As a creative person I find myself sometimes at the mercy of the highs and lows that most of us experience from time to time. I like to think of creativity as simply thinking outside the box and accept that we can creatively express ourselves in many ways, including science, business, research etc.
Having recently retired I am finding myself more and more consumed with the science of nuero-chemistry if such a thing really exists. I know that scientists like to be able to label everything and identify specific compounds that are causing very specific reactions. I am taking a slightly different approach to this as I believe the details might bog down the progress where they are not really needed. I believe that it is sufficient to realize and accept that our body will produce chemicals that can give us energy, creativity, and even significantly raise the horsepower of our brain. When we are motivated our learning curve seems to go through the ceiling as does our imagination and ability to use logic and comprehension.
As a lifeting chronic people watcher I have witnessed on countless occasions the apparent re-invention of individuals personalities and personnas. What facinates me most is what it was that kicked this off. In most if not all cases it usually can be traced back to a positive experience that someone had who is not very accustomed to having positive experiences.
I know that religions, motivational speakers, and gurus of all types have taken advantage of this throughout history. My main focus will be around how friendly social settings with creativity being the focal point can stimulate heathy amounts of our own natural drugs to keep us motivated and functioning at higher levels while not becomming obsessed to the point of jeapordizing relationships and careers.
Listening to a radio show maybe 20 years ago a Dr. was speaking. He made a simple statement that was probably more influential in changing my life than any other single thing I have ever heard. He said " when we fall in love we are actually falling in love with the way we feel about ourselves when we are in the presence of that other person" Brilliant! I took this a step further and applied this to relationships of all types as well as activities. When I show up at my coffee shop and the group is glad to see me, I feel good about myself at that moment. When I am working on a project that I feel is worthwhile I feel good about myself while engaging that project, when I go to work and feel needed and wanted by the group again I get the rush! I feel good about myself.
Back in the 70’s I was into nightclubbing. I happen to notice this little chubby fellow with kinky hair hanging out trying to get girls to dance with him. He had no style, not good looks, not a great body but sometimes he would get a girl to dance. Every weekend we held a dance contest, on one occassion he won this dance contest. Talk about being reborn, he showed up the next week looking like Tom Jones, new hairstyle, new clothes, confident walk and weight was falling off of him. He was obviously on some kind of natural high! Girls were pretty much flocking to him being attracted to his new confident personna. Amazing difference! This was the begaining of my facination with positive experiences and how they can affect us.
I have to run now but hopefull we can have a discussion on this.
Well, what do you know. Another spammer too stupid to put a link in their drive-by.
Reported.
I’m not sure this is spam. For now I’ll move it to IMHO.
I know that I am not one of the regulars on this site and so my words do not carry much weight here, but I actually know the OP (at least slightly.) (This poster wonders how he found this site.) He is no spammer, I can attest to that much.
Will add this in the hopes that Badger sees it. This site is one of the most informative ones that I’ve ever seen online. However, because of that many of the members tend to be very anal retentive with regards to viewpoints and evidence to back up those viewpoints. Tread lightly brother.
I’m not really sure what the OP wants to discuss. Could you try to be a little more direct?
Well, I am certainly not spam. I stumbled on this sight while surfing the web. The discussion I was looking for was how others feel about the idea that pretty much chemicals and hormones have a lot to do with how we respond to things and how they can play a key part in our lives. Not knowing much about the chemicals themselves but understanding that they are affecting my judgement and performance is the discussion in general I was slooking for. I am surprised that this post was seen as controversial.
I have a long term goal that relates to the theory I am putting out. If a discussion follows I will put out the idea behind my goal. Nothing about religion, cults, or anything beyond creating a healthy positive atmosphere that would be conducive to creative thinking and doing.
