I started off the new year by taking a very practical online course on optimal brain performance offered by Jim Kwik.
One of the messages he repeats again and again is the importance of the letters B and E, which when combined read “be”.
The “B” stands for Believing in yourself, your abilities and the potential of your brain.
When we train people to engage in creative problem solving and innovation, one of the first lessons consists of helping people recognize all the ways in which they are already resourceful, creative and innovative. We get them to a place of believing in their natural abilities to be creative.
You need to stop saying to yourself “I am not creative.”
This statement seems so obvious, but just a few weeks ago, before taking the course on brain performance, I didn’t truly believe that I had a “super brain” capable of memorizing or remembering anything I wished (even the periodic table!). Now I realize that believing in your brain’s potential is just as important as believing in your creative potential.
The “E” stands for Exercise. And again, just like deliberate creativity takes practice, the ability to remember things is a muscle that needs exercising. The more you exercise it, the stronger it will be.
But the connections are never ending! It turns out that many of the same tools and techniques we use to develop creative thinking skills will also enhance your memory and retention and vice versa! One example is this simple and fun online exercise that I created to test your name retention skills and exercise your imagination.
Another tool that develops your imagination and has a positive impact on your memory, your creative problem solving abilities and your innovation skills is called “Image Streaming.” Image Streaming was originally developed by Dr. Win Wenger and was inspired by Einsteinian and Socratic methods. It is an exercise and a process by which you bring into conscious perception the visuals and images that take place in your unconscious mind at any given point in time—much like dreaming, but in a state of wakefulness.
The more you practice Image Streaming, the more likely you are to generate original ideas and to come up with novel solutions to problems big and small. Given that you are exercising the visual parts of your brain with Image Streaming, you’ll also find it easier to learn a foreign language, remember stranger’s names or even remember your grocery list.
The ability to Image Stream relies on two simple habits:
- Believe in your ability to bring those unconscious images into conscious perception AND
- Exercise this ability.
Of course, if you have never exercised this ability in adulthood (children are naturals!), you will benefit from some guidance and tips on how to get started. But after doing it once, you will know how to do it anytime!
Curious to know more? Contact us to ask about our 2-hour workshop on Image Streaming and exercising your imagination.