Whole Brain Thinking
04
October

Are you familiar with the term ‘ambidexterity’? This term is used to describe the ability to use both hands. Famous individuals like Albert Einstein, Fleming, Harry Truman, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were said to be ambidextrous individuals. As you can see, it’s quite hard to use both hands with dexterity. If you’re a right-handed individual, you will find it hard to use you left hand in the same way, and vice versa. Do you think it will be possible to achieve whole-brain thinking? Well, that’s not impossible because you can do that if you know mind mapping.

Being ambidextrous can also be achieved if you’re able to do multiple tasks at the same time. For example, you’re watching TV as you answer the phone; while talking over the phone, you will jot down important notes or information dictated by the person on the other end of the line. If you can do these things, then it can be said that both hemispheres of your brain is functioning. Unknowingly, most individuals are utilizing both hemispheres of their brain everyday in accomplishing their tasks.

How can you identify a person using only his left or right brain hemisphere? To understand it better, you need to know the different qualities that depict the left and right side of the brain. The right hemisphere of your brain is responsible for your qualities such as having artistic abilities, being a risk taker, imaginative, creative, highly philosophical, etc.

While the left hemisphere of your brain is responsible for your qualities like being a conformist, practical, can comprehend effectively, seeks order, etc. If you’re a person who relies on strong intuition and acts subjectively and holistically, you’re a right-brain individual while the left-brain individuals tend to be analytical, logical, and rational.

The mental prowess of individuals depends on how their use the brain. If you try to observe children, you will discover that they are usually using their right brain hemisphere because they display spontaneity, imagination, great creativity, enthusiasm, and open mindedness. As an individual grows older, they also grow socially, culturally, and sometimes racial influences also hold back such natural traits.

If you want to achieve awareness at a much higher level, you must learn to be ambidextrous; that is, you need to use both hemispheres of your brain. The first thing that you need to do is to work on the leaning activities that focus in the right brain hemisphere like analogies, metaphor, patterning, visuals, calculation, and role playing. In order to develop the ambidextrous mind, you can get involved in meditation and reflective thinking.

Mind mapping is one way to achieve an ambidextrous mind. Through mind mapping, you can diffuse your thoughts, thereby streaming thought lines and associations. You can associate effectively if you can find the links to ideas and logic. If you try to explore the ideas and logic, it will eventually lead to creativity, insight, and imagination.

It you want to strengthen your perception clarity, dissemination, and vividness, try to make use of colors, symbols, and pictures in your mind maps. By using mind mapping, you can employ your brain’s subtle aspects.

Start learning about mind maps now; mind mapping is your key to achieving an ambidextrous mind. Whole-brain thinking is difficult to achieve so you will need to work very hard. Good luck.

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7 Blocks To Creative Thinking
27
September

Each of us has the power to be creative. It’s part of our natural make-up as human beings. The trouble is that, too often, we block our natural creativity and so make errors in thinking and give ourselves more problems than we should. Here are 7 ways to open up your natural creativity and keep the channels unblocked.

1. Don’t Make Assumptions. When we assume, we often make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”. Assumptions are examples of lazy thinking. We simply don’t wait to get all the information we need to come to the right conclusions. There is the story of the customer at the bank who after cashing a cheque and turning to leave, returns and says: “Excuse me, I think you made a mistake.” The cashier responds, “I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do. You should have counted it. Once you walk away we are no longer responsible.” Whereupon the customer replies: “Well, okay. Thanks for the extra $20.”

Tip: When you feel yourself wanting to draw conclusions, just wait until you have all the information.

2. See Things From Other Points Of View. A truly open mind is willing to accept that, not only do other people have other just as valid points of view from theirs, but that these other points of view may be more valid. A story is told that the modernist painter Pablo Picasso was once traveling on a train across Spain when he got into conversation with a rich businessman who was dismissive of modern art. As evidence that modern art didn’t properly represent reality, he took out a photo of his wife from his wallet and said: “This is how my wife should look, not in some silly stylized representation.” Picasso took the photo, studied it for a few moments and asked: “This is your wife?” The businessman proudly nodded. “She’s very small,” observed Picasso wryly.

Tip: Don’t have a monopoly on how things are. Things aren’t always what they seem. Be ready to consider other points of view.

3. Avoid Yo-Yo Thinking. Some people tend to have a tendency to swing from a highly positive mood one minute to a highly negative one the next, all because of what they see in front of them. It’s like a yo-yo: up one minute, down the next. It’s far more healthy to stay neutral and not let emotions get the better of you.

