Practical intelligenceDr.karl albrecht

Affirmative Thinking

the habit of

perceiving, thinking, speaking, and behaving

in ways that support a healthy emotional state

in yourself as well as in others

Mental Flexibility

the absence of mental rigidity

When you free yourself from narrow-mindedness,

intolerance,

dogmatic thinking and judgments,

“opinionitis,”

fear-based avoidance of new ideas and experiences, and learn to live with ambiguity and complexity,

you become more mentally flexible

Under anxiety

the cerebral cortex tries to take over the activity,

not trusting the cerebellum to carry it out expertly

Bad serves, bad baseball pitches, strikeouts, bad golf shots, forgotten words to songs, missed comedy lines, and many other “flubs” occur at this instant of conflict between the cerebrum and the cerebelllum.

The question we now seek to ask is

: Can these advanced methods ever be accessible to “normal” human beings who don’t spend their lives studying and meditating?

Is it possible that all of us have the possibility of increasing our mental func- tions to much higher levels than we’ve previously dreamed of?

G TUM MO The Tibetan monks, who practiced a method known as g Tum-mo

meditation, could raise the temperature of their fingers and toes by as much as 17 Fahrenheit degrees above their aver- age body temperature-reports benson.pi

Hypnagogic and hypanopompic

I often find that new ideas, fragments of ideas, strange verbal expressions, and half-formed concepts come to me during dreams or while going into or out of sleep.

This is one reason why I keep a stack of index cards and a pen on the night table next to my bed.

Brain waves What are the brain waves you get during meditation?

Rhythm of sex The compelling rhythm of sexual intercourse responds to oscillators programmed deeply into the biocomputer.pi

Trance

Aside from the normal “daily trance,” as we might label it, trance states can be caused by a number of experiences.

Hypnosis, of course, is the deliberate induction of a trance state by means of hyper-focused concentration.

Meditation and prayer can also induce trance-like states.

People in some cultures chant, sing, and dance to put themselves into trance states.

Cycle types Researchers also identify ultradian cycles, or patterns that repeat

several times within a day, and infradian cycles, which span across multiple days.pi

Brain cycles Braincycles are variations in the brain’s focus of attention, ranging through a period that averages roughly ninety minutes..pi

Nasal cycle

A particularly curious ultradian pattern is the so-called nasal cycle, which seems to vary over a period of about ninety minutes. At various times over the cycle, one nostril or the other will be more dilated, with a freer flow of air—provided your nasal passages aren’t congested— and the other will be less open. Sometimes during the cycle they’ll both be about the same.To test this, press one nostril closed with your fingertip and notice the volume of air as you inhale through the other nostril.Then switch to the otherside and compare the flow rates.pi

Brain and body The purpose of your body is to carry your brain around.”

—Thomas Edison

Dreams

Sleep researchers report incidents of lucid dreaming, a dream state in which the dreamer somehow “knows” that he or she is dreaming.

This seems to be a paradoxical state of consciousness that incorporates aspects of waking thought and vivid dream images.

Biological clocks

What enables you to wake up five minutes before your alarm goes off?

Define pi Practical Intelligence: the mental ability to cope with the challenges and opportunities of life.

Generalists

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” —Robert Heinlein (science fiction author)

3 phases

Postman traced three phases in the development of what he called “the culture’s conversation with itself.”

Phase one, extending back to our very origins, was an oral phase. People shared knowledge, ideas, and their history through discussion and story-telling.

Phase two, the rise of literate communication through the printed word, peaked in its impact during the nineteenth century, according to Postman.

Phase three, with the arrival of what he called the “televisual” media, began the inexorable transition to a pervasive “culture of amusement.”.

Semantic Sin 3:Directiveness—

pressuring a person indirectly with “should” language,which can sound coercive and can cause a person to

feel his or her autonomy is being encroached upon.Example: “If you’re smart,you’ll diversify your investments”or “You should join the such-and-such professional association.” Alternative:“I think it’s important to diversify investments these days”or “The such-and-such professional association might suit your needs.”

Correcting ss3 We can substitute non-directiveness for directiveness. Limiting

the use of “push-language”such as “should’s”and “ought’s”and implied coercion tends to make people feel more comfortable with our ideas and more likely to accept our suggestions

Filter

Here’s a starter list of expressions you may want to filter out of your vocabulary, as you form ideas in your mind and as you speak your mind to others:

1.I can never do anything right.

