Did you know that every time we remember/recall something, we actually remake that thought by picking information from different regions of the brain? There is no such thing as a memory of you and your family sitting at the table for Christmas dinner 2007, while eating a colorful, tasty feast meal, saved in one place in your brain. This is one reason why accurately recollecting memories is very difficult for us, humans, and we’re, generally speaking, not good at retelling at least half of the details. It’s important because we do judge people by those skewed little ‘facts’; we make our decisions based on them.

“we’re, generally speaking, not good at retelling at least half of the details”

I, however, know myself very well. When bombarded by ideas in my own brain, I exactly know how to handle them so I won’t go crazy. I know how to calm down, get my thoughts together and bundle them into nice little piles of categorized information. Then, it is easy stepping back into that mental space and simply choosing one of the packages to unfold them, without the need to overload my brain’s capacity or to remember precise and faulty pieces of a story.

Of course, to extend the power of my brain, I use tools that my ancestors left behind (thank god). Pen and paper to either write or draw and sketch ideas is what I use. Often it comes in handy and the creative and expressive freedoms allow good ideas to come through and bad ones to be filtered visually or through words. Now, when I get to think of it, this is what I do in every circumstance. When things get complex, unoverseeable, blocking, I pull attention to a small demarcated area and organize all the pieces of the puzzle at hand. Many times it caused others in the group to free up their limited short term memories and blast out new ideas or insights. In other instances, it helped solving concepts way too abstract or hard for a human brain to solve and also because of the mythical man month (A book by Frederick Brooks written in 1975 that says:”Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later).

“I pull attention to a small demarcated area and organize all the pieces of the puzzle at hand”

In any case my love goes out to the fore mentioned: creating something in small group settings with driven and skillful people to reach completed somethings for a beneficiary. Not only making the THING itself is what I like, guiding the whole process in between is what fascinates me. Of every step I know a bit, having a vision or idea about what would be the best way to go. I won’t say I have the truth, because I enjoy these meetings where brains can clash, argue and persuade one another into taking other views. I guess you could say group dynamics is what I like to experience and influence. Since I’m good at taking a step back, generalizing, envisioning the breaking of boundaries, it triggers me positively when me myself and/or others are getting stuck in psychological, emotional or otherwise enclosed spaces of darkness. I always see a way out.

Making decisions in these kind of situations is essential and I don’t fear responsibility over well-weighed or well-argued choices. Sometimes the only way to go is to take a position, maybe a fall, but to get up and improve. Never have I felt like operating in laboratory-like conditions which made the creation of anything sterile. I have always seen that I would get through alive, with more knowledge about us or me, with better chances for future situations. As new opportunities arise, I use a set of three strong words. Confidently looking, I say:”BRING IT ON!”.

“Sometimes the only way to go is to take a position, maybe a fall, but to get up and improve“

You know, in that way, life is also a present, given to you for free and you should be happy with whatever you get because it’s for free. Also, because from our western, meritocratic perspective, there’s always a way out, always a way to climb the ladder and exchange whatever you have gotten for something better and better. A strong mindset and being guided by some principles like the golden rule will bear fruits at some point. Except for life itself, I’ve given myself a lot of presents. Calmly but eagerly, I was passing the borders of my own comfort zones, to open gifts and look into new opportunities or ideas about the world across actual countries’ borders. Surprises and enrichment were waiting, many times positive, sometimes negative, but always putting me in the middle of a valuable lesson. Fully drenched in experience, I would emerge. I always came out, each sensory input filled with stimuli, sounds for the ears, images for the eyes, smells for the nose.

Now, even though we have our limitations, did you know that actually the brain is capable of changing from the moment we are born until our lives end? Its plasticity, as it is called, allows us to keep learning, regardless if it gets harder with age. Until our life is over we can influence our brain cells and networks to learn new things or to unlearn wrong ones. We are empowered to improve until our last breaths. This for me, and should for all of us, be an amazing motivation to stay on top of things and keep alive our curious nature. It means that if you pay enough of your spiritual currency, you will EARN something. Spiritual currencies being attention and time, the only things that we actually get to steer and afford ourselves intentionally. Who would have thought that it’s so obvious, accurate and logical when people say:”Pay attention!” or “Spend time with your family”.

“A strong mindset and being guided by some principles like the golden rule will bear fruits at some point”

Now for something else. I would like to recall one memory of one of my travels to make a point about what I think is important in life. Among one of the beautiful hikes with endless green mountain ranges on the horizon, I remember being in Japan.. or.. was it Canada? Well, it doesn’t really matter, in both cases, and many others, there were similar conditions. We had been working on a farm in a valley in the morning, and now we stood there full of awe about the beauty of this planet. A very interesting composition of people, a bunch of Europeans abroad, complemented with a Japanese guy. Almost half of us German and half French, with a slight touch of Italy and the Netherlands, men and women. A great set.

Fun as it sounded, the individuals in the group often sided with those whom they had already known, with whom they “belonged”. Relations weren’t always good. Quarrels over ways of working, solutions or positions between those belonging to a certain country were many. In a way, we functioned like a roller coaster, having highs and lows but always starting and finishing the ride together. I never really sided with anyone on that farm. Instead, I kept using my own mind to compare approaches, stayed open to the best of all worlds, without having the issues our egos can pose. Luckily, my diplomatic attitude and respect for every person involved, supplemented with knowledge of each concerned language and culture, created some space for negotiation. I communicated with everybody on neutral grounds, being able to take leads and guide us all together . I would be fine being the common enemy, as long as the biggest part of the group sided together to accomplish what was best for us all. Since I was best at seeing past emotional outbursts or stubborn attitudes, I wouldn’t get tangled into arguments or what I perceived as drama. I like drama, but only when there’s a good story and it ends well.

“Luckily my diplomatic attitude and respect for every person involved, supplemented with knowledge of each concerned language and culture created some space for negotiation”

My attitude towards life, and surprises that come with it, has always guided me in my personal, academic, and professional life. The main benefit of that positive attitude keeps me growing and lets me make progress through each event. Skills, intuition and experience are adding up, allowing for better decisions and actions on every new occasion. Along the way, I’ve also learned how to keep validating what I’m doing against a set of norms and values, which shows me which turn to take. In any case, I’m about to take the next turn and it will bring me exactly what’s necessary.

*I hope you have been able to see some of my personal merits by reading through these personal snippets.Thank you for reading 🙂