Tip: Remember that things are rarely as good – or as bad – as you think they are.

4. Get Rid Of Lazy Thinking Habits. Habit can be a major stumbling block to clear thinking and another example of laziness. Try this experiment. Write down the Scottish surnames Macdonald, Macpherson, and Macdougall and ask someone to pronounce them. Now follow these with the word Machinery and see what happens. Most people are likely to mis-pronounce it. This is because we tend to think in habitual ways and don’t like what doesn’t fit.

Tip: Don’t think that, just because things happened in a certain way once before, that they will happen like that again.

5. Don’t Think Like An Old Person, Think Like A Child. Research shows that the number of synapses, or connections, in the brain is greater in a child of two than in an average adult. The reason for this is that, while a child of two has no limiting world view, as adults we do. It’s like a sculptor who starts off with a large block of clay, more than he needs, and then gradually removes the clay as he moulds his sculpture. If we use our brain like a child, accepting everything without judgment, we can actually halt and reverse the brain ageing process.

Tip: Don’t worry about the myth of age. With the right stimulus and a passion for learning, you can actually improve your brain’s powers.

6. See The Detail As Well As The Big Picture. You may know the poem by John Godfrey Saxe called “The Blind Men and the Elephant”. This tells how six blind men of Indostan go to see an elephant and each try to work out what it is from touching it. One blind man touches the tusk, another the trunk, another the tail, and so on. Of course, not being able to see the whole elephant, they come to wildly different conclusions.

Tip: Try to keep the big picture in front of you while looking at details. It will help to put everything in its proper place and context.

7. Think For Yourself. Taking time out to think is still frowned on in many organizations that prize activity over creativity. People who work in creativity-constrained organizations are likely to think the way they are supposed to think, or as others think, or as has always been the way to think. It’s like the blinkered thinking that Hans Christian Anderson describes in his story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Everyone in the land refuses to see that the emperor is naked and has been duped into believing he is wearing a splendid costume for his coronation. Only a young boy who has been ill and not party to the cultural brainwashing can see the truth and cries out: “Look, everyone, the Emperor is wearing no clothes!”

Tip: Don’t let others tell you how to think. When others ask your opinion, tell it to them straight.

Once you make these 7 techniques part of your habitual thinking patterns, you will amaze yourself with how easy it is to come up with fresh, innovative and creative solutions to all of life’s problems.

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The Importance of Follow-Through
20
September

Whether you’re learning to swing a golf club, baseball bat or tennis racquet, coaches always emphasize the importance of follow-through. It’s not just hitting the ball that matters, it’s how you continue your swing once contact is made.

The same thing applies in job interviews, networking, sales and almost any work situation: without purposeful follow-through on your actions and interactions with others, you won’t really be able to reach your professional potential.

“Failure to meet deadlines, honor commitments, monitor staff, return calls and keep track of long-term projects is the most underrated cause of chaos and failure in business life,” writes Stephanie Winston in Organized for Success.

So often we feel we’ve completed a task because the action of it is “done,” but we underemphasize how powerful it is to continue developing, tracking and monitoring operations and relationships even after they’ve been set in place. As Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan note in Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, “Follow-through is the cornerstone of execution, and every leader who’s good at executing follows through religiously. Following through ensures that people are doing the things they committed to do, according to the agreed timetable.”

It’s Not Just What, But How
When we think of follow-through, we tend to think of taking action. But a large part of follow-through is about first figuring out how things will be done. Once you define your goals, set aside some time to decide just how you will reach them. What steps will be needed to accomplish them? Who will do which steps and when? What is the desired timeline? If a strategy does not address the hows, it is almost certainly doomed to failure.

Take meetings, for instance. A plan for follow-through should be detailed at the end of every meeting. “Never finish a meeting without clarifying what the follow through will be, who will do it, what resources they will use, and how and when the next review will take place and with whom,” Bossidy and Charan suggest.

Organizing and Delegating
A good organizational system will support follow-through more than almost anything. If you are among the organizationally challenged, do one of two things:

1. Make a vow, buy an organization book or two, reserve a weekend or a week, and just do it. Get organized once and for all. You’re not likely to follow through well, if at all, when the disorganization gremlin has hold of you. Getting organized is one of the biggest keys to success; not doing so is an extremely common and most unfortunate form of self-sabotage.

2. Hire someone to organize you and keep you that way. The investment will pay for itself when you begin following through more consistently.

