I used to know a guy who, no matter what subject came up, knew something about it. Or at least he claimed he did. Once when he was expounding on some subject, another friend’s little girl said something like, “Wow, you know about everything.”
Her father piped in, “Yeah, but not enough to get a job.” That was true.I write about the stuff that interests me. My interests of late are, as I get a bit older, our brains, how they work, and how we can keep then flexible, whole and creative for as long as possible. Neuroscience comes into it, but I’m not a neuroscientist. What I try to pass on to you are the practical, personal development and growth aspects, as well as the brain exercise and brain fitness aspects.If you get on a brain exercise program, it really doesn’t make much difference unless it helps you to do the things you want to do. It also doesn’t help if you don’t have a healthy body to carry the three pound mystery around with you. They are connected in ways that we never even thought about until about 20 years ago.
So, who am I?
Aaargh, this is the crap I hate to write. Born in Minneapolis, I grew up on what was called the “Near Northside.” Then it became “the ghetto” and now much of the northside has been emptied out with the housing crisis. Lotta empty houses there.
The only thing that kept my neighborhood from being on the wrong side of the tracks was that the other side of the tracks was the Mississippi River. If those old stomping grounds were still around today, they would be called multi-ethnic. They’re not around because fell victim to eminent domain to make space for Interstate 35W. People laugh or look at me strangely when I tell them that in that part of town you couldn’t get a date unless you had a criminal record. That might be a slight exxageration, but not much. Unfortunately I went through that period in my life as well. The seventies for me was reasonably peaceful; okay maybe it was just a little less tumultuous. The late sixties and much of the eighties are a blur – lots of drugs, lots of craziness. It took me a long time to grow up. And I’m not quite finished yet, I guess.
The personal development here is for you – and me. As a coach who may, at times, encourage you to go against your brain, my philosophy has always been based on two things:
First, we are all just Bozos on the bus, trying to find a place to park in life.
Second — we are all in the soup together, and we have to help each other swim.
Being Helpful
After a year of pounding the keyboard almost every day, I am still just gettting started. It reminds me of being in school. I came in and thought I knew a lot, and I constantly realize how much there is to know, and how little I really do know. And I think I’m a quick study.There’s an old saying about there being nothing new under the sun. That needs to be revised. There is nothing new under the sun, and everything is new under the sun. And everything is changing.Think about some success you’ve had; it probably began in conversation. You found a feedback loop that helped you do life differently and then you began to see things differently. Most want it to be the other way around — Think differently, then do.If you are stuck, it’s because you have behaved in a certain way, sometimes by doing and sometimes by not doing. An old friend once told me, “You can’t think your way out of something you behaved your way into.”I invite you to the conversation.Take this as an invitation to contact me for questions or ????What You’ll Find Here
I hope to offer what Guy Kawasaki calls “Rules for Revolutionaries;” I may mean it in a different way, but Guy’s phrase says it well. Many people have heard the Kipling poem “If”. The first lines say …If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too.Keeping both your body and head about you is the gist of This Old Brain. As humans, as our brain goes, so go ourselves. Keeping your brain healthy and fit means doing the same for your body. If you have interest in that subject, I will do my best to keep you informed, entertained, moving forward even, maybe especially when you don’t feel motivated.
Neurons That Wire Together, Fire Together
In my brain-based coaching practice, my clients train both body and brain to work together. Habits, whether they move you forward or keep you stuck, engrain themselves into the brain. As those neuro people say, “neurons that fire together, wire together.” Frank Lawlis, author of The Stress Answer, says ..“Your brain has a mind of its own. When you are trying to make changes in life, having a coach can make all the difference in the world.”
I write as a coach. I am not a scientist, physician, psycholgist, or psychiatrist. I am trained as a coach, and I have 25 years in the counseling professions*.
My qualifications regarding the brain are first, contrary to even my own opinion at times, that I have one. It doesn’t always work as well as I would like and you will benefit from what I learn in working on it.Second, that I have had a twenty five year fascination with the workings of the brain. I am an avid reader of how it relates to Zen philosophy, how this mysterious organ can be changed and change itself. I have also seen in action, the brain’s connection to stress and other challenges in life.And third, have watched science discover the essential beauty of the changing brain and the discoveries of the past decade.What You Won’t Find Here- I bring a point of view with me. It is open to change. In saying that ….
- I hope you won’t find any dogma here. For myself, I am religiously irreligious. On the other hand, I try not to take it on myself to stomp on anyone else’s values. I think rules are the major obstacles to personal growth.
- That doesn’t mean that I won’t suggest routines and practices; even with those, I always recommend that you take with a grain of salt. (Oops, that’s a “will find here” – it seems to fit though)
“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo
Disclaimer:
All content on this blog – including articles, newsletters, and news – is for information only and not intended to diagnose, treat or advise on medical, health, legal, financial or other issues.
This Old Brain .Net by Mike Kirkeberg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
