Charles Starrett

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Culture consultant & social tech teacher/facilitator at SoulCo & Northeastern University. He/Him. Dad, Harvard and NEC alum, visual thinker, dabbler in ukulele, electronic music, 한국어, and TTRPGs.

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The mind isn't separate

“I’d lose my head if it weren’t attached to my body.” But it is. And as much as we want to believe that our minds and bodies are separate things, they’re not.

It’s been found that judges make different decisions when they are tired and hungry than they do when their bodies are rested and fed. We know how suspense in a movie can make our bodies tense up, and our hearts race, even though it’s a fictional story that doesn’t involve us. And try to imagine solving a complicated math problem when you’ve just stubbed your toe hard and are in blinding pain.

So as much as we may want to believe that we can think our way out of any situation, and apply “mind over matter,” it just isn’t true. Our bodies have a lot more influence over what we think, feel, and do than we may realize. Ignoring the signs and signals that our bodies are sending us, and just living in our heads is no different from ignoring any other kind of data in business or in life.

To live a life with more clarity, a strong first step is to learn how to be aware of both what we’re thinking, and what we’re sensing in our bodies at the same time. To notice how the two relate to each other from moment to moment—and acting from that place of greater awareness.

23 September 2022

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