Think Less and Know More
Our thoughts can be over-reactive, judgmental, or exhausting. Mine often are. But I guess we need those thoughts It’s where our “intelligence” comes from … right?
If you think about where your “intelligence” comes from, I bet you think of your brain. But in our intensives we help leaders explore and listen to all three of their intelligence centers:
Our bodies are speaking to us through all five senses, gut feelings and intuition
Our hearts are working with the right side of the brain to give us emotions that connect us to everything we’re experiencing
Our left-brains are producing thoughts and commentary
We’ve got three, but we’ve been conditioned to rely on one: our thoughts. This is an idea running through Tema Okun’s White Supremacy Cultural Values: emotions are “bad” (unproductive, untrustworthy) and thinking (strategy, intellect, expertise) is good. And that obviously impacts how we treat each other - but I think even more - how we treat ourselves. We stop listening to the wisdom we’re receiving from ⅔ of our intelligence centers. Inwardly, we go deeper into a racing mind while outwardly, we put on a performance of mental competence.
It’s not just exhausting, it’s unscientific. Research has helped us understand why “emotions are bad and thinking is good” is completely wrong. The scientific name for the state of peak performance is “flow.” At our best, we’re in a state of deep awareness, connected to an energy that seems to be guiding us – the opposite of the leader who is strategically and consciously trying to guide the people and world around them. We’re tapped in … processing all kinds of data (emotions, energy), not just information. In that state, we know things intuitively, not just intellectually.
When we’re in flow, we think less and we know more.
So the next time you feel like you don’t know what to say or do, maybe take a moment to see if that’s really true. Does your gut know what it wants to do? Does your heart? Maybe you’re just letting your brain do all the talking.