2.I can’t (get a break,find a job,stand to...).

3.I dread (an experience,impending event,outcome)

. 4.I hate (you,him,her,this,to do...).

5.If it weren’t for (you,my health,my kids,my mother,my job), Icould (succeed in some way).

6.If only (any statement that agonizes over the past).

7.I’m (dumb,stupid,lazy—any negative adjective)

. 8.I’m a (failure,loser—any negative label).

Change your perception and you change your world.”

How about your own mental habits?

do you keep a positive frame of mind,

appreciate humor,

and come up with new ideas?

Creativity researchers report

a close three-way relationship between

sense of humor,particularly clever use of language;

positive thinking;

and the ability to think creatively and generate new ideas.

Semantic Sin 4.Attribution

attaching a motivation,often an ignoble one,to a person’s behavior,which implies that we’ve discovered his or her despicable reasons for disagreeing with us.

Example:“You’re just being obstinate because you don’t want this project to succeed.”

Alternative:“I wonder if you fully agree with the course of action the team seems committed to.Would you please explain your view of the project?”

Semantic Sin 7.Polarization

framing an issue,problem,or disagreement in terms of only two mutually exclusive possibilities,also known as dichotomizing issues.

Example:“You’re either with us,or you’re against us.”

Alternative:“To what extent are you willing to support us in this venture?”

substitute non-dogmatism for dogmatism

Verbal cues that acknowledge

the relativity of truth,and that remind us and others

to consider multiple options,

multiple causes,

and multiple possibilities,

can help others to express their ideas without feeling they have to do battle against our ideas

substitute non-allness for allness.

Verbal cues like limiters and qualifiers—”It’s possible that ...,”“In some situations ...,” and “To some extent ...”—remind ourselves and others of the limitations that over-generalizing can impose on our thinking.

the four key mega-skills—

BivergentThinking,

HelicopterThinking

IntulogicalThinking,

ViscerationalThinking

MENTAL FLEXIBILITY

IS THE WILLINGNESS to let yourself be

changed by your experiences—by new ideas, new points of view,

opinions and beliefs that are different from your own, situations and

experiences that can take you out of your familiar patterns and invite

you to grow.

Basic Question Am I a finished product—or a work in progress?

Perhaps we can start thinking of ourselves not as

“human beings,” but as “human becomings.”

Curiosity one of the first casualties of the mental hardening process is curiosity

Risk-taking, as Gardner points out, is related to a factor psychologists call

tolerance for ambiguity, which is the capacity to function when things are not necessarily clear and simple.

Archaic thinking

is automatic thinking. It’s reflexive rather than reflective;itoperates from decisions and conclusions made in the past; Archaic thinking is automatic thinking. It’s reflexive rather than reflective;it operates from decisions and conclusions made in the past;

Dynamic thinking

Dynamic thinking is original thinking. It’s reflective rather than reflexive;it responds to the current reality,here-and-now information, and possibilities; it respects evidence

Unlearning The journey to practical intelligence is as much as a journey of unlearning as well as learning

Mental redneck thinking

is narrow, rigid, intolerant, resistant to change,unaccepting of other perspectives,and motivated by the need for simple answers and a comfortable sense of “law and order

individuality.

within each of us, at varying levels of depth and accessibility, is an appetite for something different; something new; something refreshingly unfamiliar; something that’s uniquely us; for the exhilaration of creating something the world—or at least we—have never seen before.We need to express our individuality.

Creativity Vs Conformity

Most of their creative energies never get released,because the conformist pressures keep it bottled up.

“You’re only

given a small spark o f madness.

You mustn’t lose it.” —Robin Williams(comedian)

I know it already

“The biggest obstacle to learning something is the belief that you already know it.”zen

Xerox story a man named Chester Carlson. Working at his kitchen table,

Carlson managed to duplicate an image onto a piece of glass,usinga clumsy makeshift apparatus

-apple story

two college dropouts,both fascinated with electronic gadgets, pioneered the personal computer. In a now-legendary story, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, working in the garage of Job’s parents, created the prototype of the first commercial “PC,”which at that time was only a scrambled mess of parts and wires

Think Like a beginner

The most important thing every expert needs to learn is how to think like a beginner.

Simplex thinkers

—people who,typically out of fear and ignorance,crave simple answers,simple world views,simple explanations,simpleopinions,and simple solutions

Duplex thinkers

tend to dichotomize situations,issues,and ideologies in terms of simple opposing distinctions:right or wrong,good or bad,normalor abnormal,moral or immoral,success or failure,liberal or conservative,friend or enemy,us and them,with us or against us.