Delegating should also be part of an organizational system. “Getting things done through others is a fundamental leadership skill,” according to Bossidy and Charan. “Indeed, if you can’t do it, you’re not leading.” Delegating is an efficient way to ensure that the greatest number of tasks, including follow-up tasks, get done in the shortest amount of time. In other words, if you want to be successful, don’t be afraid to dole out the workload to others. The key is to always think in terms of the big picture instead of focusing only on whatever task is in front of your face at the moment.

Proactivity and Integrity
Following through means taking action and keeping your word. Below are some additional considerations regarding follow-through.

• When you say you’ll do something, be scrupulous in meeting your commitment, whether to a client, supervisor, customer or direct-report. If you can’t deliver it, don’t promise it.

• In job interviews and networking, rapid follow-up can mean the difference between landing the job and/or client. Hiring decisions are often made very quickly after interviews. And getting in contact with people soon after meeting them means they will remember you, increasing the likelihood they will eventually buy from you.

• Be sure to send a thank you note after you close a sale or receive any courtesy. This will make you stand out from the others, inviting an ongoing relationship to develop, or continue to develop. Also, a short thank-you note gives you a great excuse to add anything you forgot to say in a meeting or interview, or to highlight details you only glossed over.

• All top salespeople are masters at follow-through. Lack of follow-through is the primary element missing when sales are not keeping pace with leads generated. You may have hundreds of leads with a great deal of potential. But unless you follow through and actively market/sell to these leads, they will not turn into sales.

• Following through after sales have been made also makes good financial sense. Getting business from new customers costs significantly more than securing additional business from existing customers.

When it comes to follow-through, something is better than nothing. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. The best is to follow-up as frequently and best as you can, a practice that can even affect productivity positively.

“On a day-to-day basis, consistent, automatic follow-through can deflect a lot of the firefighting that can push your day off course,” Winston writes.

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FALL In LOVE With You
15
September

Do you have a positive self worth? Do you see yourself as confident, charming and happy? Or sad, depressed and down in the dumps of despair? You may feel like you’re all alone in your plight, whether the root of your feelings comes from a lack of self confidence due to circumstances beyond your control, or if by the nature of your personality. Life’s events often lead to these feelings of not being good enough, attractive enough, smart enough or worthy of love. Rejection – whether by a love, boss, sibling, parent or friend – can lead to a negative self image.

So, how can you turn things around and feel good again? How can you forget these painful events that have stirred any misconceptions that you are not worthy of having all of the joys that life has to offer?

First, you must realize you deserve it. YOU DESERVE JOY!

Have you ever heard the expression; “In order to give someone love, you must first love yourself”? It is easier said than done. Have no fear, I want you to read this and embrace these tidbits of advice I have for you to get back on the path to joy. Even if a few of these things work, it’s worth a try. Start by taking little baby steps at a time and you will soon feel good again within a week or two!

Day by day, fall in LOVE WITH YOU by:

• Affirmation. As you get in your car, give yourself a check in the rearview mirror and say, “Wow, I look beautiful / handsome today!”
• Smile in the mirror and give yourself a compliment. “That dress looks nice with your eyes, Rebecca!”
• Write a note with the 5 best qualities you possess. Do not make a column of “don’t likes” only do’s. If you feel uncomfortable or can’t think of anything, really make an effort to get at least five, even if they are modest statements of personality traits, physical traits, or general characteristics.
• Rephrase your comments when seeking self validation. Instead of asking your spouse; “Does this outfit make me look fat?” try asking open ended questions to allow others the opportunity to compliment you in their own way. “What do you think of my new dress?” is a better way to ask, because it gives your partner an opportunity to say something nice… that in turn will make you feel good inside.
• Stop putting others down. Being critical or judgmental of others is a way of degrading yourself. Often people who are insecure put down other people to make themselves feel better or more empowered. Try looking for the good in people (even if you don’t like them) and see how much better you will be treated by them in return.
• Be more generous. If someone asks you for help, don’t look the other way. This is an opportunity to bring good karma back to you and to feel good knowing you did something wonderful.
• Open a door for someone. This timeless act of good will is nice to do whether you are a man or a woman. You will love knowing what a good person you are.

If at first it feels strange, it is because you are not used to it. Insecurity is a powerful emotion that can take over you. It can make you feel awkward about loving yourself. No matter how silly you feel at first, just keep doing it anyway and soon you will start falling in love with YOU a little more every day. This is another great way to move away from fear and into JOY!

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LOVE What You DO & DO What You LOVE!
07
September

Job burnout is a primary cause of unhappiness, which can also lead to illness. However, we all know that working is something we have to do because we need to earn money to support our families and sustain our existence on this planet. Yet, it is surprising how many people settle for jobs they are discontent with, rather than pursuing something joyful and purposeful.

