Roman Brain Power

Recently while flying back from Rome I was trying to beat jet lag by keeping myself awake. I came to realize after watching episodes of 30 Rock and The Office that there was an option to listen to Audio Books. I can't tell you what a relief this was to stumble upon given my displeasure for television shows.


Luckily, I was able to jump into Chapter 2 of Getting Organized in the Google Era which was remarkably intriguing. The premise involves using our brains effectively and utilizing the internet & other tools to essentially organize what doesn't stick in our long term memory (i.e. reason #176 why you need an iphone).


As a side note, I appreciate how he uses musical lyrics throughout the book as a way to connect his thoughts and keep our interest. That was clever Douglas.


So the part that I keep coming back to is this notion of our Constraints. The emotional, psychological, physical kinds of obstacles that impact our reactions to life. He talks about Assumed versus Actual constraints. And it made me think of working with people, how so often I feel that my work is helping people make sense of this: is what I am facing an Actual obstacle to my life, or a road block I am Assuming to be an obstacle?


I don't always have the answer to that question. In fact, who can really judge that for certain but the person experiencing this? But given how easy it is to lie to ourselves and potentially underestimate our own capacity to take risks, it makes me wonder again about the importance of feedback and honest observation from those we trust so that we can decipher a little more clearly this difference of assumed vs. actual constraints.


What am I assuming to be an obstacle in my life that may actually just be fear?

Root of the Problem

I recently attended the SAMHSA conference in downtown Chicago where I had the luxury of hearing from Francine Ward talking about esteemable acts. What I appreciated most, besides her incredible ability to speak candidly about her own recovery, was her focus on action.


For people in recovery, whether that be from addictions, mental health issues or the scars of our own pasts, action is often barred by so many obstacles. Sometimes for good reason people get overwhelmed by those obstacles whether they are self-induced or external. I really enjoyed Francine's lecture because it reminded me that no matter what we are facing there is some form of action that we can take.


At one point in her lecture she made a comment that was something like this: If I'm not the problem, then I won't change. There is something very empowering about the notion of looking for ways that I may be holding myself back from whatever piece of life I am wanting to have more of. Today let's try to look at ourselves and ask honestly what small piece of action can I take.


In the meantime, I can't stop listening to French music and am finding myself wondering what kind of action I need to take to hear it in person :) Ciao- SW