Harnessing the Power of Obsession.
I’ve got a headache and I’m sick but the stories just keep coming. . .
One of the things I love about the mind is its ability to obsess. I mean it has really messed me up in the past but it has also been the drive to do so much of what I love.
When we set ourselves a daily challenge we direct the obsessive parts of the mind to a singular goal.
Today is day 11 of my writing challenge and even though I’m sick with a headache my mind is still brainstorming article after article based off of today’s experiences.
I’ve done this before with headlines and titles, amassed a giant list in my mind as my brain endless topics in life’s many interactions but because it was only focused on the themes it never created the actual article.
Here, with this challenge to write it is creating something every day.
It’s what our brains do.
They have evolved to be problem solvers. Give them a problem and they’ll work on it. Give them nothing to solve and they’ll try to solve problems that aren’t there.
The brain fills in the blanks.
Back in the states on a healthy day I’d be thinking about my clients, my business, a recent theme in life. . . sex.
Half a decade ago I would have been obsessing about my last social interaction and if I f*@?ed everything up by saying the wrong thing. I’d be obsessing over how I was going to heal, how I could become “normal. . .” or famous.
If we don’t have aligned goals the brain runs with its narrative. When I thought I was broken, looking to heal, the brain focused on what was broken. As well as tools to help heal, which eventually paid off.
When my narrative is that I have the tools that I need to be healthy and stable with goals in life that I am fulfilling, my brain runs with those goals.
On its own, the brain isn’t particularly choosy. Give it comics and it’ll think on comics. Television and it’ll figure out plots; porn, it’ll know all its favorite models.
It’s about priorities.
The brain runs with its set goals and priorities. If you give it a specific goal it will begin to see the world that way.
When I took up drawing, everything was a potential picture.
Studied Chinese and language became about tones and the social meaning behind our grammatic structure.
Now it’s stories.
Talking about tools of transformation, our inner worlds, and depth, some of my adventures.
I enjoy these things and the conversations that arise from them.
Thank you brain for your obsessions. They’ve brought me this far and I’m glad that we’re steering them in a healthier way.
Love and share.
I’m starting something new. Writing every day as I put my random thoughts on binary paper.
If you’d like to join me on this journey you can sign up for my email list here.
