Degrees of Consciousness

I recently watched Simon Lewis's TED talk on "Don't Take Consciousness for Granted" - http://on.ted.com/9RQh , and it really impacted me as to the value of Consciousness and what Consciousness brings to my life. As I thought about how conscious I am at any given time, I realized I exhibit varying degrees of consciousness in any given time span. To be really conscious of what is going on around me, or of what is happening at any point in time, I find I have to "pull" myself back into that moment - I find that being in the NOW takes focus, for me. My natural state is for my consciousness to be occupied with the past, now, and the future. Often times, in fact, I find that NOW takes a back seat to what I am working through in my mind relative to the past or in anticipation of the future.

What an interesting thing to be doing with my mind! I believe, as I look at how my mind works, that, a good part of the time, I am most unconscious in the present. WOW! That's scary!

All I actually have, in reality, is NOW. Yesterday is gone; tomorrow doesn't exist; and yet I focus very little of my consciousness on the one point in time I REALLY have the opportunity to make a difference - NOW.

So, I ask myself WHY? Why do I focus so much energy on yesterday and tomorrow? What comes to mind as I ask these questions is that it is REALLY important to me to be able to "connect the dots" in my life - to see and understand how the past flows into the present, and then into the future. My mind is always looking for patterns that it can recognize in the evolution of time in order to facilitate, and/or guide the linear flow of events.

So, I ask myself WHY? Why is this approach so important? What comes to mind is that I am afraid of chaos, of a perceived regression into the primal state. As I look at this fear I realize that control is important to me. I have an understanding that having control in my life comes from this "mapping" process, and from pattern awareness. I look at this desire to have control and I realize that I am driven to not be a "victim" - of anything. WOW!

Victim is a state of mind. It isn't about linear process, or about preparing for any possible outcome, or about combing through the past. It isn't about pattern recognition and it isn't a result of chaos. It is a choice. Simon Lewis's TED talk touched me because it is proof positive of what that choice can do in one person's life - it is a powerful, life changing choice. WOW!

Connecting Passion with Reality

I recently attended a presentation by Simon Sinek. I first connected with Simon's message when I listened to and watched his presentation on TED (my all time favorite want to know something about anything site!)

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html.

What I took away from Simon's talk was very different than I think most people in the room took away. Those that were in attendance were all CEOs, COOs, Owners, and VPs of companies from all over Wisconsin and northern Illinois. What I took away from Simon had to do with a particular element of his TED WHY presentation and the presentation that I attended. What I took away had to do with how the brain works when it comes to connecting Passion, and particularly Passion associated with one's WHY, to the real world. Simon speaks to the two areas of the brain, the neocortex, and the limbic cortex, as playing key roles in connecting with your own WHY as well as connecting others with your WHY. What I came away with was that, because these two areas of the brain don't "get" each other, you have to build "bridges" to make those connections, and you have to do this regularly - almost like a drum beat.

Defining your WHY is just the first step. The definition of your WHY finds voice as a result of your neocortex, which is where your logic and language abilities reside. The heart of your WHY, the soul of your WHY, is fueled by the voiceless, logicless emotional center of your brain - your limbic cortex. It, unlike that which comes from logic and language, has no corporeal form - it is purely of spirit. It, by itself, also has little "staying power" in the realm of reality. There, then, is truly the rub! How do you take something of spirit and give it form? If you think of this question in terms of human existence, this has been the making and downfall through history of humankind. Simon has taken this age old struggle to connect spiritually with our world and distilled it down to ones own WHY.

Simon, during his presentation to this group, pointed to some of the "things" that he uses, on his person, to connect the spirit of his WHY to reality and to current events. Simon wears orange items that, when he sees them,feels them, and uses them, are reminders, are ties that connect the spirit and reality of his WHY. He developed and used these "shorthand things" as a conduit. They help to continually connect the emotional part of his WHY with the logic and language part of his WHY. People of like mind resonate with Simon's message in proportion to their own drive to make similar connections for themselves. So what exactly happens when this spirit/reality connection is made, nurtured and returned to the world? There are examples of those individuals who have been able to resonate over a continual period and time, and both spiritually and realistically connect with a powerful WHY: Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jacqueline Novogratz, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs, to name a few. A truly powerful WHY transcends individuals, embraces possibilities not yet realized, and strives towards horizons yet unseen.