MindMap Gallery Cognitive Awakening
I have sorted out the key points of the content of "Cognitive Awakening". I hope this book will illuminate your mental world and become a beacon on your way forward. I also hope that more people can discover this book, awaken together, and move forward together.
Edited at 2024-01-28 01:21:27Avatar 3 centers on the Sully family, showcasing the internal rift caused by the sacrifice of their eldest son, and their alliance with other tribes on Pandora against the external conflict of the Ashbringers, who adhere to the philosophy of fire and are allied with humans. It explores the grand themes of family, faith, and survival.
This article discusses the Easter eggs and homages in Zootopia 2 that you may have discovered. The main content includes: character and archetype Easter eggs, cinematic universe crossover Easter eggs, animal ecology and behavior references, symbol and metaphor Easter eggs, social satire and brand allusions, and emotional storylines and sequel foreshadowing.
[Zootopia Character Relationship Chart] The idealistic rabbit police officer Judy and the cynical fox conman Nick form a charmingly contrasting duo, rising from street hustlers to become Zootopia police officers!
Avatar 3 centers on the Sully family, showcasing the internal rift caused by the sacrifice of their eldest son, and their alliance with other tribes on Pandora against the external conflict of the Ashbringers, who adhere to the philosophy of fire and are allied with humans. It explores the grand themes of family, faith, and survival.
This article discusses the Easter eggs and homages in Zootopia 2 that you may have discovered. The main content includes: character and archetype Easter eggs, cinematic universe crossover Easter eggs, animal ecology and behavior references, symbol and metaphor Easter eggs, social satire and brand allusions, and emotional storylines and sequel foreshadowing.
[Zootopia Character Relationship Chart] The idealistic rabbit police officer Judy and the cynical fox conman Nick form a charmingly contrasting duo, rising from street hustlers to become Zootopia police officers!
cognitive awakening
Chapter 1: The Brain---The Root of All Problems
1. Brain: Rediscover yourself
2. Anxiety: The Roots of Anxiety
Face anxiety: completion anxiety; positioning anxiety; choice anxiety; environment anxiety; difficulty anxiety. Emotions caused by eagerness for things
location anxiety
3. Patience: He who has patience wins the world
It is human nature to be impatient. The compound interest curve and the edge of the comfort zone are good friends to maintain patience. You should also understand the relationship between growth weight comparison in the growth process, build a growth platform period, go slowly step by step, and use your rational brain to invite your emotional brain. Use your instinctive brain to solve problems.
subtopic
How to be patient: Face your nature, let go of your psychological baggage, and accept yourself; When facing temptation, learn to delay gratification and turn confrontation into communication; In the face of difficulties, we must take the initiative to change our perspective and give our actions meaning.
Chapter 2: Subconscious---The easter egg that life leaves us
1. Ambiguity: Life is a race to eliminate ambiguity
1. The purpose of learning knowledge is to "eliminate ambiguity", and the method of acquiring knowledge is also to "eliminate ambiguity". The purpose and method are unified. 2. The core of improving thinking ability is to constantly clarify the core difficulties and insights, and focus on them. 3. Dismantle troubles and clarify emotional ambiguity: Any painful event, even if it enters the subconscious, must be dug out, faced squarely, see it clearly, dismantle it, and resolve it. Ask yourself questions when you feel pain. Face your fears. 4. Be clear inside and out, and eliminate ambiguity in action: The reason for insufficient action is that choices are unclear, and people will unconsciously escape when faced with uncertainty, always putting themselves in a state of "no choice".
2. Sensibility: Top-level growth turns out to be “based on feeling”
Use the wisdom of your subconscious mind to detect messages from your subconscious mind. "Learn by feeling": first use your perceptual abilities to help you choose, and then use your rational abilities to help you think. Just take the points that touch you the most, then practice and change. Find life goals “by feeling”: Replace thinking with perception.
How to capture sensuality The wording method of "most"; the wording of "total"; detect the people and things that are the most touching, the most, or always appear in the mind, analyze them, and you can get a rich gift. The first unconscious reaction is to cherish the first thought that appears. This is often the true message in your subconscious mind. Dreams are a way for the subconscious to transmit information. They may be a display of true inner thoughts or an inspiration. Pay attention to your body and learn to listen to your body's feedback. Intuition gives the green light to information that comes from unknown sources and cannot be explained.
Chapter 3: Metacognition---the ultimate human ability
1. Metacognition: Growth is slow because you can’t “fly”
Ordinary cognition: one’s own thinking process about things. Metacognition: On this basis, distinguish another person's cognition and understanding of one's own thinking process.
Cognition is divided into active metacognition and passive metacognition Ordinary people are usually forced to activate this ability only when they encounter problems, such as when they encounter accusations and criticisms, and they have no choice but to reflect and correct themselves; when they are in good times, they will still live according to their nature, playing with their mobile phones when they should, and sleeping in when they should. Not aware of the good or bad of his own behavior. From passive to active, this is a turning point. There is the possibility of rapid growth.
When you start to reflect on your own thinking, you can realize what you are thinking, and then realize whether these thoughts are wise, and then further correct those unwise thoughts, and finally make better choices. How to obtain: Tools for improving metacognitive abilities need to be obtained from the "past" side, including learning the wisdom of predecessors and reflecting on one's own experiences. My own experience is a unique wealth. If learning and reflection are static, then how can the current and dynamic self actively use metacognition? It's very simple, activate your "soulmate"! Metacognitive ability can always allow you to stand on a high point and overlook the overall situation, and will not let you dive into the details of life and get lost in it. There are many ways to improve metacognition, but the most unexpected is the following one - meditation. Monitor your attention and focus it where you need it. Feedback is the evolutionary mechanism of this world. Keep trying, keep practicing, practicing, practicing.
2. Self-control: We are born to be the helmsmen of our thoughts.
Metacognitive ability is the combination of awareness and self-control. Therefore, from a practical perspective, metacognitive ability can be redefined as: the ability to self-examine, actively control, and prevent being influenced by the subconscious mind. We are naturally controlled by our subconscious, and we grow up to take active control.
The combat effectiveness of the rational brain is actually reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, it focuses on the cognitive abilities of learning, understanding, memory, and calculation, which are the parts we mainly exercise when studying in school; on the other hand, it focuses on observation, reflection, judgment, and choice metacognitive ability.
Whenever we encounter a situation that requires a choice, if we can stop and think for a few seconds, we may activate our rational brain, use metacognition to examine our current thinking, and then make a different choice. Be sure to spend more "meta time" on selecting nodes.
Metatime is usually distributed at "selected nodes", such as the beginning or end of an event, a phase, or a day. Making good use of this time will greatly optimize the quality of subsequent time. Think clearly, examine your first reaction at the point of choice, and come up with a clear and unambiguous proposition. An outstanding manifestation of strong metacognitive ability is zero tolerance for ambiguity. When the power of action is weak, the mind will definitely be vague about the specific actions in the future. That's what people with strong metacognitive abilities are like: Whether it's their immediate attention, their schedule for the day, or their long-term life goals, they strive to make sense, self-examine, and take active control rather than just go with the flow.
Chapter 4: Concentration---the intersection of emotion and wisdom
1. Emotional focus: One trick to boost your focus
Why: The body is doing A, but the mind is thinking about B. This pattern leaves us troubled and dull. "Action" is like the body, and "feeling" is like the soul. Actions and feelings are unified, "body and mind are united" Acting while worrying, fantasizing, and anxious about "separation of body and mind" Distraction and distraction are either because the moment is too boring and you are pursuing something interesting; or the moment is too painful and you are pursuing something more comfortable.
How to do: Take back your feelings and return to the present moment. Return feeling to action. Physical sensation is always the best medium to enter the present state, and feeling the process of things disappearing is a good concentration training. The key to the unity of mind and body is not only to focus on the present moment, but also to enjoy the present moment. Slowly practice withdrawing feelings and return our attention to the present moment. Our worries will gradually decrease, our energy will be stronger, our emotions will be more peaceful, our bodies will be softer, our perceptions will be more sensitive, and our thinking will be easier. Go deep.
2. Learn to focus: Deep immersion is the safe hilt of the double-edged sword of evolution
The fundamental difference between human emotions and abilities lies in the ability to actively select information and block other distracting thoughts. The advantage of those with strong learning ability is that they can actively block interference, select the information they need and immerse themselves in it. For this reason, they will even take the initiative to practice. Actively selecting information is the entrance, and blocking other distracting thoughts is the key. Genius is actually not a mystery. Its essence is "the right method" plus "a lot of practice."
