Archivi dei tag: Intelligence

Why Unplugging Your Mind Is Important to Find Yourself

When e-mails, text messages, conference calls, Webex, Whatspp, FB, Instagram, Tweeter, Google and anything else from your partner to your boss invade your lives, it becomes necessary for your survival to stop for a while and be silent. That’s why unplugging your mind is crucial.

Our always connected minds take us away from the best of ourselves and our creative potential.

Referring constantly to what one or the other has said, we forget to connect to our essential being, which is unique and precious.

We have become individuals driven by technological change that moved away from ourselves, from our awareness of being human, from the first component of Emotional Intelligence (EI). EI is recognized today as a condition of success in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world, as it is the one we live in today.

Refocusing, looking inside, listening to silence and our inner voice. In the depths of ourselves we find an enormous amount of resources and our most authentic creativity: it is our treasure, a unique, rich and colorful, magical place where everything is open and possible.

In this space, we can find synchronicity, messages and insights that will enable us to make the right decisions for our lives. Real relationships can arise, authentic relationships between sincere people who are now masked by the ego that continues to rule us.

What to do then?

Give yourself moments of silence! Be for a while without your mobile phone. Go out for a walk without it, walk with no direction in nature and feel, look, listen, use all your senses to the maximum.

Be present in this unique moment and let yourself be pervaded by the harmony that surrounds you.

Practice your favorite hobby, and if you do not have it, think about finding one. Quietly cooking at home, knitting, painting, drawing, gardening and all the other activities that you may be passionate about.

Stop for a moment and stop moving from one activity to another, from one piece of information to another. Your brain can not take it anymore, it also needs a rest. Give yourself time to deepen the reasons for your choices and discover the reason for your being, your purpose.

People feel lost. Most probably they are really lost: they have disconnected from themselves to live in connection with the social networks.

Therefore, unplugging your mind is very important for your wellbeing. Learn to find some space for yourself and your deeper needs. And live your life fully. You deserve it!

Do You Often Forget Things?

Do you often forget things, from the most trivial trifle to the most important thing you have in mind?

Don’t worry, as one study has found out that:

“The point of memory is not being able to remember who won the Stanley Cup in 1972 but to make you an intelligent person who can make decisions”

While shopping, you may forget one of the most important items you were supposed to buy, or in the middle of a conversation with friends, it’s impossible for you to remember the title or the name of the author of a book you were recommending.

In short, it feels like starting Alzheimer’s because you notice that you have difficulties remembering (almost) everything.

But don’t worry, because a study by two researchers at the University of Toronto (Canada) reveals how important it is to forget.

Paul Frankland and Blake Richards, researchers at the University of Toronto conducted a study that found out that people who are more likely to forget are also the smartest!

“It is of utmost importance that the brain is able to select the information it acquires and eliminates irrelevant details, thus focusing on a more general view to ensure that decisions are made in the most correct way.”

These are the words of Blake Richards denying the belief that those who can remember more things are also the smartest, and confirming almost the opposite. The elimination of unimportant information allows us to increase our analytical abilities, focusing our attention on the fundamental things and avoiding unnecessary work of our brain.

The researchers developed this study after several years of research on memory loss and brain activity, including both humans and animals.

The conclusion is that:

“If you forget occasional details,” Richards says, “it may mean your memory is healthy and doing exactly what it should be doing”.

Are you someone who often forgets things?

You can find more on brain here.

Appreciating the Differences

This story tells us why we should appreciate the differences to build up collective intelligence.

Alone we go faster, together we go further – African proverb

An Indian story tells us about the discovery of an elephant by six blind people.

Each of them touching only a part of the elephant described it differently depending on where they had touched the animal. So, one compared it to a wall, another said a spear, another a snake, or a tree, a fan, or a rope.

They began to argue about what they had felt by touching the elephant. The discussion became very animated because each of them wanted to be right.

A wise man passed by and heard them arguing. Then, he approached them and with a smile said: “The elephant has all the traits that you have described, because you have touched only one part of the animal.  That’s why you describe it differently.”

This story explains well that it is quite inappropriate to be sure that we are right because reality always exceeds our personal visions, our context based on a unique path and limiting beliefs.

Differences when they become obstacles take away the opportunity to broaden our consciousness and enrich collective intelligence, where 1 + 1 equals 3.

Therefore, considering an ally the one who thinks differently rather than an enemy or a rival, would not lead us to add up our different approaches but we will reach new solutions, which would exceed the individual contribution of each of us.

Once again, common sense invites us to be tolerant rather than judgmental, because to judge means to separate but, as the African proverb says, “Alone we go faster, together we go further”.

What do you think about this story?

The Power of Intuition

Intuition has always been a fascinating subject of study. It is generally associated with genius, because the greatest scientific discoveries happened thanks to moments of intuition.

