I ran into a young women the other day. She told me she lived in 8 places in the last 10 years. I could have put on my psych 101 hat and began to analyze. Hmmmm … what was she running from? Which one of the 6 essential needs for human happiness was she missing. And then there is the whole “need versus want” thought stream. But I didn’t take the bait on either one.
She then told me without being asked. “I am a bit of gypsy – I really love seeing new places and meeting new people”. Call it curiosity. Call it creative drive. Or call it just flat out discontent: We all crave certain things in life that are new. Even the bible tells us that the human eye can NEVER be satisfied. Thats right. It has a continual urge to look and experience and understand.
We want to be impressed. We want to be deeply moved. We want our minds “blown”. But why?
Science has told us: Creating special environments encourages breakthroughs – a literal “rewiring” of how we think which is referred to as neuroplasticity.
In order to fully harness the power of neuroplasticity, you need to challenge your brain with training or experiences that are novel, adaptive, and complete.
Here are 5 elements that need to be considered for a mind blowing experience:
- Adequate sleep
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Novelty
- Mindfulness
At The Performance Group, we crafting experiences that accomplish this: we create opportunities for an aging brain to create new neural pathways and reshape existing ones, leading to what some might call a paradigm shift, breakthrough, enlightenment, or personal growth.
Call it what you may, science has given us a very valuable peak into the actual mechanism of change. Far beyond an emotional experience that although powerful can be temporary, creating experiences to ‘rewire‘ our thinking to lead to deeply rewarding and fulfilling outcomes.