The correct way: 1. Have clearly defined goals. 2. Be extremely focused when practicing. 3. Ability to obtain effective feedback. 4. Always practice in the stretching zone. The model proposed in "Heart Flow": When people are tired of the current activity, it means that the difficulty should be increased; when people feel anxious about the current activity, it means that they should maintain this level and focus on practice. By repeated alternation, they can let themselves enter the heart. Flow the channel and immerse yourself in it.
flow
Chapter 5: Learning Ability---Learning is not just about working hard
1. Matching: comfortable edges, a methodology suitable for everything
The edge of the comfort zone is to sort out those things that "can be done but are particularly easy to make mistakes, or cannot be done but can be understood with a little effort", and then work hard within this area. We often cannot grasp things that are too far away from us, whether they are painful or enjoyable.
Making choices is an extremely energy-consuming thing. Without matching sobriety and determination, most people will eventually be dominated by their strong nature and choose entertainment. In a constrained environment, we are more efficient and live a more fulfilling life.
The more phenomena that can be explained, the more fundamental the concept becomes. Draw conclusions from the underlying concept: No matter what you do, no matter how well you are currently doing, as long as you keep practicing at the edge of your comfort zone, your comfort zone will continue to expand, and your stretching zone will continue to expand. The original The difficult zone will gradually turn into a stretching zone or even a comfort zone, so growth is inevitable. Quick wins are impossible.
When the problem is too big and too vague, solve the problem with action: dismantle the goal, refine the goal, and practice in the stretching zone. One of the characteristics is to have a focus. Almost all action experts are experts at disassembly tasks.
2. Depth: Deep learning is one of the few good ways out in life
learning pyramid
From knowing to doing it is a huge progress
Reading Pyramid
"Seaming" is the key to deep learning, and most people only complete the "acquisition of knowledge" but ignore the step of "seaming knowledge". Therefore, their learning process is incomplete.
Forcing yourself to acquire high-quality knowledge and deeply integrate new knowledge, and then use your own language or words to teach others is the way to deep learning.
How to deep learn Deep learning has the following 3 steps: (1) Acquire high-quality knowledge; (2) New knowledge on deep stitching; (3) Export results to teach.
The first is to obtain and delve into first-hand knowledge as much as possible. The second is to write down what you have learned in your own words as much as possible. The third is to reflect on life.
In addition to making us less impetuous and sharpening our rationality, deep learning can also bring many benefits, such as the improvement of cross-border capabilities. It can also generate more inspiration. It also allows us to see more connections between different things and generate insights.
Entertainment hot spots are not without value, and shallow knowledge is also meaningful, but the premise is that you need to have a certain cognitive depth - the breadth beneath the depth is effective. Focus on deep learning while remaining open to shallow learning.
3. Association: the master’s “black box”
The vast majority of people are used to looking at things in isolation and like to spend a lot of time collecting and possessing information; while another group of pioneers prefer to fiddle with the connections between information, thus becoming smart without knowing it. The acquisition of knowledge does not depend on how much, but on whether it is relevant to oneself, and how sufficient this correlation is. It's none of my business, it's not relevant. Of course, there is a more important hidden condition that cannot be ignored: you need a clear goal or a strong need.
How to make association: First, there's a hammer in hand. Such as: writing creation Secondly, enter enough. Walk more, see more, read more, reflect more. Again, stay curious. Purify yourself often and remain pure like a child. Finally, say something often. Where else can this principle be applied?
It's all about taking the initiative
4. System: It is actually very simple to establish a personal cognitive system
We confuse "knowledge" with "cognition", which directly leads many people to use "finding the optimal cognitive system and learning comprehensively" as the standard, ignoring the difference between other people's cognitive systems and their own actual needs, because personal growth The purpose is no longer "knowing and understanding", but "judgment and choice". Therefore, in the field of personal growth, there is no optimal, most certain, and most authoritative cognitive system, only the cognitive system that is most suitable for our current state.
Just learn to let yourself be touched, don't care about the completeness of the form, only care about the touching points.
Human abilities cannot be developed in leaps and bounds. They can only be expanded outward bit by bit on the existing basis, and the best area for expansion is at the edge of the comfort zone.
The essence of a system is to use a unique perspective to integrate some scattered and independent knowledge, concepts or opinions into methods and techniques for dealing with the world.
The truth about building a personal cognitive system: break down each other’s cognitive system, take only the points or chunks that touch you the most, and then splice them into your own cognitive network. With touch comes the opportunity to learn.
Three aspects of effectively relating new knowledge One is to reinterpret new knowledge in your own language, which will prompt your original knowledge system to respond to the new knowledge. The second is to be able to successfully extract knowledge when needed. Knowledge that cannot be extracted is pseudo-touch. The third is to be able to practice or use this knowledge frequently in life, because practice is the ultimate way to generate strong connections.
Eventually, you will understand that so-called learning and growth, such as reading, writing, reflecting, cultivating habits, practicing skills, building cognitive systems, etc., are essentially the same thing: growing closer to the edge of your comfort zone bit by bit. External expansion.
5. Check in: Don’t be obsessed with checking in. Checking in will not determine your future.
Motive transfer, power distortion
Cognitive closure, reduced efficacy
If something is not completed for a long time, you will always worry about it and look forward to finishing it soon; once it is completed, the motivation to do it will immediately tend to zero. We have this mentality because the human brain likes certainty and doesn’t like the unknown or uncertainty. Characteristics of the check-in mentality: If you can’t learn, pretend for a while; if you learn, stop immediately.
Task mentality, mind-body split
Two strategies, easy to change
Use records instead of punching in
Set a lower limit, no upper limit
Replace perfect with done
6. Feedback: It’s time to tell you what real learning is
Whether there is timely and continuous positive feedback is the key to producing differences in learning effects.
No feedback, no learning. Continuous positive feedback can truly stimulate the powerful action of the instinctive brain and emotional brain.
Although human beings' powerful instinctive and emotional brains are thoughtless, short-sighted and stupid, and are often addicted to games, mobile phones, food, and laziness...but their super strong desires and emotional power are very valuable mobility resources. If they can be allowed to Feeling the joy of learning, they will also show strong power of action and make themselves addicted to learning as much as they are addicted to entertainment.
The strategy specified by the rational brain allows the instinctive brain and emotional brain to continuously receive strong positive feedback and happily run towards the goal.
The scientific learning strategy is to produce works, obtain feedback, and drive the instinctive and emotional brains to "play and play" instead of blindly working hard and letting the rational brain work hard to "learn and learn".
Only with a sense of work can you have a future
·Teaching is the best way to learn; ·Practice is the best way to learn; ·Output forces input; ·Please let your works speak...
Pain is also a kind of feedback
First of all, sharing is not about sharing half-finished products at will, but doing your best to polish the work into the best possible look within your current capabilities.
Second, develop a sharing strategy to present to those who are less capable than you.
Finally, treat the blow calmly and objectively.
All pain is a reminder of growth given to us by God.
How to get feedback in passive learning
Active recall testing is one of the best ways to study The wrong test book of the top student is also the best presentation of learning feedback.
Real learning and growth is not about "hard work, hard work, hard work", but "feedback, feedback, feedback again"
7. Take a break: If you don’t succeed, you may be working too hard.
They never over-exerted themselves. Whenever they felt low on energy, they would stop and take the initiative to rest. This in turn allowed the water level in their energy buckets to quickly rise.
Energy change curve of relaxed people
This curve is enough to illustrate the meaning and advantages of "active rest". Advantages accumulate over time, and it becomes inevitable that some people will be ahead of others.
The crisis of staying focused
The scientific model should be: extreme concentration, active rest, and so on.
Overcoming difficulties and resisting temptations require willpower.
Therefore, a true self-control master is not a person who only knows how to sprint, but a person who is good at taking the initiative to rest and maintain balance.
The "tomato" that can save you
Method: As soon as you start studying or working, try to stay extremely focused. Even if you stay focused for a short time, it is meaningful; once you find that you are getting distracted due to lack of energy, take the initiative to stop and adjust for a moment.
Extreme focus, active rest, cycle.
Chapter Six: Action---The world without action is just a concept
1. Clarity: a concept that reconstructs your ability to act
True power of action does not come entirely from self-control.
Cherish the gift of every day: attention The use of attention follows this rule, and the initial choice affects the direction of automatic reinforcement of behavior.
Whether the attention-enhancing loop is positive or negative depends largely on your initial choices, which is also a cliché: first things first!
At the starting point of the reinforcement loop, the self-control consumed in making favorable choices is minimal. If a negative reinforcement loop is formed, it will be difficult to change!