Work takes up a major source of your time, so spending all of your time unhappy at a job can be very stressful; even after you leave work at night to go home. You may feel tired, spent and unenthused about having to face another day. This negative energy carries over into your family and personal relationships. You may not feel like playing with the kids, cooking a healthy meal or going to the gym because you are “living to work” and “working to live”. That’s enough to make anyone cranky.

How can you get out of this vicious cycle of un-en“JOY”ment and un-fulfillment?

First, address what it is about your job you dislike. Is it…

1. A dead-end job that allows no opportunities for advancement?
2. Your co-workers?
3. The hours or the job duties?
4. The investment of time, money and effort is not valued?
5.Just unfulfilling because you’d rather be doing something entrepreneurial or more personally gratifying?

No matter what the reason, you do have the ability to do something about it. Most people just settle for a job because they are afraid to do what they truly love. They are afraid to make the first steps towards fulfillment. As an example, I have a friend who moved to America from Eastern Europe and graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree. That was 4 years ago, yet she is employed as a waitress and is very unhappy with her job.

Whenever I question her about this, such as: “Why don’t you try to get a job in the field of your degree?” she makes up an excuse. “There’s nothing open in that field right now, I have looked.” Yet, I know she has never submitted so much as one resume to any company within the chosen field (marketing) of her degree.

To me, it is absolutely puzzling. However, I do understand and realize WHY. She simply lacks the self-confidence and is fearful of the results. She may be afraid that she will not be good enough, or that she will be rejected. Let me tell you about another girl I know, who is just the opposite. She graduated college and before the diploma had even touched her hand, she landed a job at an advertising agency 5 days before the graduation ceremony. The ironic part was that her major had nothing to do with advertising; it was an associate degree in Travel & Tourism. However, she knew the job would be a good fit and she went to the interview wearing her “lucky dress” and with enthusiasm that she could get the job. She did, out of 80 people who submitted resumes and who had far more experience. She then went on to start her own business, even though she had no relevant degree to do so. She did it anyway and was very good at it, even hiring people and driving towards new goals each year. Now she has been in business for 12 years.

The difference is that one girl is too afraid, while the other is completely driven to do what she loves to do. Do YOU have attitude #1 or attitude #2? Do you long to do more, yet are too afraid? This is the key… you must have complete RESOLVE that you are meant to fulfill your destiny, but you must take ACTION. You can’t just sit there and expect your dream job or new business to fall in your lap. You must take steps every day to get to that goal, whether you have to send out 3 resumes a week for a year (most likely it will not take this long) or start selling your products or services ‘after hours’ if your goal is to become a business owner.

If you sit on the sidelines, you will always remain where you are now. When you love what you do, and do what you LOVE, you will find working much more enjoyable. You will be happier around your family and friends. Who knows, you might even make a lot more money and be able to afford and do the things you have been longing to do! You never know, unless you TRY.

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A Creative Tool: Mind Mapping
30
August

Very few people are gifted with innovative thinking. These people can take advantage of mind mapping because it suits them perfectly since mind maps consume skills found in imagination, creativity, flexibility, and organization of ideas. According to many psychological researches, creative thinking has 4 elements which include the use of shapes, colors, unusual elements, and dimensions. Aside from hat creative thinking can also adjust conceptual positions and create response to appealing objects. If you want to promote creative thinking, mind mapping is a very effective tool.

Mind mapping can aid in completing the thinking process. Mind map is considered as an essential tool for mnemonic principles and creative thinking. If you can apply the appropriate techniques and facilitate them correctly, individuals can create lots of innovative ideas; more than a group brainstorming session can generate. Creative thinking has five stages, and they are as follows:

• Mind mapping burst (Quick-Fire) – choose an interesting topic and draw a central image to represent it. You can use a blank paper or any other material that you can write on. The ideas that radiate from your mind should be indicated on the page. Try to generate ideas for twenty minutes. Even if some ideas seem absurd, jot them down because there are times when these ideas serve as the key to breaking bad habits and coming up with new perspectives.

• 1st Reconstruction and Revision – don’t over exercise your brain. You can take a break and then try to integrate the idea you’ve generated. Create another mind map but this time, try to categorize the preliminary ideas. You can build hierarchies and identical ideas should be given attention. Through mind maps, individuals can explore and grow.

• Incubation – when you’re at rest, running, or sleeping, there are times when you experience sudden realizations. In this stage, the thinking process can create probable breakthroughs.