Einstein wrote:

Intuition is a sacred gift of which reason is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and forgets the gift.

In addition, we all know that it is thanks to our intuition that we make some of the decisions of our lives, even if we consider ourselves rational and Cartesian beings.

From the point of view of the Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism) there is no mystery. In the traditional languages of these millennial wisdoms, the terms designating knowledge, consciousness, lucidity are often identical.

Attachment to mental constructions, beliefs, and concepts, as well as the mental agitation that accompanies it, are seen by them as a veil over primordial intelligence. Buddhists explain it like that:

if we do not stir water, it will become clear by itself. In the same way, if we leave unchanged the nature of the spirit, and we do not manipulate it, it will find peace and clarity on its own.

But let’s go back to the West and see that to make a decision we will evaluate three elements:

  1. rational analysis,
  2. emotional aspect,
  3. intuitive wisdom.

However, if we practise meditation, thoughts and emotions would calm down, and intuition would manifest. In fact, there are several testimonies from practitioners who tell that the most creative ideas came at the end of their meditation.

In a linear, predictable, and orderly environment, a rational analysis is often more effective for deciding and planning an action.

On the contrary, in a volatile, unpredictable, or chaotic environment, when the human element predominates, intuitive intelligence becomes useful.

Therefore, meditation is more and more used in our times, as we live in an ever-increasing insecurity and instability.

How intuition works

Intuition draws on three main resources.

  1. Like a tree, the first source is the ramification of its roots. It is the entirety of information, of experiences lived in the past and stored in the unconscious.
  2. The second source is comparable to the leaves of a tree. These are the strong or weak signals, picked up in the present instant.  All these signals are undefined and cannot be evaluated by rational analysis.
  3. The third source is collective intelligence. In fact, our personal intuition can go beyond temporal and spatial limitations. Intuitive intelligence can tap into a nearly unlimited source, outside the limits of time, space, and the individual. All this is normal according to Buddhist philosophy where, for example, the individual, time, and space are conceptual categories created by the mind.
two brown trees
Trees – Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com
How do you synthesize these sources of information?

Cognitive science researchers have tried to answer.

Just before an intuition, there is a “letting go” moment, a descent within us. Then, suddenly, the presence increases, there is a kind of awakening, a feeling of unity and inner agreement. There is also a feeling of evidence, of surprise, of amazement and wonder.

These are the elements that we also find in a meditative experience: letting go, increased presence, awakening, unity.

It is necessary to emphasize the essential place occupied by the body in intuitive intelligence.

How many times have you made rational or emotional decisions while your body opposed it? Did you regret this decision a few days, months or years later? It happened to me several times in my life. I should have listened to the signals that my body sent me and taken them into account when making my decision.

In this regard, body scan meditation can help to develop this sixth sense of intuition. We shall also consider that if we constantly ignore the body’s messages, we might experience illness, pain, or disorder. Which is what happened to me.

Intuition, beyond the help it provides us in making decisions, is our deep inner voice, our wisdom, our most precious guide. It is important to learn to listen to it and to look after it.

To conclude if you hesitate to follow your intuition, try asking yourself these two questions, which will help you clarify what is at stake:

  1. What do I risk following my intuition?
  2. What do I not risk following my intuition?

What do you think about intuition? Do you agree with me that it is powerful?

This article has been previously published on Wise&Shine magazine.

A Lesson from a Horse

Somewhere in the countryside of a country of this world, there was a farmer who owned a very beautiful and strong horse. One day, one worker reported to him that his beloved horse, that had also a great value, fell into an abandoned well.

The worker was very sorry for that bad accident, because he knew that the well was very deep and not accessible. He called some other workers but they could not get the animal out, despite all possible efforts.

The farmer went to see the horse in the well and realised that there was nothing left to do, in spite of the fact that the horse was not injured.

He thought it was not worth saving the horse, the needed efforts would have costed more money and time than buying another one.

So the farmer decided to let the horse in the well and ordered his workers to cover the poor animal with earth, so to bury it. Then he left to go on with his business.

The workers started to throw earth in the well, according to the farmer’s orders. To their surprise, each time they shoveled earth, the horse shook the body and the earth fell to the ground under its legs. The horse walked over it while the well was filling up with earth.

A couple of hours later, the horse had its head out of the well and after some more shovels it jumped out happily.

Although sometimes it seems that some people want only to throw earth on you to make you collapse or desist, you have the same intelligence and willpower to go forward, just like the horse.

When someone tries to discredit you, shake yourself, walk above the earth and come out of that imaginary well. Stop and think why this is happening. Think about the good things of your life. Free yourself from those who want to leave you at the bottom of the well. Act like the horse!