How might we expand our minds towards creativity and empathy?
Today, sit time for yourself. Tune into your subtle body and cultivate awareness.
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I am feeling energised and motivated to start the new year. I hope you are feeling refreshed, too and full of energy to start working consistently on your goals with inspiration, empathy and growth.
After some time off work until now, I got into invigorating routes, one at the western cape of Europe. Once you reach it, the scenery is marvellous, with pine cliffs unravelling the coastal view at the top.
While I appreciated the views, specific ideas came to mind about movement.
Let’s consider, for instance, John Salk, the virologist who developed one of the first successful vaccines for polio. He attributed his breakthrough not to the long days spent thinking in the lab but to the long hours wandering on the natural retreat.
He reported the spirituality of the place was inspiring to him, so he could combine intuitive thinking, challenging prevailing scientific conformity and going far beyond what he had done in the past.
While overlooking the western cape of Europe, I remember this event and wonder what this means for the environments we design or choose to live in.
Thinking through movement
Our body movement and interaction patterns can limit or extend our mental capacity.
According to radiologist Jeff Fidler, when we are in motion, our visual senses sharpen, especially where it concerns details appearing in our periphery.
This biological response helped our ancestors to survive. Humans have a natural urge to move — and when we do, we become more perceptive.
The philosopher and essayist Henry David Thoreau once said, “Methinks the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow”.
The movement of our bodies helps us to extend our minds. People differ in how tuned they are. This internal awareness comes with certain benefits.
When we are aware of what is happening in our bodies and think through movement, we are:
- more resilient in the face of challenge
- better able to enjoy and manage our emotions
- more honest with ourselves and in our relationships
All these benefits help us make better decision-making. Cultivating interoception — awareness of our bodies’ inner states — can help us become more resilient and emotionally- fulfilled.
As our senses take information from the outside world through the body, our brains use this stream of data to sense “how we feel” at the moment. We need to understand what we are sensing.
Environments raising our frequency
The environment we live or spend time in tells a lot about us.
Whether we are outside or inside, it matters what the “inside” looks like. It is in natural environments our brains thrive. By understanding the power of spaces, we can set the place we live or spend time with qualities promoting creativity, inspiration and health.
How can we make the inside more like the outside?
Collective intelligence
Contributing positively to a community with a unique skill, knowledge, and the best in each person can help us survive extreme events or environments. Each person can contribute with their singular expertises and together lead to achievement or safety.
With the proper knowledge and tools, groups under stress can tap into collective intelligence — solving problems better and faster than one individual could alone. The limits of the single mind and the power of multiple ones work in concert.
Collective intelligence, if for good, can be seen as a collection of individuals who start thinking as one and moving together. Moving together encourages the formation of emotional bonds, too, producing trust.
When it comes to thinking better, there is so much more at our disposal than just our heads. We can think with our bodies, our surroundings and our relationships too.
The main ideas:
- seek out natural spaces to unleash creativity. We can focus more intensely, understand deeply, and solve problems more creatively.
- thinking through movement. Move our body to sharpen perception.
- tune into internal sensations to reduce stress and grow resilience.
- find natural spaces to promote focus when iterating and to refine ideas.
- embrace the sense of collective intelligence. Tap into the other minds around you to access their expertise and experience, and contribute with your unique expert.
Enjoy your week.
