There I was on my way to the train station from work after yet another day of labour. While walking back it struck me that perhaps I’m approaching this whole guiding life purpose from the wrong angle. My usual approach in understanding things is to break them down into more manageable components. This has worked fairly well… actually, maybe not but sometimes it works well. Perhaps I should first begin with a simple experiment that require very little effort and action, but could potentially bring some powerful results. I don’t know, but have decided to try.

I’ve been trying to figure out my purpose without actually thinking about the context in which I want to apply the purpose. I’m lacking the reference frame. Today I thought that I should attempt to imagine my ideal life. How would I like to wake up? How would I like to approach my day? What would be my ideal routines and habits?

Pixie dream (mehmeturgut/devitantART)

As a wildly crazy and imaginative guy this is not all that strange to me, I’ve often drifted off into the far-away-land of dreams. What I’ve never consciously done before however is to dream about a life that I actually want to live. I don’t mean the kind of life where you walk around in a robe surrounded with bunnies, but a more authentic and real life. A life not rooted, or derived, from already existing societal ideals such as a shallow career driven by something that really doesn’t matter. (Sure, maybe some actually strive for that life, good for them, but I don’t.) I mean a life where I feel my desires are fulfilled and where genuine and authentic happiness is part of my daily routine.

Even from a scientific perspective this makes sense, even though I couldn’t even begin to explain the chemicals involved or their composition, but still. The content of our mind is a result of our own conscious construction. We choose what goes in and stays there. We give our thoughts meaning. We decide how to approach any given situation. I have mentioned in a previous post about the power of association which I find applies particularly well in this scenario. Associations in my mind are mine to create, no one else can do that. (Even though they can obviously influence me!)

Actually, I’m not even sure why I brought up the science here, it makes no sense, disregard. I’ll try and figure that out later, assuming this helps me, how science plays a part here I mean. Why would it help me to imagine an ideal life? How could that be explained through science? Maybe it can’t?

This is how I imagine my ideal life

I’m in love with learning and understanding how things function. When I began writing this blog I kind of already knew that reading and learning was a big part of me. But it was only when I started writing things down that it occurred to me how incredibly sexy learning is. Intellectual stimuli is pretty darn high up on the list of awesome things. Hence, my ideal life would be filled with books and opportunities to learn about anything and everything. Sure, I have that now too, but on a much more limited scale. I mean to be literally paid to learn and share.

My hours would not be determined by anyone but me. I would be the sole determinator (awesome word!) in how my day would be spent. From the moment I wake up, to the moment I fall asleep should only be determined by choices I make alone, period.

I would want to share everything that I learn and hopefully inspire others to do the same. One of my most ambitious and long term goal would be to ‘advance’ the human race to a higher level of thinking. A time where communal knowledge generation is valued much more than individual knowledge hoarding. Sharing would be key in my society. Wisdom would be paramount.

The people around me would themselves be driven, engaging and full of ideas. A constant influx of new, fresh thinking should permeate my entire life. Together with my closet friends (I currently have none I would consider my close friend) we would create, innovate and drive society forward in a meaningful manner that benefits not just us, but everyone.

(Hey, this is my ideal life, so… I can do this!)

Then I would want to be able to leave, travel at any time when the mood strikes. To create, to express my emotions through music (I play the Piano, perhaps I should compose some music and upload?). To finally unwrap the drawing kit I got for x-mas a few years ago. To be able to do all those things I long for. A life without boundaries, only those I myself impose. To live like the earth. Constantly moving, constantly changing, evolving… living.

I do not wish to be trapped in this invisible cage. I want to break free from these chains. I need to.

Please forgive me for breaking my promise to write a follow up on the brain post I did last Friday. But during the weekend I came to realize how extremely important and powerful associations are. Our mind is built all around associations, nothing is ever separated or placed outside anything else, it’s all connected.

Let me explain. Whenever we make new memories it’s done through association. The new memory will be connected to something that has happened before. An experience will build on a previous experience. No, they don’t always have to be related to a similar item. A memory or an experience can be related to an emotion, or habit, pretty much anything really.

You see, when our mind processes input it will generate new neural pathways, or experience patterns if you like. But one such segment is never completely separated from surrounding networks. This is how associations comes into play. Have you ever experienced how you think of something and then suddenly something completely unrelated pops up? I certainly have.

The reason for this is that whenever we try and dig up a memory from our mind, we can’t always completely isolate this one particular memory, experience or emotion. What happens is what when each neuron processes the signals from surrounding neurons they will only continue to fire if they reach a certain threshold. When this happens it can create a domino effect which will result in the triggering of a new network. Hence the “random” experience.

Making use of the Associative Power

What's your association? (uncleBE/deviantART)

Now it wouldn’t make much of a blogpost if I didn’t give you some ways to try and utilize this new found knowledge, right? Understanding that our brain works through use of associations we can make some powerful changes to our habits, routines or even completely rewire our history. Remembering stuff, that’s a good one. We all want to remember that thing we mustn’t forget, right? But, we generally forget it anyway.

The key is to utilize the brain for how it is inherently constructed. My first little experiment was carried out while reading a book. I used to keep a little slip of paper between the pages in order to keep track of where I in the book I should continue reading. So, I thought about removing this paper and instead try and remember which page I was on, and what line.

Making the association between the page, line and a couple of random things will make it much, much easier to recall them. Before closing the book, and let’s say I was on page 66. I said to myself, devil brother. You know, 666, all this devil related stuff (I know that it’s really not, but work with me here). I kept repeating that to myself a couple of times.

Recalling the pages were done in an instant without problems (obviously not immediately after, that wouldn’t really be a challenge!). I continued doing it through out the day, each time with a new type of association. Sometimes it took me a little while to remember, but usually through my seemingly random associations I could still recall the page and line.

I think a key to remember here is not to consider the numbers as numerical objects, but rather two, or even one object. Don’t try and remember the page numbers, try and remember the association or the shape and it will come to you.

Disassociation and reprogrammable brain

Associations could also be used as a sort of conditioning. Fear of dogs? The fear is just an association you made during a traumatic encounter with this devil dog. Each time you see a dog, this association is brought forward and reinforced. Neural networks become stronger the more they are used, which means that your fear of dogs will keep on increasing. (Now sometimes fear of dogs may be valid. Should you come across a real devil dog, with horns and fangs… you might want to stay clear!)

When you realize that fear in itself has no meaning you have the power to disassociate it from the experience, or object. It’s only when connected to an experience or memory that it is given meaning. You create an association between two logically separated objects. Understand that the fear can be replaced with anything you desire. Compassion, happiness or even laughter, you choose.

This is powerful stuff. The brain is completely reprogrammable and dynamic. It keeps changing all the time. And this is happening each second, each hour of the day. What’s association would you like to change?

/ Christoffer