• 2nd Reconstruction and Revision – do another mind map burst because at this stage, you have a fresher perception. Integrate all the ideas and info found in the initial mind maps and try to create final comprehensive mind map.

• Final – after you’ve created a comprehensive map, you can now look for the realization, decision, and solution since this was your original goal.

These are the five stages in the creative thinking. So you see, mind mapping is really an essential tool in creative thinking. In the resent years, mind mapping has become easier as compared to the time it was first introduced. There is now software focused mainly on mind mapping. The software is widely available online and you can purchase them anytime. Computer-based mind mapping is just like the traditional method of mind mapping. it is up to you whether you will make use of the traditional way or the modern way of mind mapping.

Hurry and try to experience the 5 stages of creative thinking. You will surely be surprised with the explosion of innovative and creative ideas. For those who don’t have any experience with mind mapping, you can consult the experts online or you can find a local mind mapping expert.

This may be the answer to your problems. Let mind mapping help you in uncovering your creative thinking so that you can use it in your everyday life. Search the internet now for some mind mapping resources.

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A Creative Start
22
August

Thank you for joining me right here on the page.  Let me share with you a little about why I have chosen to launch this blog.  I wholeheartedly believe that the ways how you choose to expand your creativity will not only open up your life  to new insights, promising opportunities, but also it will unlock doors that will lead you on an exciting journey.

If you were a child of the late 40′s, 50′s or early 60′s and raised in the BOOMER generation as I was, you might have been taught by your parents, teachers and relatives that being creative was a silly pass time.  Simply having a vivid imagination was believed to be considered a nuisance to developing intelligent minds for the future.  Oh, they couldn’t have been more dead wrong with their misguided philosophy.   It is rather sad that many of you like myself, waited most of your life to discover and explore the many exciting blessings that uncovering one’s own creative talents can bring.

It’s important to understand that in order to ignite that creative spark buried within us, realize that there are a multitude of ways to invoke your MUSE for a Creative Start!

Flow with the energy that speaks solidly from your heart.  Allow it to guide you and show you the way.

Now, let me start by sharing what constitutes a Creative Exercise.  Well, here’s what a Creative Exercise is:

  • Any process that takes you outside of the box and any situation that you are presently stymied or stuck in.
  • It helps facilitate problem solving techniques (or offers new opportunities) when you change your thought patterns.
  • Establishing a creative environment helps cultivate new ideas, insights and ignites one’s imagination.
  • It becomes a reliable tool in one’s experiential process to use at any time and any where.
  • Best of all, it is light-weight, reliable, stylish and you can access it 24/7.
  • There is no minimum or maximum age limit.  Any one can tap into their creativity!

There is a distinct difference between the process of analysis (often one can suffer symptoms of paralysis from over thinking), which does not bode well for new unorthodox ideas to emerge.   Yet, when intuition is allowed to stretch and grow (like a muscle, the more it is used, the better its response) it does not react to systemization as one who is undergoing an analysis exercise.  Think of your creativity is this way, whatever idea or thoughts that cannot be commanded might still be coaxed.

Many activities change what parts of your brain are working, and encourage other parts to relax.  Identifying these triggers and exploiting them on purpose can be so powerful.  Keep in mind that some of these exercises are NOT advisable if you are considering the possibility of  using these techniques with large groups of people or venues.

Examples of exercise that stimulate different parts of your brain:

  • Exercise
  • Change of scenery
  • Driving
  • Showering
  • Toys
  • Sleep
  • Music
  • Interactive Games

Effective brainstorming promotes those particular areas of the brain that ignite that spark of creativity.  Ed Bono ~ came up with the theory of Six Hats of thinking, which are:

  1. Hat #1 ~ knowledge possessed or needed.
  2. Hat #2 ~ type of thinking being used
  3. Hat #3 ~ risks, drawbacks and criticism
  4. Hat #4 ~ opportunities, possibilities and alternatives
  5. Hat #5 ~ advantages and benefits
  6. Hat #6 ~ feelings and intuition

“The best way to get a good idea is to get a LOT of ideas.” ~ Linus Pauling

Take a few moments and go back over all these bullet points that I have covered regarding reconnecting to your creative core.  Next time, I will be sharing BRAINSTORMING TIPS.  I’m honored to exchange this information with you and welcome any and all feedback that you would like to provide.  I personally read every comment or question.  So, as the Enlightened Muse ~ I hope I have helped you take one more tiny step moving you from being amused to feeling AMAZED!

Keep a spring in your step, a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

Blessings galore~

J.C. Cavanaugh
Enlightened Muse

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