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Imaginary Perspective

July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 / Kennedy Farr / Leave a comment

romanesco-3493007_960_720

Do you remember how, when you were a child, you used to really take the time to look at things and imagine and wonder about their weirdness?  I look at this image and my adult brain says, “Romanesco.”  My child brain says, “Wow!  That is so cool!  A baby forest!”

I sometimes wonder at what point in time did my brain effortlessly – and without my consent – switch over to the predominately-adult way of looking at life.  At what age was I suddenly thinking with the practical parts of my brain and no longer seeing those little white plastic pizza box widgets (the ones that save the pizza from sticking to the top of the box during a jouncy delivery) as the perfect tea table for dolls?  Or seeing an empty matchbox as something to be tossed in the recycling bin rather than using it as the perfect little box for hiding treasures?

It’s not that the Adult Brain is a bad thing.  Not at all.  I think of the scientific advances that have been made, the complex transportation systems that have been developed, the fact that man has actually walked on the moon . . . Not bad stuff for thinking like an adult.  Still, I believe at the heart of all of these discoveries and creations there was a Child Brain at work, imagining the possibilities and definitely seeing both the forest and the trees . . .  seeing the “That’s so cool!” along with the applied possibilities.

It’s like metadata . . . how one set of data provides info about other data .  . one brain provides the background for the other brain to process and interpret it . . . wonder serves invention . . . curiosity grows into a brilliant theory.  I respect the magic of metadata and how experiential learning grows more learning and how Child Brain inspires Adult Brain.  It’s all so very Romanesco!

If you are feeling like you are currently in a Stuck Place in your life today, allow your Child Brain to take the wheel for a while.  Look at the situation, challenge, difficulty, complication, obstacle, or worry through the eyes of your Child Brain.  Let it loose to wonder.  What does it see?  Maybe it isn’t exactly what your Adult Brain has been interpreting.  Maybe it isn’t as bad or scary as you were thinking it is.

There are times when I get so caught up with my Adult Brain spiraling scenarios out into their worst-case outcomes that I forget to reel everything back into the present moment and take a breath and see the moment for what it is.  Is it Romanesco or is it a baby forest?  Or is it a overly-complicated combination of both with my adult-child brain saying, “An otherworldly forest of the most exquisite-of-greens on a micro planet that is inhabited by creatures that go entirely unseen for the thick forest canopy”?

I want to see the simple wonder in the moment rather than get caught up in picking everything apart into its smallest fragments in order to “make sense” of things.  I want to appreciate the natural simplicity of a moment rather than nurturing my tendency to confabulate.

tea set. tee-3057632__340My challenge for today: Think “baby forest.” See, capture, and experience the wonder within the moment.  Quash my nature to distort reality into a tempest-filled teapot and, instead, allow positivity to be poured forth into my adult-version, child-sized teacup and take a sip of optimism.  I feel better already.

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Meta-Optimism . . . Meta-Living

July 30, 2014July 30, 2014 / Kennedy Farr / 5 Comments

meta. 6a00d8341da2a953ef01156f5e41af970c-pi

Meta.

meta . . . referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre; self-referential [Google’s “define: meta”] 

Metacognition is thinking about thinking.  Metadata is data about data.  Meta-joke is joking about jokes.  Meta-discussion is discussion about discussion. And then there is meta-emotion: emotion about emotion. Whew.

This past week, I was listening to a friend who was needing to take care of some personal business that involved a massive amount of emotional energy.  It set me to remembering some of my rather spectacular meta-emotional experiences from the past. She shared what she was feeling and what was compelling her to move forward in her life in this particular relationship.  As we talked, I sensed a thickening layer of doubt and dread and uncertainty blanketing her true emotions.

It was as if there were a miasma of other emotions fogging in and layering on top of her Truth.  Feelings of fear and awkwardness and regret and  . . ..  I had to stop her and ask: What are you really truly feeling?  What is the bottom-line feeling that is motivating you to act?  What is it that you truly want?

It made me think of what I call some of life’s Liver Moments.  I once read that the liver is composed of sheets of tissue that are extraordinarily connective.  That it is a mass of layers that is seemingly impossible to sew up and repair.  Insert suture.  Oops.  That might not have been such a good idea.  Try again in a new spot.  Nope, not there.  Oops, the needle just messed that area up.  Yikes.  Now there is a bigger mess to repair.

You get the idea.  Whether this is true in the anatomical and surgical sense in the life of a human liver, I don’t know.  I have not researched the anatomy adequately . . . I read of this in reference to damaged connections and irreparable relationships, so I suspect it is possible that the author was stretching his or her simile a bit. Trying to fix things sometimes makes a muck of things.  We sometimes believe in the possibility of healing when trying to re-connect.  To repair and to heal.

But still.  There is always the possibility that certain situations are not destined to be patched up like new.  In some relationships, some things are pretty tough to doctor up.  Things are done or not done.  Words are spoken or not spoken.  I love yous are rat-holed in some cubby of the heart.  Patience is discarded.  Kindness is ignored.  Offense is taken.  Affection is withheld.  Green-eyed envy establishes residence.  Fear dominates.  Once that suture goes in, over and over again in an attempt to gain some purchase, maybe it is time to take a step back.  Allow the whole thing to breathe for a bit.  Let the liver have some healing time.  Move in a new direction.  Stop, drop, and roll.

stacks of quilts. 12db09c68d1cd87d57637c79d56379f6There have certainly been times when I have really complicated things by embracing and nurturing some serious meta-emotion.  Emoting about emotions.  Feelings to the exponential square.  I have blanketed emotion upon emotion to the point of suffocating my true feelings.  I was no longer capable of recognizing the core emotion that I was trying to cover up with rational thought.  When finding myself in an emotional sticky wicket, it seems that I always want to know the outcomes well in advance .

Today.  Am I any wiser in the ways of meta-emotion?  I don’t know.  Occasions occur, and I sometimes allow an emotional hijacking to occur.  I go to that place — that blind — that camouflages reality.  I indulge myself by making something bigger than it is.  Still.  There are also those times when I take care of my true emotions and allow them to speak to me in a voice that is much louder than a whisper.  I choose real-time life over what could have been . . . what could be.  

This is powerful.  I can be such a hard-driven optimist at times, I completely ignore all of the true and real signs that are directing or mis-directing me in life.  High performance optimism has rewarded me so well.  But it has also steered me wrong.  I sometimes must caution myself to not always see how things can be.  My life lesson: Be aware of meta-optimism: optimistic about optimism.

The ultimate meta life lesson for me? Aim for Meta-Living: living about living.  Life as a self-referential entity and referring to the conventions of its genre.  Not fighting the Now.  Being in the moment.  Embracing Now.  Setting aside the suture and letting the liver heal and move on without relying on blind and extraordinary optimism as an intervention.  Removing the blankets of emotions that suffocate my soul’s origin.  Allowing my happiness to breathe.

My present moment?  I embrace and subscribe to the state of meta-happy: happy about happiness.  So much more fun!  And so much more real when I allow my emotions, my thoughts, my dreams, my goals, my life’s work to guide me into the conventions of my own happy creativity.  For this and for the people in my life who make my life so much bigger and more wonderful, I feel an abundance of appreciation and gratitude.

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  • No GPS Required
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Kennedy Farr on No GPS Required
Eric Tonningsen on No GPS Required
Pat Smith on Drink your coffee.
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toasterboy on On a scale of 1-10, how much d…

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