In the initial stage, force yourself to do important things first. Once you enter the positive reinforcement loop, you will have strong power of action - this is the secret to enhancing self-control and improving action power.
Clarity is the power of action Being vague and knowing everything only roughly is fatal to improving mobility. Clarity, that is, the ability to refine and concrete goals - action can only be reconstructed with the support of clarity.
One way to build clarity, just write it down
Only those who have actually done it can realize that writing and not writing are completely different. Because the purpose of planning is not to make yourself strictly follow the plan, but just to make yourself aware of it.
Growth is a systematic project
To a certain extent, having something you are passionate about is much more important than the ability to act, because once you have passion, you will have various attributes such as "first things first" and "increased clarity". So in addition to clarity, we also need to have the perception of finding goals, the matching ability to control freedom, the metacognitive ability to guide all things, etc. By connecting them, we can truly improve ourselves from the bottom of our hearts.
Everything comes from "thinking clearly"
When you are stuck in a state of laziness, laziness, and emptiness, it is often because your brain is in a fuzzy state.
The clearer the understanding, the firmer the action.
2. "Fools": The world will reward those "fools" who don't remember their losses.
I have been thinking, where is the starting point for a person to cut off his illusions and take practical action? After thinking about it, I got an incredible but reasonable answer: probably because we were lucky enough to be a "fool"...
I have two thoughts in my mind: first, everything must be done after seeing clear results. If the future is uncertain and unclear, no matter how reasonable others say, I am not willing to invest; second, if a principle or method cannot It’s not optimal to allow yourself to change quickly, so you have to keep searching so that you can hopefully find the best way. Until one day, I accidentally broke the barrier and walked straight across. Then, everything started to change...
The paradox of growth: People who want to see results first before taking action often fail to see results.
The distance is too far to see the target clearly
You can see clearly when you get closer
I have always emphasized the importance of "thinking clearly" before, but when we rack our brains and still can't figure it out clearly, we must act based on the assumptions of our predecessors. Only in this way can we get closer to the essence of the goal. Only then can you think more clearly. Thinking is important, but just thinking without doing will cause endless harm.
In fact, once you do it once, you will find that it is really not easy to accomplish something. This reveals another paradox: when you have never done something on your own initiative, you always think that it is easy to do something, so you have many unrealistic desires and ideas. The more desires you have, the more you will do. The more things become impossible
The cycle of doing and wanting
On the other hand, only when we actually accomplish something will we realize that there are actually very few things we can do, so we won’t want so much. Once our desires are reduced and our anxiety dissipates, we can be more attentive. Do the things at hand well.
Actual results are the best “judge”.
Breakthrough threshold
There has to be a certain level of effort required to affect a system, and below this threshold your actions will have little effect.
We must focus and continue to act until we break through the threshold, so that we can see the scenery at a higher level.
I believe that if something can be done continuously for 180 days, it will become a habit. For example, when I started to get up early and run, it was a little painful at first, but after I got over it, I realized the incredible experience that getting up early and running brought to my body and mind. Looking back, the most difficult time to persevere may be when the threshold is exceeded. Fortunately, I did not give up at that time. From then on, if I didn’t get up early to go for a run, I would feel bad. I know that when I can't stop, it means that I have exceeded the threshold and risen to a new level.
Be a reasonable "fool"
If you think what others are saying is well-founded, but you can't refute it for the time being, and you happen to want to do it very much, then believe that what they say is right, and then act decisively. During practice, you naturally have to keep thinking, use actions to repeatedly verify their theories, change them if they don't fit, and apply them if they are appropriate, until you really do it. By then you will not only be able to do that thing, but you will also be able to explore your own theory and become a master in the eyes of others.
The same logic is put before us. Some people think it is chicken soup and of no use, while some people think it is dry goods and very useful. If you can continue to act, I believe that the world will favor you.
3. Action: How to solve the problem of "I know everything, but I just don't do it"
Obsession: I’m not doing it now because I haven’t found the best way yet. Once I find that way, everything will be different.
I feel like I know everything, but I still can't bend down and take action. Because they always think that they are not ready yet, worry that the method is not optimal, and that rash actions will take detours. However, they do not know that such wait-and-see and waiting is inefficient in itself. What’s even more troubling is that the more truths we know, the weaker our ability to act is, because there seems to be always better truths waiting for us to discover. "
Because many people are impatient and eager for success, they always want to skip the action link and look for shortcuts. In the end, they find that this is a detour. The real shortcut is the seemingly long and inefficient road to action.
Cognition is actually a skill Learning any skill is essentially the establishment of connections between nerve cells in the brain. The explanation in neuroscientific terms is: through a large number of repeated actions, two or more originally unrelated neurons in the brain develop a strong association after being repeatedly stimulated. Neurological terminology explained: Through a large number of repeated actions, two or more originally unrelated neurons in the brain develop a strong association after being repeatedly stimulated.
In the path of skill learning, just "knowing" cannot form a closed feedback loop. Only through a lot of practice can the relevant neurons in the brain form strong connections, and a closed feedback loop can be formed through the node of "doing".
Skill learning requires extensive practice until it can be performed automatically using the subconscious mind.
When we engage in cognitive learning, we will have a natural illusion - thinking that understanding a truth is like mastering this skill.
cognitive learning path
This positive feedback was real at the time, but a strong neuronal stimulation alone was far from being able to form a strong connection, so this kind of cognition was also extremely unstable. At this time, the brain has received the positive feedback from cognition and thinks that it has mastered and obtained it, thus ignoring or despising the subsequent large amount of practice.
If you are a person who "knows but does not do" now, don't blame yourself, because it is human nature to "take refuge in the easy". This choice orientation is deeply engraved in our genes, so everything that can be easily obtained If there is a short feedback loop, people will not choose the long one - this is the default logic of the brain when making choices. In the absence of awareness, it is difficult for us to notice this.
When we combine the skill learning path and the cognitive learning path, we can clearly understand the reason why we “know but can’t do it”.
From now on, treat cognition as a skill. When you know or figure out a truth, don't be too happy too early. Think about it and do a lot of practice later, so that you won't be impetuous.
It’s normal to not do well at first
Another reason why many people are reluctant to take action is that when they first try, they always feel that they can't do it well and can't see obvious results, so they give up.
In the beginning, when neuronal connections are weak, it is normal to do poorly.
Many people think that they must have an absolute advantage or great interest and talent before they are willing to act, otherwise they will give up directly.
Every time you have a thought, the biochemical electromagnetic resistance in the neural pathways carrying that thought decreases, like clearing a path in a jungle. It is very strenuous at first, but as the number of times you pass this road increases, the road will be opened more and more thoroughly, and the resistance you encounter will gradually become smaller. By the end, the trail will flatten out and widen. This proves from the side: as long as you keep practicing, the connection between neurons will inevitably become stronger and stronger. Even if you feel that you are temporarily regressing, don't be discouraged, because you may have entered a learning plateau. Hope and patience are hidden in your deliberate practice and in the continuously strengthening neuron connections. Whether you like it or not, as long as you continue to practice, you will definitely do better day by day. One day, you will Really experience the thrill of "doing it".
We actually do very little
For some people, this part of the content is a bit shocking, because I keep describing the cruel reality: the truth cannot be practiced quickly, and the truth will not be easily practiced. So here’s another fact: there’s really very little we can do. This also leads to another reason why people are reluctant to act: too many desires. People who face the problem of "I know everything, but just don't do it" usually don't know how much effort it takes to actually do something, because they rarely take the initiative to do something, and all their thoughts are only in their minds. hovering in the middle. Anyone who has truly taken the initiative to do something knows that it is not easy. Whether it is from learning to play the piano to being able to play it freely, or from developing the habit of getting up early to persisting in getting up early throughout life, it is a long process that cannot be accomplished overnight. So we have to break this obsession. The best way to break the obsession is to focus on realistic changes. After all, the real results are the best "judges". If learning cannot make you truly change, then what's the use of learning more?
Learning without real change is ineffective learning. When "change" becomes the highest criterion for reading and learning, our learning volume may also decrease. Both reality and theory tell us: it is better to change a little than to know a hundred things. Real growth does not lie in how much you understand, but in how much you change. When it comes to growth, principles are all "empty promises", while change is the "real money". When you base everything on change, your growth path will be clearer.
