We’re taught to think things through. To be logical. To consider all the options and choose what’s best to do from those options. It’s practical and will keep us on the straight and narrow right? Well, not always. Too often people allow the logical side of their nature lead in things, which it really isn’t meant to do. Our logical side is a problem solver. It’s the part that synthesizes things. It takes all the disparate elements, all the different pieces and parts, sorts through them and makes the best possible outcome from them. All well and good if you’re on a deserted island with limited resources and need to survive. But how many of us are actually in that situation? Even people living on islanders aren’t in that situation so why are all of us acting like we are? Because we’ve been told that it’s the best thing to be.
So instead of listening to our soul and our heart and our bodies, we listen to our brain and not the whole thing, but just the logical problem solving part. And you know what problem solvers do? Look for problems. If they can’t see one easily they’ll search until they find one or make one appear out of thin air. I call this the catastrophic effect or “The Sky Is Falling!!!” How often has our logic brain gone from “I’m overdrawn” to “I’m going to lose everything and be homeless and all of my loved ones will forsake me!” ? In a heart beat is usually the answer for most people. Way to go, logic brain.
What can be done? Well, lots. First, the logic brain isn’t a bad thing, it’s just not helpful if it’s doing things it isn’t built to do. Like using a wrench to do brain surgery. It’s not the tool’s fault if it can’t do what you’re asking. Ask it to help you with a pipe or a nut and things will go much better. Second, the logic brain shouldn’t be making choices, it should be helping us figure out how to implement our choices once we’ve made them. Which means it needs to sit back and let the soul/heart/body work through things and make those choices before it adds its two cents. How do you go about doing that? Well, I suggest giving the logic brain a name. I like to call mine Bob. And when Bob starts talking out of turn, telling me his opinion of things, getting all catastrophic and common sensical about things it really shouldn’t be involved in, I let it have its say for a bit, then acknowledge it’s input by saying “Thanks, Bob. I got it.” I file all that away in the proper file and go back to what I was doing. When I’ve got an actual problem that needs to be solved or I’ve come to a decision that needs to be implemented, I invite Bob to join the discussion and he’s really a star at getting things done.
So here’s to Bob. Or whatever your logic brain is called. Overworked, underpaid, and just needs to take some time off so the rest of us can get some work done. 🙂
