One familiar phrase I often use when in a position to share information is: ‘I feel the world more than I can articulate the world.’ I may say it in some settings because I’m self-conscious and I want to make sure I address my ‘qualifiers’ to avoid judgement from others. (Same thinking as when someone comes into your space and you explain why it’s messy assuming they will notice and think less of you).
Another reason I open with the statement is to align with others who have the same experience. To validate those who also feel things, but can’t find the words and feel silly when they do attempt to express themselves.
I’m wrapping up this past decade of my life and recognize that there are some very clear patterns that began when I turned 40. Dates and time frames are difficult for me. The turning of 40 seems to include some specifics relevant to my own trajectory of change and personal growth.
For a variety of reasons, ‘in the beginning’ (considering a timeline between age 40 and 50) I became interested in TED talks.
I recall feeling more intelligent after watching a talk, so I wanted to watch more – especially the really popular ones. Back then I think there were several TEDs that really stood out: Brene Brown, Ken Robinson, Simon Sinek all come to mind. I’m not sure if Daniel Pink made this list, but I was introduced to him via trending TED talks.
Daniel Pink said something at the end of one talk that has continued to swirl in my mind space. He said something like: ‘it is the age of the right brain thinker, and this comes from a left brain interpreter.’
Obviously, as a human it feels good to be validated.
Another thing that happened early on in this decade timeline was exposure to a training on a program named Emergenetics. I was pulled into a ‘train the trainer’ three day intensive as part of a team I worked with who wanted to present the program to staff. I was confused throughout the training because I didn’t understand what I was part of – it was yet another experience of ‘learning to ski at Vail’. It was beyond my ability to grasp, which made it difficult and uncomfortable.
The takeaway I had during the training was exposure to what was categorized as a conceptual thinking preference. In Emergenetics world, conceptual is ‘yellow’. I am emotional as I type this. I recall this new knowledge settling into a broader understanding, so many self-deprecating beliefs instantly illuminated. At once I felt both validated and incredibly saddened. I was 40 y/o or close and just realizing it was okay to understand the world in a way that was different than (what seemed to be) ‘most’.
One explanation of this ‘yellow’ thinking preference: you can connect the dots no matter how far apart. This singular explanation enlightened my own sense of self and contributed to a decade long journey of deconstructing life experience as not fixing what is wrong, but rather validating what is right. You have your own unique expression.
Daniel Pink introduced me to the word autonomy.
The Industrial Revolution had its part in the growth of developed civilization. Mechanistic thinking is helpful. Mechanistic, or linear, thinking is not whole.
I’m not sure what inspired me to think of Daniel Pink and listen to his 2009 TED talk on motivation this morning. I wanted to relisten to the talk where he validated ‘the age of the right brain thinker’ – or, the age of the creative. I really wanted to validate my own reasoning and if I did hear him say that a decade ago.
Ideas that popularize do not appear in an instant. Not ideas that lead to meaningful shifts and a broadened paradigm of collective reasoning. Someone, manyone, reference the analogy of a seed planted and the time it takes for that seed to reach the surface; and then from there to grow into itself and share the abundance of goodness that was coded into the original seed.
Carrots and sticks.
Not the enemy.
The sweet spots.
Grades. Bank Account. Acquisitions.
Does a shift in perspective create a shift in one’s perception of reality?
Yes. Yes it does.
You are coded for goodness and contribution to the something more.
day. 