Learn 5 Things to Boost Optimism
Learning is powerful medicine. Our DNA is hard wired to sustain and reward us through happiness hormones and neurotransmitters when we learn something that is challenging.
Most animals are born with the necessary instincts to survive with little need for intellectual stimulation. They automatically eat the food necessary for survival and exercise all day. Mammals have additional brain power and emotional powers to live a more empathetic lifestyle which means they take care of their young.
Man has the highest evolution of brain development which has allowed him to create surpluses of the items he needs for survival giving him free time if he desires. When we were early man, we didn’t have time to take vacations and we needed to constantly look for ways to make life more sustainable.
Learning Stimulates Happiness
When we learn either intellectually or physically, our brain can stimulate dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. If you want to be happy, live the behaviors that stimulate these chemicals every day. That is my goal each day. The five most positive criteria are learning, challenge, risk, caring, and exercise.
Learning needs challenge and risk to stimulate the most positive brain chemicals. Learning can be intellectual or physical. Our brain never grows faster than when we are adolescents learning to walk and learning language. Consider how challenging these two activities were.
In reality, there is more to learn now than ever in man’s history. We are transitioning from farmers of a few generations ago to a society run by robots and Artificial Intelligence. Writers and artists are already being replaced by AI capabilities and more disciplines will find their livelihoods challenged in the near future.
This creates the burden of learning things that will maintain our importance and value. We could go one of two ways. Submit to a dismal future of having less value or rising to the challenge of learning new skills that will make us important.
Creativity is Man’s Great Talent
Creativity is the one capability of man that helps him rise to the highest level of value. The world is in constant need for new ideas and problem solving. Your organization or business has the same need. Even if your organization has market share at the moment, someone is in the wings creating a better alternative than you provide.
Set a goal and then strategies to learn many things. Learn something that would make you more valuable in your career. Learn how to improve your health and challenge yourself to take the right steps. Learn something physical. Take yoga, ride a bike, go on a hike, learn to camp, learn to ski or snowboard, learn to swim or surf. The brain explodes with new neurons and paths when you learn something physical.
Start reading challenging material. I loved reading physics for the layman which makes it understandable and enjoyable. There are many of the 101 books of starting something new. All kinds of guides on YouTube exist for anything you might want to learn. So many courses are offered online for someone wanting more knowledge.
Make creativity part of every day. What are your skills and how could you use them to make the world a better place? Even if you are not an expert, you know more than the person who has not begun. That is why I started teaching surfing. I was an intermediate surfer, but knew I could teach those who had not begun how to surf. It has been great for 14 years.
Share What You Know to Boost Your Desire to Learn
Share what you know or what you are learning. Even if you don’t have an audience for a while, the sharing focuses your attention and thoughts and accelerates your own learning. The point is to develop the basic skills of what you want to teach and then if you become passionate, share your passion. Then you are doing it for yourself first. This is the path of most creative people.
As I continue to expound about thriving, I am clarifying my thoughts and expanding what I know. I am always searching for new ideas and therefore learning in the process. I know more than when I began. I am passionate about all the ways to build a thriving life and know that if others had the knowledge, their lives would be happier.
Plan how to make the world a better place. When we have these aspirations, the serotonin and oxytocin get a boost. We are creating our own happiness from thinking about how to make other people happier. We have to learn to make a contribution and build our value. If you already have great expertise, then share it.
Learn for your career and your personal life. Build learning, creativity, sharing, caring, health and exercise into your daily plan. Become passionate about each of them. You will soon be thriving.
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Podcasts: Would you like to listen to all these posts on podcast. Tune into my channel for listening on the go. Everything About Podcasts
As a Thriving Worker Consultant, I can engage in conversations with employers on how to begin the process of helping workers thrive and reach peak performance. It begins with a conversation to see how far an organization is willing to go to change the culture for workers.
Great practices for daily living can be learned with the Markap Series of Books. If your organization would like live presentations or Zoom meetings, they can be arranged for small to large groups.