Chapter 7: Emotional Power---Emotion is the wisdom of looking at problems from multiple perspectives
1. Mental bandwidth: only abundance can relieve worries
Scarcity mentality makes people stupid
Under certain conditions, poverty will indeed make people stupid. This is not because poverty makes people incapable, but because the scarcity caused by poverty captures people's attention, thereby reducing people's mental bandwidth. The so-called mental bandwidth is the capacity of the mind, which supports human cognition, action and self-control. Once mental bandwidth is reduced, people can easily lose judgment, make unwise choices, be impatient for success, and find it difficult to resist the temptation of pleasure. Everyone's brain configuration is similar, but the pressure of shortage will cause people to have a hidden program running in the background, which although invisible, consumes a lot of mental resources. The client's mental bandwidth is insufficient, he is unable to consider long-term issues, and it is difficult to maintain patience and concentration. When faced with a choice, he unconsciously prefers the safest and most quickly effective option. A vicious cycle reinforces negative loops and makes those who worry worry even more.
Any event that creates stress uses up our mental bandwidth. As long as our attention is attracted by something huge, we are likely to enter a state of scarcity, reduce our mental bandwidth, and behave unwisely. "Men and women in love have zero IQ", which is essentially a scarcity mentality that leads to a decline in judgment.
Eager for success and full of anxiety
Once the scarcity problem is solved, people will live a happy life. You will definitely object. After all, solid competitive pressure is right in front of you. Although modern society has provided us with more conveniences and choices, it has also brought an unprecedented fast pace. It seems that if you are not careful, you will fall behind the team. This forces everyone to speed up and unconsciously want more advantages. .
When the mental bandwidth is exhausted, there is naturally no energy to support one's vision, patience, action and self-control. In the end, one can only let oneself wander in pain and even fail to do small things at the moment.
Many students or working people hope to improve themselves during holidays or free time, so they schedule a full schedule without leaving any room. The result is that "the ideal is full, the reality is skinny" every time. Not only can they not achieve their goals, but they are just having fun. Unable to extricate myself from it.
When a person faces many tasks at the same time, his mental bandwidth will be reduced, and he will lose mobility and self-control.
People with life experience will try to restrain their desires, take the initiative to arrange entertainment activities while doing important things, and try to keep as much leisure as possible in their schedules - this method is scientific and wise. In the face of social pressure, even if they are determined to catch up, they can easily fall into the trap of blindly trying, learning randomly, and eager for success. Therefore, they will give up immediately when they cannot see the effect, which ultimately makes themselves more anxious. Caught in a state of scarcity of success. Mental bandwidth is drastically reduced.
Although modern life has alleviated the pressure of survival, it has also brought pressure on self-control. Resisting temptations and desires all consumes our mental bandwidth, and those who have a lot of time and money will also let themselves fall into boredom and emptiness if they do not have enough mental bandwidth.
Material conditions cannot determine our destiny. What really affects us is the abundance of mental bandwidth. With sufficient mental bandwidth, we can have the foresight, patience, action and self-control to support ourselves in any environment, and save ourselves in changing environments. So how do you gain mental bandwidth? I think the most important thing is to maintain self-awareness. In this regard, I have prepared five "good medicines" for awareness, please take them as needed.
The first post is to stay aware of the environment and choose wisely.
Second post, stay goal aware, less is more.
Wu Jun, the author of "Insights" once said: "Many people think that I am a master of using time and ask me how to do more things at the same time. In fact, my secret to doing things is exactly the opposite of what everyone thinks, which is to do less. Even if I don’t do anything, I always look at what I really want to do from the perspective of my life, and then break my mindset and reject all the things that the sky won’t fall down even if I don’t do it.” This is the true meaning of "less is more".
The third post is to maintain awareness of desires and review decisions.
The greatest pressure currently is the impact of excessive desires on mental bandwidth.
When there are a lot of tasks and thoughts in our minds, it is often when our ability to act is at its weakest. Therefore, maintaining awareness of desires and examining them in a timely manner is a good way to clear up your mental bandwidth. A true mobility expert is not someone who has the ability to do many things at the same time, but someone who finds ways to avoid doing many things at the same time.
The fourth post is to stay emotionally aware and make careful decisions.
Don't make decisions when you're most excited, and don't make decisions when you're most angry, especially big ones. In times of great joy and great sadness, our mental bandwidth is often very narrow and our judgment is weak.
The fifth post is to maintain idle awareness and set limits on yourself.
Appropriate leisure is a valuable resource for us to cope with stress and accidents, but too much leisure is not a good thing. If you have a lot of money, it is easy to have meaningless desires; if you have a lot of time, it is easy to fall into an inefficient state. . Although the mental bandwidth is sufficient, it will naturally be in vain if we do not run effective life programs. If you are so lucky in life and everything is abundant, you might as well find ways to set limits for yourself and create scarcity appropriately to achieve your own success.
2. Single perspective: Your bad mood stems from a single perspective.
When facing various difficulties, the ability to look at problems from multiple perspectives is often the key to testing the ability to solve problems.
It can not only help people gain wisdom and achieve careers, but also help people expand their horizons in life and resolve worries. It's just that many people don't realize this and are used to treating all problems from a primitive single perspective.
The world is multi-dimensional and we only have one pair of eyes
The car was still the same car, but I just squatted down and changed the angle, and I got a completely different feeling. It is not difficult to infer that, like this motorcycle, every person, object, and thing in the world is multi-dimensional. From every angle, we can get different information, just like the lens in our hands. As long as we deviate slightly or zoom in or out, the image on the screen will change.
If we are not strongly aware of this, we will easily treat the world with overgeneralization and then produce various biases.
Those who are used to seeing people from a single perspective are often simpler and more vulnerable to injury. Essentially, this is because they lack the awareness to recognize things from multiple perspectives.
Of course, in terms of knowing people, you can roughly infer a person's level of knowledge and accomplishment by listening to him talk. For example, those who are extremely insistent on their own views and opinions and are ignorant of other people's views can basically be regarded as people with shallow knowledge or average cultivation, because people with shallow knowledge usually have little knowledge except their own original perspective. It is difficult to perceive other external perspectives, so they will cling to the first judgment. Therefore, their self-cultivation performance is not high.
On the other hand, those who are highly knowledgeable or well-educated are usually very cautious when expressing their opinions and often use expressions such as "maybe" and "maybe". This is really not because they are deliberately modest, but because the more they understand and the more perspectives they see, the more they realize that things cannot be described clearly with one sentence or one point of view.
The quality of a person's character and temper also depends on his ability to see problems from multiple perspectives: people with a single perspective tend to be stubborn, impatient, and aggressive, while people with multiple perspectives are more intelligent, peaceful, and tolerant. The world is multidimensional, and we only have one pair of eyes. Every observation, expression and action we make can only affect one dimension of this multi-dimensional world.
Denela Meadows' knowledge of the system is already remarkable, yet she remains so humble. Therefore, if we want to make ourselves more peaceful and wiser, we must first realize the multidimensionality of this world and engrav this awareness deeply in our minds. Only in this way can we have the possibility of self-change.
Become a better camera
It's a good way to use the concept of camera to understand multiple perspectives, because it also contains another layer of meaning-the difference of the camera itself. Just like if you and I were photographing a motorcycle from the same angle, we would end up with two different photos because the cameras we each use may have different lenses, pixels, or focus points. This shows that because each of us has different living environments, different experiences, and different knowledge, when we look at the same problem, we have different levels of understanding and reduction.
For example, some people become increasingly estranged from their parents as they grow up, because they cannot stand the opinions and habits of the older generation, and cannot accept their care (interference); many daughter-in-laws do not get along with their mothers-in-law and have problems raising children. There are constant conflicts on the Internet; many close couples or lovers often become angry with each other because of differences on the same matter. If we know that this happens only because their "camera" is different from ours, it is easy to understand that they are not actually deliberately against us, and even they have tried their best. If you are sure that your camera is more advanced than theirs, you should have the awareness of "backwards compatibility" - either laugh it off, or take out your own high-definition photos and patiently explain to them what is better. , instead of blindly accusing the other party of bad things. After all, low-level things are not and cannot be upwardly compatible, but it is possible for us to continuously upgrade them through guidance. If you have ever owned a "backward camera", you should understand and tolerate the other person's position. When it comes to "camera", we must remain aware, be clearly aware of our own perspective bias, and always be prepared for upward upgrades and downward compatibility. With this kind of mentality, not only can we become more and more perfect ourselves, but we can also get along with others.
There is always a better perspective
Don't be bound by the original perspective. Actively change your perspective and you may see a new world. Different perspectives lead to different choices.
·The same glass of water is half full. Some people lament that "it's only half a cup", while some people are surprised that "it's still half a cup"; ·Similar to setbacks, some people are immersed in sadness and unable to extricate themselves, while others think setbacks are God’s reminder for their growth; ·It’s the same as work. Some people think that they are working for the boss, so they can be lazy if they can. Some people think that all work is to train themselves, and they are willing to put in their best even if there is no reward.