Mr Owl, thank you for the support. I have been browsing the posts for the last few days and enjoy the sight ( I think)
Maybe I should introduce myself and see if I am welcome here or not. I am 64 years old and I live in Ca. I have been a lifetime diesel truck mechanic with a few interupions to start small businesses. My primary hobby is building primitive archery equipment with the focus on a sport called flight shooting where we compete for world record distances with our primitive bows. Right at the moment I am feeling kind of pumped as I have spent the last 2 months night and day preparing my equipment for the shoot next month. Anyway, sorry if I broke a rule of some kind and please advise what it is exactly that I did.
You didn’t do anything wrong-someone was jumping to conclusions.
Am I to assume that you are talking about finding ways to stimulate the body intro producing the chemicals we need naturally, instead of taking medication?
Cool story, bro.
Thats a big part of it. Just as an observer I have seen many many folks turn their lives around off of alcohol and drugs for instance once they found their niche in life. At 64 years old I have had my share of ups and downs, mostly ups with brief downs inbetween. The downs were always when I was bored or in a rut. The economy has taken a downturn and thousands of folks who used to rely on toys and trips to stay happy have now found themselves in one of those bored down cycles. I see marriages fail, husbands who feel like failures looking outside the home for some validation etc.
Myself and a lot of my friends and associates have found hobbies such as writing, arts, woodworking, gardening etc to satisfy their creative side and then will often come on line and find groups with like interests to share with and kind of feed off each other.
I guess I am looking for input and examples from individuals on what got them out of a rut or what happened when they fell into a rut. The subject is very broad and hard to get specific on as it relates to most every aspect of our lives in one way or another.
The subject may be too broad to cover in one thread, unfortunately. Is the subject over medication, getting out of a rut, the economy, or…?
Good point, I will try to pin down at least one aspect." How do we recognize when our own chemicals or lack of them are affecting the quality of out lives. "
I will start off with an example, when I found this sight and started reading through the topics I experienced a little rush with some excitement. I felt I found a place where I could talk the weird topics I enjoy discussing. My brain was running and I posted this topic, somewhat scrambled and a bit fragnented ( A symptom of a chemical rush) My feedback was initialy negative, brain immediately turned down several notches, interest started to wane and a general feeling of discontent came over me. ( comming down off of chemicals I suspect) This is pretty typical of an experience we may have on any given day as we do our lives. If we can learn to understand this better we will get better at putting ourselves in positions of more positive feedback.
I’d say that without a complete medical checkup most people are incapable of determining what chemicals(or lack thereof) are affecting their lives. The reason one person itches, coughs, sneezes, gets depressed, gets dizzy or throws up may be entirely different than the reason another person has these things happen to them. We are all put together differently, and we are all exposed to different factors at different times.
Hormones? Coping mechanisms? Life experiences?
It’s got a nice beat, but need more clarity!
I’m still not getting it, maybe it’s just me.
This is the part I’m really interested in knowing about…
Maybe I’m missing something, but if you’re saying emotions are the result of chemical processes in our brains, surely that’s common knowledge?
Identifying the chemical is not the point, just recognizing that their is something at work that has been stimulated or depressed is the point I am looking to discuss. Endorfins, dopamines, seratonins, adrenalin, and about 100 more are at work, it doesn’t really matter whats at work just recognising that when we are down we can do things to get us back up. Some things get us up too much and can become obsessive behavior. Healthy social interaction is stimulating as is falling in love. Successful solving of problems is stimulating. Simply being creative for creative sake can be stimulating.
Years agio I read a story about some lions in africa. They had very dark manes compared to other lions. Turns out they were geneticaly the same as the othe rlions but they had less competion for females. When one of these lions would loose a fight over a female his mane would get lighter, if he kept loosing fights his mane would get lighter and lighter and eventually thin out almost like a lioness. By having to submit to more aggressive stronger lions his testosterone and other hormone levels were dropping. Funny thing is that if he submits to an elephant or a water buffalo it has no affect on his mane. The lion realizes that their are forces in nature he has no control over. When men go to work we have to submit to a boss, we often come home from work and see examples of super studs on TV that further can make us feel submissive. Simply realizing that bosses and TV sets are like elephants, they are simply a force we have no control over and we are not competing with them. This is another example of managing and recognizing when chemicals can affect our lives