The Tortoise:Sustainable Attention, Abilities & Powers

I once heard that the difference between a genuis and everyone else is that a genius can sustain his or her attention for a much longer time on one area of thought. Sustaining our energy is the key to many issues in people's lives:learning, attention, completion of tasks, and self mastery. As a younger person, I would hurl myself into every task, because unconsciously I thought I needed a "running start" to be able to finish it. I got through even simple tasks by brute force and speed. Partly this was my unregulated neurodevelopment and partly this was the message of my society that I must try very hard. However, through development, I have learned the truth of the tortoise and hare story for myself. Instead of "slow and steady wins the race", I think I would rephrase it: "as fast as sustainable, wins the race."

Some might argue, "Isn't the pace that is sustainable always slow? And will this turn us all into lazy louts?" I think not. Like the long distance runner, without knowing the sustainable pace, the complete race cannot be run. The conscious thinking Upper Brain (the cortex) often thinks that by not listening to the messenger in the Lower Brain, it can push through the warnings of coming overstress. And the Upper Brain can, but at a price. Using this ability to push through against all stress warnings can give us great ability to survive in times of need. The occasional use of this blocking can take a toll, but is usually survivable. It is OK to ask if it is worth the price, before a full out, unbridled plowing through life.

When we use this override functioning, day-to-day, through our life, the price is one of exhaustion and illness. This is not efficient.Using the knowledge of a sustainable energy level, more gets done in the long run. So how does one know about how to keep a sustainable pace through the activities of life? I believe that this can be best done by checking in and looking for the stress signals from your autonomic nervious system. The next blog entry will examine checking in and knowing your stress signs.

Developmental Resources: Dorothy's Slippers

Inner developmental resources are like Dorothy’s Slippers: you had them all along; you just didn’t know how to use them. Nature has provided us with some magnificant tools for healing and self growth. These tools are very real and physical, yet most people aren't consciously aware of them. We live in a cortex driven (upper brain) era. Many of us have lost awareness and trust in our deeper resources, such as our body senses and reflexes. We feel cut off, fragmented and somehow missing something. Our upper brain or cortex hunts for the reasons for these phantom feelings, usually in outer, complex, and unproductive ways.

Think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She wanted to get home. She went to the upper brain (the Wizard) and he sent her out into the world to seek her way home, only to end up back where she started with no satifaction. It was only when she listened to her inner resources, Glinda, that she found that she had always had what she needed, both in Oz and at home. Her slippers of gems (ruby in the movie and diamond in the book) where literally at her feet.

The developmental gifts in our lower brain, including our body senses and reflexes, are there waiting to be called upon to balance and sustain us through our life. Let's start using them now. So all together: click your heels together three times....