No matter what emotional whirlpool you are currently in, you can always find a better angle if you are willing. It's just that some people will focus on the flaws no matter how good things happen, while some people can find the bright spots in any bad thing and magnify it, ignoring other shortcomings.
Master's Path to Cultivation
When we perform a behavior for a long time, the brain will slowly form a "green channel" dedicated to processing this behavior. Therefore, when we face similar scenarios, the brain will prioritize this behavior and further form an automatic response. .
This is why when we encounter troubles, we habitually activate the emotional defensive mode and fall into a single perspective, instead of activating the intellectual analytical mode and entering a multi-dimensional perspective. If you want to have multi-perspective capabilities, you need to practice deliberately until new path dependencies are formed.
By adhering to the following principles, you can gradually get rid of the limitations of a single perspective and become a "photography master" in life. One is to move frequently. As the name suggests, it means moving your "camera" position more and trying to see the problem from different perspectives. The second is to be good at learning. Sometimes the reason why we can't see certain angles is because we don't know enough and don't know that perspective exists, so we need to learn more and use the perspective of experts to observe the world. The third is to be open. It would be more accurate to remain objective and not make assumptions. Many people are in bad mood because they regard their assumptions as facts and vent their emotions directly without being sure of the other person's true thoughts. If you want to be emotionally calm, you must not wear colored glasses or be subjective when communicating. It is very important to first find out the facts and figure out what the other party thinks. The fourth is to seek help. When we are puzzled by emotional problems or work problems, we should not dwell on it alone. We should learn to actively seek external help and use the multi-dimensional perspectives of others to overcome the limitations of our own single perspective. The fifth is to exercise more. Exercise can not only help us get out of negative emotions quickly, but also guide the brain to see things from a new perspective, or to observe problems from different angles. Therefore, the more you are in a bad mood, the more you need to exercise, the more confused you are. It’s time to exercise more. Sixth, reflect often. Whenever I feel depressed and can't resolve it, I will turn on the computer, pour out all the worries in my heart and review them. In the process of sorting out, I will often clear up the clouds and see the light, which is really amazing. At any time, your pen or keyboard can help you break out of a single perspective and see more dimensions.
Good communication is objective and without subjective guessing, so that both parties can get out of "fighting mode." If one person vents negative emotions without knowing what is going on, it will bring others into a single perspective, either being suppressed and in fear; or resisting, and both parties will be hurt.
3. Game mentality: Happy people are always doing something else
Don't let the event itself limit your emotions and attention. This is one of the few life experiences I can remember from my college days.
At that time, the school had a requirement that in order to graduate successfully, everyone must pass the physical fitness test of 1,500-meter running, and the score must be within 5 minutes and 10 seconds. In order to motivate everyone to train, the instructor set a rule in public: before each physical fitness class begins, a test run of 1,500 meters is required. Anyone who achieves excellent results will be exempted from the subsequent two-hour physical class. And for a long time, I was the only one who could happily leave the field in front of nearly a hundred people in the team. Running is not my strong suit. When I first entered school, it took me about 8 minutes to run 1,500 meters. In the process of working towards the goal of 5 minutes and 10 seconds, everyone was prepared to suffer. Every time, they were "very nervous before running, in pain during running, and helpless after running." Just when I was about to feel desperate, a turning point came. One afternoon, the pre-class test was conducted as usual. As soon as the instructor's whistle sounded, I jumped out first at a sprint speed. For such a middle-distance running test, rushing to the front from the beginning is not a good strategy, because the intense physical exertion will quickly make you lose your stamina. But just when I was about to relax and prepare to slow down, my eyes fell from a distance to a place about 10 meters ahead. I suddenly said to myself in my heart: "Don't slow down yet. It's not too late to slow down when you reach the place 10 meters ahead." After I ran to that point, my eyes fell on the place 10 meters ahead. I felt This distance is very short, and I can continue to do it again. After reaching that point, I set my sights on the next 10 meters... After repeating it a few times, I actually found that I didn’t feel out of breath, and my body felt relaxed. It was like I was playing a chasing game. My attention had shifted from the heavy and distant remaining laps to the 10-meter distances. My leg movements became lighter and lighter. Unknowingly, I was ahead of the pack. Two small half circles. The obvious advantages made me no longer pay attention to the performance, and my attention was almost entirely focused on the refreshing feeling of raising my legs and swinging my arms. I ran faster and faster. After it was over, when the instructor announced the results and told me that I didn’t have to go to class, I couldn’t believe it. In the days that followed, I did the same thing again and again - rushed to the front, and then started a chasing game alone. The reason why I like to rush to the front from the beginning is because there are no other people around to interfere, so I can concentrate on immersing myself in the game. A painful assessment project, it finally became a project that I was eager to try every time, and no one knew how I suddenly became stronger.
Happiness comes from active control
Among modern positive psychology, the most eye-catching is the "self-determination theory" of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. It points out that humans have three innate intrinsic needs: relationship needs, competence needs and autonomy needs
In other words, if a person wants to live a happy life, he needs the following factors. ·Have good interpersonal relationships and gain love and respect from others; ·Have unique abilities and skills that bring unique value to others; ·Have the right to choose independently and be able to do what you want to do.
This theory is not complicated at all and can be understood by thinking about our daily lives. Wouldn't it be great if everyone in life treats you well, you have unique skills in some aspects, and can still do what you like? Especially the "need for autonomy", which is the key and core of self-determination theory. In other words, if we can actively choose and control what we do, we will generate inner motivation and achieve happiness.
Looking at real life, we always have to face many things that we “don’t want to do but must do”. For example, the 1,500-meter running assessment, mountains of homework, clothes that have to be washed, people that have to see, work that has to be done... Faced with these things, we will unconsciously feel frustrated, resistant and rejected, because these are all It is not a choice we make on our own initiative, but pressure from the outside world.
Difficulties and pressure can always grab people's emotions and attention, making it difficult for you to see other perspectives. The good news is that the world is more positive than we think. We think we have no choice, but in fact there are many angles to choose from. After all, everything is multi-dimensional and three-dimensional. There must be an optimistic side behind seemingly pessimistic things, and there must be a fun side behind serious things. Just because we can't see it for the time being doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Now, please fasten your seat belts and come with me to take control of your happiness.
Just doing another thing
It is not difficult to gain a sense of control, as long as you silently say: I am not doing this, I am just doing something else.
·I'm not doing a running test, I'm just playing a chase game; ·I am not doing homework, I am just challenging my own speed; ·I am not washing clothes, I am just moving my hands and feet; ·I am not going to meet the leader, I am just chatting with an ordinary person; ·I am not doing things for my boss, I am just doing it to improve myself.
Don’t underestimate the power of this assumption. Once you have a new choice, you will realize: the thing itself is not important, we are just getting another kind of fun through it, and doing it by the way. In psychology, this method is called "motivation transfer."
Aware people will be aware in a timely manner whether their motivations are stuck in external things that have nothing to do with the target task. If so, they will actively find ways to transfer them internally so that they can have the ability to choose and control independently. Mastery tips basically fall into two categories: do them for yourself and do them for fun.
do it for yourself
The best way to create internal motivation is to focus on bettering yourself.
Those who are more sensitive to and persistent in their inner motivations will always stand out. They will not deliberately perform for external rewards or evaluations, but will only work hard for their own growth and progress. Such people are difficult to be knocked down by difficulties.
done for fun
Since motivation can be transferred, why don't we transfer it more thoroughly and make it more fun? This is definitely a good idea!
When a person's focus is on enjoyment, his mentality towards running will be different. In comparison, others struggled to keep fit and healthy, but he just enjoyed the pleasant running process. In addition to treating running as play, many other things are also play in my eyes. Like reading this. I never think of myself as reading, but rather as chatting with wise men. Every book is a person in my eyes, and my bookshelf is my circle of wise friends. Every few days I will stand there for a while, wondering who the next person to chat with me is. This feeling is really great. . If everything in the world is just "play" in our eyes, who would be depressed!
Doing it for yourself is usually to cope with external pressure and demands, while doing it for fun is to cope with repetitive and boring things.
If you want to have more fun, it's a good idea to remember this little trick - break those big, difficult things into smaller pieces. Just like when I am running, I break down 1,500 meters into sections of 10 meters. When the task to be done is small enough that we can easily complete it, we are eager to try it.
Stephen Gass, the author of the book "Small Habits", probably followed this concept. He asked himself to only do one push-up at first, and then he developed a desire to play. And Mr. Hu Shi also said: If you are afraid of endless truth, you will be happy with every inch you make. We can understand it this way: infinite truth is indeed easy to scare people, but as long as you focus on the inch in front of you, you will get happiness from that inch. When growing up, sometimes you have to look at the long term so that you can understand the meaning and gain motivation; sometimes you have to look closer so that you can move forward happily without fear of difficulties.
