The Brain Audit Contest: Part 10

Here are a few more entries for The Brain Audit Book from around the world

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Much luck (to you and Sean… and me!)

Alex Kuzelicki, Australia
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If you haven’t made the Butter Chicken the recipe is on Page 113. And Yes! Sean can cook too!! Yummy stuff.

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This is the butter chicken on its way to TVNZ- New Zealand. A small thank you for asking Sean on The Breakfast Show. And yes, if you are wondering the rest of the butter chicken was eaten by Renuka 🙂
The page again 113.

Renuka Menon, Psychotactics Office, Auckland, New Zealand
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Marsha colouring Cuatro

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Marsha D’Souza, All of 5 years old, Auckland, New Zealand
(Marsha and Sean are best friends)

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>>Click to see the other Brain Audit Book Photos

The Brain Audit Photo Contest: Part 9

And the photos keep coming in for The Brain Audit competition. Today’s photos are from New Zealand  and all the way from the Arctic Circle.

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It’s child’s play..

Martin Thompson, Auckland, New Zealand
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Ondrej-Ilincev_Brain-Audit-in-the-Arctic-Circle

I am sending the photo of The Brain Audit book, which travelled with me and a couple of friends 150 km north of the Arctic Circle. We had to carry all our food for 10 days on our backs, but I couldn’t resist packing the book as well. There is something very weird (in the nicest way) about reading about marketing when you don’t see a living soul for days.

All the best from Europe.

Ondrej Ilincev, Prague, Europe
PS: I am the one on the right.
PPS: I thought there would be more snow as well, but we were very lucky with the weather and it was 20-25 degrees Celsius.

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>>Click to see the other Brain Audit Book Photos

The Brain That Changes Itself

Ok, I’m back after my extended ‘vacation’.

And here’s a biggie: I’m amazed at this book. And if you’ve ever wondered about the factor of getting old (and stupid), or wondered how we learn (and unlearn stuff), then you need to read this book. I intend to take snippets of the information and put my own spin to it over the weeks and months to come. You’ll understand all of that information so much better, and how it relates to talent—if you read this book.

If there was one recommendation I’d make for Feb 2008-Feb 2009, it would be this one.

The Brain That Changes Itself

The Brain That Changes Itself

Why Talent Needs Conservative As Well As Radical Thought Patterns

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Do we come into this world as conservative thinkers?
Or are we born with a radical bent?

Not surprisingly, we aren’t born with a blank slate.
We come into this world with Version 1.0 embedded in our brains.
So if you look at the most isolated to the most populated places on the planet, you’ll find we’re born with the same core Version 1.0 software.

And yet the software gets a sort of ‘virus’.
Some of us turn extremely conservative. We detest radical thoughts.
And some of us turn extremely radical. We in turn detest conservative thinking and actions.

But showing contempt for the other side is crazy.
Because everything on the planet, including talent, is a matter of structure. Structure is conservative.

Talent is also a matter of art. Art is radical free-thinking.

Creativity and Talent do not exist in thin air. They need structure.
Structure is boring without creativity. It would make our lives drab and doom us to boredom.
Creativity without structure would lead to complete chaos.

Both must exist side by side.

Our iPhones, our cars, our houses, our computers: everything is based on someone’s ability to transcend their radical or conservative virus, and use both sides to create something new.

We can live with a virus that forces us to be ultra-conservative or ultra-radical.
Or we can understand that they’re like yin and yang.
That one cannot actually exist without the other.

The day you learn how to use the conservative as well as the radical part of your brain, that’s the day you’ll learn faster than ever before.

But can you do it?
Can you actually step over to the other side?

Try it. You’ll be amazed at what you find there!
(Watch this video by Jonathan Haidt as well: You may need to be online to watch it)

How the brain fixes pain

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See that bridge. That’s a ‘bridge of pain’ or ‘no-pain.’ Find out how your brain deals with creating permanent pain.

I play a lot of badminton these days.
And after running on the courts for two hours, I’m fine.
But the next day, my knees are sore.
I find it difficult to bend my knees. And have to use some sort of pain-relieving balm.

So I decided to use my brain as a balm instead
And drive resources from my brain to make sure my knees are not sore any more.
So all I did was focus on my knees not being sore.
And believe me, I’m no magician.

Incredibly, they’re not sore any more.
Now this sounds bizarre, doesn’t it?
Probably as bizarre as learning a new skill.

When you learn a new skill you’re in extreme pain.
And of course, you have all those naysayers saying, “You’re not talented.”
So there’s a lot more than mere extreme pain. There’s discouragement too.

But the brain can rise above all of this pain to create permanent success.
You see the brain works on the system of synapses and neurons (wait, don’t glaze over, because I’ll explain)

Think of neurons as two sides of a cliff.
Neuron 1 is one side of cliff.
Neuron 2 is the other side of the cliff.
There’s a wide, deep ravine in between those cliffs.

To cross over, you need a bridge
That bridge is the synapse bridge.
When we learn something new, the brain keeps building a bridge between the two cliffs.
All the time, as you go through your day, your brain is building new bridges.
The more you repeat a learning or action, the more the brain works on strengthening the bridge, because it recognises the bridge as important.

So you can create a bridge of pain.
And the brain will keep working on that bridge so that your synapse (bridge) is one one of pain.

Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
Pain and more pain.
So that a once rickety bridge becomes a steel structure.
A structure that’s permanent, and can take on even more loads of pain.
Thus increasing your pain manifold.

Really talented people recognise the failure and the pain
But they rise above it forcing their brain to remember the joy and achievement.
The excuse-makers find a way to focus the brain on the pain and failure.
And the brain gives us exactly what we want. It creates a stronger bridge of pain or joy—depending on what you choose.

So do you want to fix muscular pain?
Or creative pain?
Get your brain to swing into action. And see how it fixes the so-called problem faster than you think.