Multiplex thinkers

—people who have developed a high tolerance—and even a preference—for ambiguity and complexity.They tend to see problems as having “more than one right answer

Omniplexthinkers

—people who have not only become tolerant of ambiguity and complexity,but who seem to enjoy it

MullaNasruddin

“One day the Mullah Nasruddin was adjudicating a dispute between two neighbors. After listening to the firstone’sarguments, he said, ‘I believe you are right.’ But then the other neighbor argued his case, very persuasively. When he had finished,

Nasruddin said, ‘I believe you are right.’ A bystander, perplexed by his answers, protested: ‘Wait a minute! They can’t both be right!’ The mullah looked at him, stroked his beard, and said, ‘I believe you are right.’

Four channel Listening:

• Facts• Feelings• Values• Opinions

Semantic Sin 3:Directiveness —

pressuring a person indirectly with “should” language,which can sound coercive and can cause a person tofeel his or her autonomy is being encroached upon.Example: “If you’re smart,you’ll diversify your investments”or “You should join the such-and-such professional association.” Alternative:“I think it’s important to diversify investments these days”or “The such-and-such professional association might suit your needs.”

substitute non-directivenessfor directiveness.

Limiting the use of “push-language”such as “should’s”and“ought’s”and implied coercion tends to make people feel more comfortable with our ideas and more likely to accept our suggestions

Semantic Sin 4.Attribution—

attachinga motivation,often an ignoble one,to a person’s behavior,which implies that we’ve discovered his or her despicable reasons for disagreeing with us.Example:“You’re just being obstinate because you don’t want this project to succeed.” Alternative:“I wonder if you fully agree with the course of action the team seems committed to.Would you please explain your view of the project?””

Semantic Sin 7.Polarization

—framing an issue,problem,or disagreement in terms of only two mutually exclusive possibilities,also known as dichotomizing issues.Example:“You’re either with us,or you’re against us.”Alternative:“To what extent are you willing to support us in this venture?”P

Filter

Here’s a starter list of expressions you may want to filter out of your vocabulary, as you form ideas in your mind and as you speak your mind to others:

1.I can never do anything right.2.I can’t (get a break,find a job,stand to...).3.I dread (an experience,impending event,outcome). 4.I hate (you,him,her,this,to do...).5.If it weren’t for (you,my health,my kids,my mother,my job), Icould (succeed in some way).6.If only (any statement that agonizes over the past).7.I’m (dumb,stupid,lazy—any negative adjective). 8.I’m a (failure,loser—any negative label).9.I’m afraid (that,of—anything that might happen or be true)

How about your own mental habits

: do you keep a positive frame of mind, appreciate humor,andcome up with new ideas?

am afraid to listen, for by listening I might understand, and be changed by that understanding.” —Carl Rogers (American psychologist)

One of Mullah Nasruddin’s students asked, ‘What is fate?’ Nasruddin answered, ‘An endless succession of intertwined events, each influencing the other.’ ‘That is hardly a satisfactory answer. I believe in cause and effect,’ retorted the student. ‘Very well,’ replied the Mullah, ‘look at that,’ pointing to a procession passing in the street. ‘That man is being taken to be hanged. Is it because somebody gave him a silver piece and enabled him to buy the knife with which he committed the murder; or because some-body sold him the knife; or because somebody saw him do it; or because nobody stopped him?

Semantic Sin 6.Dogmatism

—a strong,unconditional,declarative statement or value judgment that does not acknowledge the validity of alternative views.Example:“Kids these days have far too many electronic gadgets.”Alternative:“Some kids seem to have a lot of electronic gadgets.I think there are negative side effects for some of them.” -

Semantic Sin 5:.All-ness

—generalizing so broadly as to obscure important differences,variations,or alternatives that might be relevant to the interpretation or conclusion being offered.Example:“People don’t like change.”Alternative:“Some people find change uncomfortable and some actually prefer it.How can we make the changes we plan to make appealing for as many people as possible?”

substitute non-polarization for polarization

. Limiting the use of dichotomizing statements like “win or lose,”“succeed or fail,”and “us and them”tends to open up the range of thinking and discussion and to admit more options and possibilities into our thinking.-

Four channel Listening

:

• Facts

• Feelings

• Values

• Opinions

Individual merit

Mathew effect