What the world looks like depends on how we look at it
Some people will definitely sneer at these methods, because in essence, it is more like a kind of self-deception. In fact, man is a self-interpreting animal, and the meaning of the world is given by humans. Since doing things is a process of giving meaning, why don’t we give them useful and fun meanings? At the very least, doing it for yourself can free up your emotions, and doing it for fun can free up your attention. When our emotions and attention are free, what difficulties can stop us from moving forward?
Chapter 8: Five-piece set of reading, writing and running life in the morning and evening - the lowest-cost way to grow
1. Get up early: No alarm clock, no group tours, no clocking in, how do I insist on getting up early?
The four viewpoints in the book "Get Up at 4:00: The Most Healthy and Efficient Time Management" are refreshing to me. Once you've thought it through cognitively, you don't need to use a lot of willpower to support your actions.
First, get up at 4 o'clock every day and divide the whole day into three sections. 4 o'clock to 12 o'clock: The first 8 hours are used to complete the past work (or to complete our normal work for the day); 12 o'clock to 20 o'clock: The second 8 hours are used to prepare for future work (it can also be regarded as an extra working day); 20:00 ~ 4:00 the next day: The third 8 hours are used for rest (the 8 hours remain the same). The author calls it the two seasons of life: getting up at 4 o'clock is equivalent to an extra working day, and the sleep time is not reduced.
Although this statement cannot withstand scrutiny, the superficial benefits still make people excited. After all, you only need to change the time you wake up, and you can gain more time without losing anything.
Second, brain science theories about sleep. "Rapid eye movement sleep" (REM) and "non-rapid eye movement sleep" (Non-REM) patterns Healthy adults mostly sleep with 1.5 hours of REM sleep and 1.5 hours of non-REM sleep. The two modes are constantly switching, and in the first two units of time, that is, in the first 3 hours after falling asleep, There will be high-quality sleep (deep non-rapid eye movement sleep equals deep sleep), followed by a combination of shallow non-rapid eye movement sleep and rapid eye movement sleep. According to this rule, people will feel refreshed and energetic when they wake up at 3 hours, 4.5 hours, 6 hours, and 7.5 hours after sleeping. My practice of getting up early started from my magical experience with this theory.
This theory helped me understand why sometimes we sleep for a long time but still feel bad when we wake up. The reason is that the time to wake up is not at the sleep node, but during the sleep cycle.
Third, give up the alarm clock. Nakajima Takashi said: "The alarm clock will not take care of your sleep cycle. When the time is up, it will reach into your brain and cause a big earthquake in your brain, and your subconscious mind will be messed up. Because you are being The alarm clock wakes me up, but the deep part of my brain is actually still asleep, so even though I slept for 8 hours, I always feel like I haven’t slept enough and I feel groggy.” After I gained the ability and habit of sensing sleep nodes (it took about two weeks), I didn’t have to worry about not waking up or missing the normal wake-up time. This biological clock was very accurate.
Another advantage of giving up the alarm clock is that it does not affect the rest of family members or roommates, which makes it easier to get their support.
Fourth, seize the peak period of brain work. The human body begins to secrete adrenaline and corticosteroids, two hormones that can keep people energetic, from dawn. The peak secretion period happens to be around 7 o'clock in the morning. At this time, people's work efficiency is very high. After the human body eats, energy will be converted into glucose one hour later and transported to the brain. People's memory and understanding will improve, and the brain's operating speed will reach its peak and will not reach the bottom until four hours later. Therefore, people should follow the rules, seize the peak period of efficiency, and complete the most difficult work during this time period, so as to achieve twice the result with half the effort. In addition, people who eat breakfast normally are more efficient at work in the morning (the peak efficiency after lunch occurs between 14:00 and 16:00).
What does getting up early bring me?
1. Planning. 2. Running. 3. Reflection. 4. Reading or writing. 5. Difficult work.
Some things to note when getting up early
1. There will be a relatively painful adaptation period in the early stage. What motivates me to persevere is: the magical experience of waking up without an alarm clock and the feeling of going for a walk and enjoying the quiet morning 2. Step by step and match the difficulty. First of all, don’t get it right in one step when it comes to getting up. At the beginning, it’s mainly about feeling the sleep nodes. It’s good if you can wake up without an alarm clock. Don’t pursue a premature wake-up time and put yourself in a state of discomfort or pain. Secondly, when it comes to content selection, don’t go all the way. It should be based on the actual situation. You don’t need to choose to go for a run like me. This may put pressure on getting up, especially in winter. In the first two months, my first activity after getting up was walking or brisk walking, which was just for enjoyment, and it happened to be a lukewarm autumn day. Then I slowly started learning and running. Finally, don’t do it all in one step when it comes to environmental transition, which mainly means getting up in the winter. If possible, try to keep the indoor temperature as comfortable as possible so that you can get out of bed effortlessly after waking up. 3. Get up according to the state. Status is better than time. If you're still drowsy when you wake up, sleep for another cycle (1.5 hours). If you feel refreshed, you can get up. 4. You need a lunch break at noon. Taking a nap for half an hour after a meal can quickly restore our energy. 5. Don’t disturb others. 6. Prepare in advance. Make plans for various possible situations. When you have specific and clear goals, plans and steps in your mind, you will not hesitate when you get up the next day, otherwise it will be easy to change your mind and sleep a little longer. The emotional brain has a strong desire to pursue comfort, but if the rational brain communicates with it in advance, the resistance to action will be much smaller. 7. Understand the situations in which you don’t need to get up early. Get up early and consider the actual situation. Don’t be anxious or guilty when you occasionally can’t get up early. Just set a good rule for yourself. For example, I will allow myself to get up late when encountering the following situations: ·Physiological low period; ·Attended a party the night before and slept too late; ·You need to drive a long distance or do other important activities that require a lot of energy the next day; ·The environment suddenly changes and is not suitable for getting up early for activities... Once successful people discover the good habits of others, they will immediately make this habit their own.
2. Meditation: One day, you will unlock this hidden track
"Seven Little Balls" You Must Know
What is the biggest difference in ability between ordinary people and smart people? It is the ability to maintain extreme concentration for long periods of time.
We are all human beings with similar basic configurations. No one's brain is more special, but people do have differences in how they use their brains. This difference is the ability to use "working memory". The human brain seems very powerful, but the amount of information that consciousness can process is not that much. The average is 7±2. Some people have more, some have less, but they all fluctuate around 7.
If this is your first time hearing this knowledge, you may suspect that I am talking nonsense, but I don’t need to explain the scientific principles to convince you. If you don't believe me, try remembering some completely unrelated numbers or the names of unfamiliar items. In the short term, you can usually only remember about 7, and you won't be able to remember any more.
The real advantage of good people is that they can keep the "seven little balls" focused on one thing at the same time for a long time
Therefore, the ability competition between people is ultimately a competition in the utilization of brain resources. The more you can develop the brain power of a small ball, the more competitive you will be. Fortunately, this difference is not insurmountable. The seven balls of the brain can be trained, and with appropriate methods, they can have the same goal and work together. The ideal form of training is meditation.
During meditation, we only need to focus all our attention on breathing, that is, let the 7 small balls do one thing at the same time. If one of the small balls "wanders away", gently pull it back. Can.
By insisting on this kind of practice, you can develop the habit of concentration, turn concentration into unconscious behavior, and automatically suppress wandering thoughts and control the distracted spirit when you are not meditating.
The "7 little balls" can all be used by you when needed.
Scientific research shows that through this focused meditation practice, the surface area of the human cerebral cortex increases and the gray matter of the brain becomes thicker, which means that this practice can physically make us smarter, because the surface area of a person's cerebral cortex and The thickness of gray matter in the brain is a factor that affects a person's intelligence.
Sit quietly with your eyes closed and focus on your breathing for more than 15 minutes a day...you will feel its effects. Of course, you can understand it better if you think of it as a kind of brain exercise (which it is), just like how we exercise our arm muscles by lifting dumbbells.
Keep your emotions calm, nothing more
It is difficult to change the real world, but the cost of imagining change in your mind is approximately zero. Therefore, once people are trapped and blocked in the real world, they will unconsciously go to the virtual world to experience comfort and freedom, and human nature of seeking refuge has an outlet.
