now, so I figured it was high time I got an answer on the subject!

Then answer was simple and complicated at the same time, “Anything I want bad enough to set my sights on.”

Here is the icing on the cake. Are you ready?

It doesn’t have to be just one thing, forever, with nothing else.

Look here, it isn’t the 1950’s and you don’t have to go to work for one company for the rest of your life if you don’t want to. Not just that, but who says that taking a part-time job flipping burgers isn’t a fine start to making ends meet while you work on your skills as an artist, or writer? Don’t look for answers outside of yourself from the people who surround you—search your mind and your heart for the answers that are right there waiting to bust out. Take that idea, that dream, and run around with it in your hands, ruminate over it while you sleep. Find all the ways that you can think of to make it happen, in its originally visualized form or as something else entirely. Do you need some examples of how to make it happen? Read on, here are some of my main goals:

• I’ve wanted to be a writer for so many years. So I write in my blogs, all four of them. I write in my journals, all twenty of them (give or take a handful), and I work on and off on my different creative writing projects.

• I’ve also wanted to be my own boss—so I started two businesses and am well on my way to starting a third. I want to help others find their way and give back to the community – so I study to be a life coach and started a business focus group for other like-minded entrepreneurs.

• I want to raise my child myself and not put her in daycare—so I’m a stay at home, nursing mom of a fantastic 13 month old.

• I want to own real estate and be a good landlord for others—so I’m researching the real estate market now and hoping to put aside enough to buy my first investment property.

• I want to raise my own vegetables—and when I have the time, I plan the garden, prep the beds for ‘lasagna gardening’, and look forward with great anticipation to spring.

• I want to work on various craft projects, experiment with new recipes in the kitchen, and travel to Europe—and I dabble in the second goal on a regular basis, rarely have time for craft projects at present (though that will change in future years when we are homeschooling), and by golly, I am dead-set on getting to Europe within 3-4 years at the latest!

Do all of these things happen at the same time? No way! Sometimes I barely manage to keep the diapers changed while I deal with emergency cancellations or re-schedules for the cleaning business. Other days I take naps with the princess or read from my Life Coaching studies or write long emails.

You don’t have to have all of these things pulling you. You may only have one or two. My goodness, just think, if you only have a couple to work on just imagine what you can get accomplished!

Our mighty brains are capable of so much. Not just mine, not just the rich guy down the street, but every one of us has this potential to be so much more.

Turn off the television.

Stop surfing the internet.

Put down that video game controller!

And ask your brain a couple of very important questions…

What can I do to make my life the life I have dreamed of? How can I be MORE?

If it takes asking the question each morning and each night for the next week, month, or year…won’t that time be well worth it when you realize what the answer is? Set the task, and keep it in your mind. Make lists, brainstorm, and let your creativity (yes, we are ALL creative in some way) throw out crazy ideas. Write them all down in a notebook. Begin the process NOW!