Day 22. Wisdom and Knowledge

Hello, and welcome back!

??Please read the descriptions of the exercises below and perform them as you wish.?

???After completing them, rate your level of happiness on a scale of 0 to 10.?

0-4 low?

5-7 medium

8-10 high?

If you find that a particular exercise brings you a high level of happiness (8-10), you have likely discovered a key virtue that can bring more meaning and satisfaction to your life.?

Ingenuity and Creativity

Creativity is taking known elements and putting them together in unique ways. Jacque Fresco

?When you are faced with something you want, are you outstanding at finding novel yet appropriate behavior to reach that goal? You are rarely content with doing something the conventional way. This strength category includes what people mean by creativity, but I do not limit it to traditional endeavors within the fine arts. This strength is also called practical intelligence, common sense, or street smarts?. M. Seligman

Mini-test:

A: I like to think of new ways to do things.

Very much like me - 5

Like me - 4

Neutral - 3

Unlike me - 2

Very much unlike me - 1

B: Most of my friends are more imaginative than I am.

Very much like me - 1

Like me - 2

Neutral - 3

Unlike me - 4

Very much unlike me - 5

Total your score for these two items. This is your ingenuity score ___

So, let's start practicing!

To reach a dead end

Think of an unsolvable problem: your own or your loved ones'. It should be a meaningful problem that you have puzzled over more than once.?

For 2 to 3 minutes, load your brain with data about the ?unsolvability? of the problem.?

Your left hemisphere should eventually say something like, ?That's it, I give up!??

Take a deep breath and on the exhale watch your right hemisphere turning on, ?There must definitely be a way out here somewhere!??

Write down all the incredible solutions your brain will start throwing up. ?

Scientists who study the phenomenon of imagination say that this is exactly how it works: you need to reach an dead end in order to turn off the left hemisphere for a while and allow the right hemisphere to come up with an extraordinary way to solve the problem.

Open-monitoring meditation

Scientific interest in meditation began in the western world since the 60s and it is constantly growing. Meditation seems to be an effective tool for enhancing general well-being. It can reduce anxiety and stress, increase pain tolerance and promote positive thinking. A 2012 study showed that mindfulness meditation, especially open-monitoring meditation (when we simply observe all the thoughts, emotions, sensations and experiences that come and go) enhances the out-of-the-box thinking that is the basis of creativity. So… here's a suggestion.

Allocate 5 minutes. You can set a timer on your phone if you wish. Sit up straight or lie down, feel the stability in your body, take a few calm inhales and exhales. Each exhale a little longer.? Close your eyes and just observe everything that happens inside you: notice thoughts, feelings, sensations. Just observe and don't focus on anything in particular. When the practice is over, notice how much clearer and calmer your consciousness has become. Now it’s your fruitful space and basis for new ideas, connections and understanding of how the world can be reorganized.

Channel Your Inner Seven-Year-Old

Imagine you are seven years old and school is canceled. You have the whole day to yourself.?

• What would you do?
• Where would you go?
• Who would you meet with?

Sit down and make notes for 10 minutes of everything that comes to your mind from the state of a seven year old.

Did you write it down?

Good! Now you can get to work on any creative task.

Research shows that two groups who received the same instructions with one difference - the first were told the child's age and the others were not - differed seriously in their effectiveness at solving non-routine problems. Those who had been told the child's age scored far higher on the creative tasks, coming up with twice as many ideas as the other group. It turns out that we can recover creativity we’ve lost with time. We just have to pretend we’re little kids.

If you are looking for individual support on your journey towards a happier life, I would be glad to help. Book a free chemistry session now!?