There is an analogy in the preface of the book "Flow": From the outside, a person looks like he is sitting quietly, but inside he is like a waterfall, with countless thoughts pouring in... The mind is like gas in a hot pot, each thought There is no bondage or connection between them. They are running around happily. Their hearts are in chaos, and their entropy value is very high. This is a true portrayal of what happens when people are distracted and full of fantasies.
Chaos makes people impatient, impatient, unable to focus on what is in front of them, and just want to do easier and more interesting things. Because of this habit, some people will unconsciously turn on the "random thinking" mode before going to bed every day, and they will be full of distracting thoughts and unable to fall asleep peacefully. Although they were lying in bed, their minds were like a pot of boiling water that had just been boiled. Their thoughts could not calm down and they stayed up all night.
Of course, some small balls are very "heavy" and sink in a corner of the "room" like iron balls. These weights come from huge pressures, such as financial pressure, career difficulties, emotional crises, social fears, etc. The heavy emotions weigh on the brain like a rock and linger. People can neither get rid of it nor want to touch it, so they have to let it occupy their mental bandwidth for a long time, making people unmotivated and depressed.
One is mild and the other is severe. Many people cannot get rid of these two emotions and are suffering from them.
In fact, you don’t need to ask anyone for help, and you don’t need to spend money or materials to help yourself. Start meditating and practice it regularly, and you will gradually get out of your emotional dilemma and become a person who is calm and stable in everything.
For those small balls that are too light, staying focused can add weight to them and stabilize them; for those small balls that are too heavy, you must face them and accept them during meditation, otherwise you will not be able to focus. Once you face it and accept it, those hidden pressures will not be so distressing. This is why I have always advocated that everyone write down the confusion in their hearts, because as long as they are written out, those emotions such as tension, worry, fear, fear, etc. There will be nowhere to hide under clear observation, and the weight of the ball will naturally be reduced. As long as you continue to practice, the small ball in your brain can maintain optimal quality, be stable and controllable, and people can lock their attention and emotions in a relatively ideal state.
It can be seen that meditation is not just a spiritual practice activity as we imagine. When we use knowledge to observe it, we will find that this seemingly insignificant skill is our way to win.
3. Reading: How to make yourself truly fall in love with reading
When people make decisions, there are two levels. The first one is "emotional decision". For example, when you see someone doing fitness, photography, or painting, your adrenaline starts to surge, and you immediately express that you want to do it too; The second is "rational decision". Rational decision also means wanting something, but it means that the person must have thought about why to do it, how to do it and the difficulties that may be encountered.
People who are used to making "emotional decisions" tend to give up on everything halfway, while people who are good at making "rational decisions" are more likely to turn their ideas into reality.
The same goes for reading. When people start to hate the status quo and want to get better, the first thing they want to do is usually read a book. Many times we are in a state of "fake reading" and do not realize that it is caused by low-level "emotional decisions". If you happen to have this kind of problem, you might as well make a "rational decision" with me and make yourself truly fall in love with reading.
Look at reading from another angle
How to quickly become a master in an industry Entering a completely new field without any experience. How to do it?
If you want to quickly become a master in an industry, the best way is to communicate with industry experts and ask them directly for advice - this is probably the most advanced growth strategy. But the reality is that ordinary people rarely have such opportunities and resources. what to do? read.
Books are the best medium for inheriting ideas. Top ideas can be found in books. As long as you choose books properly, you can find top ideas in the industry at a very low cost. These ideas are clearly and unmistakably recorded in books, concise and concise, and have even been accumulated and tested for hundreds of years, and you can get them directly for only a few dozen yuan. From this perspective, reading is no longer a repetitive action of scanning black words on a white paper. Every time you read a book, you are actually conducting a celebrity interview, communicating with top experts.
Reading is to obtain the most advanced growth strategies at the lowest cost. This is the best way for everyone to improve themselves.
Where footsteps cannot measure, words can; where eyes cannot see, words can. Words can also take us through time and space to communicate with top thinkers from thousands of years ago. Time and space are no longer bound. This is energy that cannot be easily obtained, but reading can help us obtain it.
If you pay attention, you will also find that almost all books are the process of wise men looking at things, making choices, and making decisions.
After watching too much, you can use their brilliant perspectives to improve your ability to choose. And isn't the fate of each of us the result of various choices? Therefore, reading changes destiny, starting from changing our cognition and choices.
Reading makes people have high-density thinking
We have already evolved from ancient civilization to technological civilization and information civilization. In modern society, the fundamental difference between people is the difference in cognitive ability, and cognitive ability is extremely dependent on thinking ability. It can be said that thinking ability is our foundation. The fundamental competitiveness of modern society. Therefore, people with a long-term perspective will actively and deliberately train themselves and try their best to increase the density of thinking every day.
Most of the time, you just call the original memory module and react according to your habits. There is not much real thinking.
Reading allows our minds to compete with top ideas at any time, to have a deep and comprehensive understanding of a topic, and to fully relate it to our own reality. This state of mind is rare in ordinary life, but as long as we pick up a book You can have it immediately.
Reading is a technical activity
1. To study, you must first learn to choose books.
I think a better way is to ask yourself first: "What is your most urgent problem that needs to be solved at the moment?" After all, everyone's needs are different. You can refer to other people's book lists, but don't regard them as the only option. standard. Choose books that are just hard enough to put you on the edge of your comfort zone. No matter how good others say a book is, if you find it too difficult to read and have no interest in it, then it is best not to bite the bullet and read it, because there must still be some information gaps between it and us. If you force yourself to read, you will be in pain, and your interest in reading will be easily eliminated. Therefore, when you first read, you must match your interest, difficulty, and needs as much as possible.
Book selection is more important than reading itself.
2. Reading is for change.
Many people think that as soon as they finish reading a book, the reading process is over. In fact, reading is only the beginning of the whole process. The thinking and practice after reading are more important than the reading itself (here mainly refers to non-fiction books). Many people's reading only stays on the surface. When reading, they feel that something makes sense here and something makes sense there. After reading, they ignore it and then quickly move to the next book. This kind of reading is content with typing. A direct consequence of this is that when you read the book after a while, it will be as if you have never read it before, and all traces have disappeared. To really read a book well, it often takes several times the time to think and practice, and to output something of your own - it may be an article, or it may be to develop a habit - this process is more laborious than the reading itself. Much more.
From the weight point of view, the amount of reading < the amount of thinking < the amount of action < the amount of change.
As long as we focus closely on the fundamental goal of "change", many dyslexia will disappear immediately.
3. Advanced reading methods.
Follow 2 suggestions
The first is to pay special attention to the connections you make while reading.
If a knowledge point reminds you of other knowledge and triggers a connection, be sure to pay attention and write it down. The association of knowledge indicates that the knowledge network is being formed or strengthened. This may also create new knowledge, which is one of the core methods of learning.
The second is that there is no distinction between reading and writing.
If you can re-explain the knowledge in your own words after reading it, or even teach it to others, then this knowledge will become very solid in your mind.
4. Writing: Thank you, Mr. Feynman
Mr. Feynman and the Feynman Technique
I have to mention his father Melville, who was very good at educating children to think. For example, once he read the knowledge about dinosaurs in the "Encyclopedia Britannica" to little Feynman: "The height of the dinosaur is 25 feet [illustration], and the head is 6 feet wide." After reading this, he did not continue reading, but stopped. He came down and said to Feynman: "Let's see what this sentence means. In other words, if that thing stood in our front yard, it would be so tall that it could stick its head through the upstairs window. But, because Its head is slightly larger than the window. If it squeezes its head in, it will break the window." With this explanation, the originally unfamiliar concept has a familiar thing as a reference.
Melville (Feynman's father) always turned knowledge into something of practical significance through his own language. Feynman unconsciously learned a very powerful learning skill from his father: translation, that is, no matter what he learns, he always translates it into something meaningful. Try to figure out what they are saying, what their actual meaning is, and then rephrase them in your own words.
That is, no matter what you study, you must try to figure out what they are talking about, what their actual meaning is, and then re-tell it in your own words.
The so-called Feynman technique is to use your own language to explain something clearly in the simplest words, preferably so that laymen can understand it.
Good luck by accident
In November 2016, I read "Dark Time" by Liu Weipeng, and there was a point in the book that impressed me to this day. You can't stand on the 11th floor yourself, and then assume that your reader is on the 10th floor, and hope that just telling him what is on the 11th floor will make him understand. Your readers are standing on the first floor, and you must know how the other 10 floors you are stepping on are constructed. This forces you to do a thorough and profound reflection on what you have mastered or what you thought was correct before. The more your audience does not understand, the more profound you need to reflect.
I want laypeople to understand what I write.
Explain new concepts in your own words.
