[Neurons] 2024 Neurons #44 WHY THE "BRAIN CAMPS?"

Sun Oct 6 18:15:44 EDT 2024

From: L. Michael Hall

2024 Neurons #44

October 7, 2024

WHY THE "BRAIN CAMPS?"

Why did I create the Neuro-Semantic Brain Camps?  Simple: To change the
world!  Period.  Oh, you want a little bit more information about the Brain
Camps-their design and function?  Okay, here goes.  If there is anything
that seems to govern the world-it is how we talk, communicate, and relate to
each other.  How you and I talk, communicate, and relate determines how we
get along, the quality of our relationship, how we work together, how we
create partnerships and collaborations, how we manage ourselves in our
cities and countries (also called 'politics'), etc.  How we talk,
communicate, and relate governs how we do anything and everything- research,
science, media, government, etc.

Now for a penetrating question: What governs how we talk, communicate, and
relate to each other?  Amazingly the answer is one thing-how we think.  The
quality of our thinking determines the quality of our life.  If we think as
a child-wishful thinking, magical thinking, egotistical thinking, concrete
thinking, etc.-then we will talk and relate to each other in childish,
silly, and stupid ways.  That's why we need to grow up in our thinking and
put away childish thinking.

Children think as children because that's what they are-children.  And as
children they are in the middle of growing up through the cognitive
developmental stages.  This is something we cover in Meta-Coaching and why
we introduce the list of Cognitive Distortions.  The very thinking patterns
which are appropriate and good for children become dangerous and destructive
cognitive distortions for adults. 

Once we get beyond puberty and begin to experience the executive functions
of the prefrontal cortex, then we begin the journey into adult thinking.  It
begins with the ability to think conceptually and abstractly.  But this is
where- unless you get some training in how to think clearly- you will fall
into another set of thinking problems.  We call those problems Cognitive
Biases.  They describe some of the built-in biases that frequently work, but
that can also create all kinds of problems for us.  And because there are so
many of them (perhaps a hundred or more), I organized them into 7 categories
in Executive Thinking (2018).

The third set of dangerous thinking patterns are called Cognitive Fallacies.
We learn these ways of "reasoning" from parents, teachers, TV, peers, and
social media because we hate to be wrong.  We want to be right even if the
way of thinking is fallacious.  At least it helps us to win arguments! 

So why the Brain Camps?  To provide training in how to think clearly and
accurately.  Everything important in our lives depends on it!  If you cannot
think about your thinking then you cannot manage your thinking.  Then your
thinking has you rather than you having your thinking.  And if you cannot
manage yourself-change yourself, especially your thinking, then you will not
be able to change how you talk, communicate, and relate.  And if you cannot
do that, then you cannot change the world, neither your immediate world or
the larger world that you live in.

I want to change the world.  How about you?  Are you satisfied with the way
the world is going?  With the way your relationships are going?  Your work,
career, wealth creation, health, well-being, your physical fitness, etc.?
If not, then if you want to change any aspect of any of these worlds-it
always begins and depends upon your thinking.  That's because from your
thinking comes your meaning-making, your framing, and reframing.  This is
not new, the ancients knew this power of thinking:

In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote: "The happiness of your life depends
upon the quality of your thoughts."

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet arose the quotation: "There is nothing
either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." 

In Proverbs 23:7: "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is."

To this date, we run three Brain Camps: 

           Brain Camp I: Thinking for Humans. Here we cover the 15 thinking
skills essential for clear, critical, and creative thinking.  This is the
foundation for every skill that you have and the key to tapping into your
greatest resource.

           Brain Camp II: Executive Learning.  Here we cover the 7
Dimensions of Learning, how you can accelerate your learning, and the
quality of your learning.   Put off by the word 'learning,' then try
Discovery because that's what learning is all about-discovering yourself,
others, anything that fascinates you,  the world.

           Brain Camp III: Executive Decisions.  Here we cover the 5 stages
of the decision-making process so you can become a truly smart and effective
decision-maker.  We do that because the quality of your decisions is the
quality of your life.

Ready for tuning up your brain?  Actually, the brain camps are not about
your brain, they are about your mind-which is an emergent property from your
brain.  So most literally these are Mind Camps ... but Brain Camps sound
sexier so we've gone with that.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

meta at acsol.net

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