How To Use Your Brain Power To Figure Out Anything
If you’ve ever seen a brain or a picture of a brain they look kind of unimpressive. A bunch of squishy grey stuff that curls around itself and looks like something my toddler would make out of Playdough. How can that squishy gunk control my whole life?
Even though our brains might not look like much, they are capable of incredible things. They control our whole bodies.
Every step we take, every move we make, our brains are watching us. No really, our brains are constantly taking in information from the world around us (things we see, hear, smell, touch…), analyzing that information, and telling our bodies how to respond. It’s pretty awesome stuff.
Did you know our brains;
Can send messages as fast as 432 km/h!
Have basically an infinite capacity for memory. You can never fill it up.
Don’t feel any pain. That’s why we can do brain surgery while someone is awake.
Have the capacity to solve problems faster than any supercomputer.
Continue to learn for our whole lives!
On our own, our brains are great, but together what they can accomplish is unlimited. If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now, like you don’t know if there is a light at the end of this current tunnel, remember some the great things our brains have done when we worked together;
Harnessed fire – Might not seem like much, but to our ancestors this was life saving, and it’s still pretty great when you want to roast marshmallows.
Indoor plumbing – Part of the reason we live so long now is because we figured out sanitation, so we stopped getting sick from waste being thrown in the streets!
Chocolate that melts in your mouth not in your hands – Enough said
We went to the moon – 100 years ago that would have sounded like science fiction, but we did it.
Coffee – Whoever was the first to think maybe I should grind up these beans and boil them to see what happens, I take my hat off to you
The internet – The reason I’m able to talk to you right now is a bunch of people got together, used their brains, and created something no one else had even though imaginable to connect our world.
Do this right now. Write down 3 times in your life when it seemed like your back was up against a wall. Like there was no where to go. Like you couldn’t possibly figure out a solution. But you did. It might be hard, our brains like to forget about the tough times, but it’s important that we remind ourselves that things have been tough before and we made it through.
Now remind yourself I Got Through That Tough Time. You did. You and your amazing brain figured out a way. When all hope seemed lost, you figured out a way forward.
If our brains can figure out how to make fire, how to create indoor plumbing, how to travel to the moon, and how to make red velvet cake, they can figure out a way to get through this time and come out the other side stronger.
If you’re needing some more confidence that you really can figure this out, check out Marie Forleo’s book “Everything is Figuroutable”. It’s super funny, but also inspiring. It gave me the reminder that we can figure out anything, if we just put our brilliant brains to good use.
I believe in you. I believe in the world. We got this planet Earth!