My understanding and application of this ability are still very limited: I either say too much and it is not simple enough, or I cannot fully explain it in my own words. Nonetheless, I also feel the power of this. The good news is that I can now pull it out and use it actively, instead of just accidentally hitting it in a vague way.
use simple language
If you understand the basic structure of the human brain, you will know that there are two villains, "rational" and "emotional", living in our brain at the same time. The rational villain is very advanced, but the emotional villain is more powerful, so most of the time, our behavior is dominated by emotion, including receiving information.
First use a suitable story to attract the interest and attention of the other party's "emotional villain", and then convey the truth you want to express to the "rational villain" through the "emotional villain". This is a good strategy. Two villains All will be satisfied.
Use simple language instead of complex ones. This is one of the cores of Feynman's technique.
For example, I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about the concept of "deliberate practice". I often use concepts such as "information gap" and "comfort zone edge" to guide others in reading. Sometimes I also use the metaphor of "you can get it by just jumping". I still think this is amazing. Mr. Mu Xin, a literary master, said this when talking about reading: "When you start reading, it should be shallow. So shallow that you can be condescending from the beginning." This enlightened me. There are no abstract concepts or nouns, just a few words, easy to understand, but it conveys the essence of "deliberate practice". Once again, reader "Sunny" asked me: What is the relationship between the three concepts of prefrontal cortex, metacognition, and rational brain? I was inspired and came up with an analogy: the prefrontal cortex is the "flesh" of the rational brain and metacognition. This time I'm going to get back in the game, because coming up with a suitable analogy is a very rare and precious thing. Most of us underestimate the role of analogy (metaphor), thinking that it is just a figure of speech in literature. In fact, it is our way of thinking and our cognitive tool. George Lakoff, the founder of cognitive linguistics, once defined and evaluated "analogy" in this way. Using one thing to understand another thing is precisely the essence of learning! Because humans can only explain unknown things through known things, it is difficult for us to understand something we have never seen out of thin air. And analogy is the bridge between the unknown and the known.
in own language
Another core of Feynman's technique is "expressing in your own language", which is more critical and wonderful than "expressing in simple language". Because only when we use our own language to explain what we have learned, can we truly mobilize our original knowledge, weave loose information into a tight system and network, and even create new cognition. In other words, to re-express it in your own language is to mobilize your own troops.
Unfortunately, many writers do not pay attention to this point, so they stay at the "knowledge statement" level for a long time and fail to reach the "knowledge conversion" level. For example, after some people finish reading a book, they think they have completed the writing output by listing the framework and viewpoints of the whole book. In fact, this is far from enough. At most, it is just moving other people's knowledge to another place - you just have more. "Army horses", but they cannot be mobilized, which is useless.
Some people will definitely ask this question: Many of the views have been written by predecessors, and I can't surpass them if I write it again. What's the point of doing so?
What you want to understand yourself sprouts and grows from your system; and what you read from books is very easy to stay at the level of taking notes, drawing lines, drawing circles, and thinking you understand. Don't be afraid. It has been written in the book. Each of us can carve a unique trajectory in this world.
Therefore, if a person wants to truly grow, he must learn to write, because "only reading but not writing" learning is incomplete and inefficient. And writing is useless if you don’t learn to paraphrase it in your own words.
Because "teaching" is the best "learning". Teaching others forces us to use our own language to explain something clearly in the simplest words, so that even laypeople can understand it. The advantage of writing is that it allows us to continuously adjust as we hone this skill. , revise it repeatedly until you are satisfied.
5. Movement: If the soul wants to go far, the body must be on the road
Being fooled by "well-developed limbs and simple mind" Good things are often "positively related"
Because exercise can regulate various hormones in the human body, bring people to the best state, and make the internal ecosystem of the body full of energy and vitality. People who exercise frequently have an internal ecosystem that is like a clear spring, while those who sit for long periods of time have an internal ecosystem that is more like a pool of stagnant water.
A person who lacks exercise for a long time may become "dumb".
Exercise causes the brain to grow more new neurons, which means exercise can make people physically "smarter."
Exercise can not only make people in better shape and better mentally, but also enhance brain function, improve attention, memory, understanding, and self-control, thereby enhancing learning effects, allowing people to create greater achievements and obtain more resources.
Exercise is the starting point for factors that are positively related to happiness in life.
A good model is "movement learning"
Even if we draw the above conclusion, we still cannot dispel this doubt: Why do many people actively participate in sports, but there is no positive correlation trend? This question is worth exploring, and fortunately, the reasons behind it are indeed well-founded.
Although scientific research has confirmed that exercise can cause the brain to grow new neurons, these neurons need to develop and grow axons and dendrites to form real nerve cells. Simply put, a new neuron is like a tree. It needs to grow branches and leaves to survive.
Therefore, exercise is not the key, but the arrangement of activities and environmental stimulation after exercise are the key. An effective model is this: perform high-intensity and difficult mental activities within 1 to 2 hours after exercise, such as reading, problem solving, memorizing, writing, programming, etc., or some physical activities that require complex skills. Activities such as dancing, piano, and social activities that are different from the past, such as exposure to new environments, people, or things, can stimulate new neurons and continue to grow. In other words, after exercising, the brain needs to be fully tested or challenged in order to continue to become "smarter".
So the flaw of most athletes lies here: lack of awareness and habit of active learning after exercising. They are used to watching TV, checking their mobile phones, playing games, going shopping, partying, chatting with friends, or even going to bed directly after exercise, doing things that do not require thinking or make themselves feel comfortable. It is really a pity that those neurons that were finally grown dissipated immediately, and they missed the opportunity to become "smarter".
How to exercise correctly
Keep yourself somewhat breathless while doing aerobic exercise.
A good exercise method must include both aerobic exercise and complex exercise
Developed limbs mean a more developed mind
The greater significance of exercise is not to keep fit but to strengthen the brain. It can not only make people more optimistic, but also make the mind more flexible, ultimately achieving a double improvement in health and cognitive levels.
Fortunately, more and more people are awakening, and people are beginning to encourage each other to study and exercise. There is even a popular literary motto: body and soul, there is always one on the way.
Language will affect thinking. The sentence "well-developed limbs, simple mind" should be modified to "well-developed limbs, a more developed mind" is reasonable. And the body and soul are not just one or the other. You can't just study and not exercise. Or you can only exercise without studying, and you cannot alternate between the two activities according to your mood.
From now on, give your exercise plan a new meaning!
Conclusion: A first-class life is not about wealth, but about awareness.
From diary to reflection
Improved my sensitivity to time.
It wasn’t until I started practicing “Daily Reflection” that I discovered it was a new outlet for self-awareness. It is equivalent to an in-depth journal record. You only need to spend a little time every day to review the things or insights that touched you the most that day, so that you can maintain a deeper awareness of life.
Avenue to simplicity
The review method is also extremely simple, usually only requiring 3 points: ① Describe the process - so that you can remember the scene when you look back in the future; ②Analyze the reasons - ask several more questions until you have deep inspiration; ③Improvement measures—Extract a cognitive point or action point as much as possible.
Always keep the other person's emotions and opinions separate so that you can learn something useful even from the worst things.
If you practice reflection, you will inevitably pay attention to the three levels of body, emotion and thinking, and then continuously optimize and improve yourself. Of course, there will also be a lot of inspiration, enlightenment and creativity. As long as you practice it, you will make a lot of discoveries. A reflective life is like picking up a small shining stone in the stream of time every day, and then polishing it carefully. Soon we will find that we have a big bag of cognitive crystals, and these cognitive crystals are us The mark and crystallization of life. With the foundation of these cognitive crystals, the quality and density of our lives will far exceed those of those who do not reflect.
Suddenly realized
"Daily Reflection" implies at least three underlying principles. First, it is in line with the "touch learning method". The second is the use of “metacognition”. The third is to follow the principle of "deliberate practice".
The benefits of reflection
One is that it saves our lives. Because although inspiration comes out in a moment, behind it is the accumulation of life experiences. Second, it can improve our ability to perceive details. The better the reflection, the more subtle the focus. Third, it allows us to face pain. Pain is not a bad thing, it is simply a signal and reminder from God for our growth!
start to act
First, don’t be bound by the form. Please remember: the ultimate goal of reflection is change, not perfection of form
The second is to try to refine cognitive points or action points. Extract specific and actionable cognitive points and action points as much as possible.
The third is to make an action list.
Fourth, be extremely honest with yourself. You must be extremely honest with yourself and dig out the truest thoughts in your heart
Fifth, read more.
Sixth, choose the appropriate recording carrier.
live a first class life
I have always wanted to know, where is the starting point for a person’s awakening? Now we roughly have an answer: awareness.