🔥Weekly Mind Sweep #64 | Manage Your Mind | Capacity
March 2023
Week 62: Curated Conversation; Capacity
Week 63: Mind Your Business; Capacity
*Week 64: Manage Your Mind; Capacity
Week 65: Contemplation; What’s on My Mind: My Thoughts on Capacity
New to the Weekly MindSweep? Past issues live here.
Monday afternoon, I stopped at my local Target store to pick up three items critical to being in my presence; razors, deodorant, and toothpaste.
(R.D. & T.)
I had allotted 30 minutes between two appointments on my schedule.
When I arrived, I was blissfully unaware of the fact that our location was undergoing a transition. By that, I mean someone moved every department to a new location within the store. So what once was a place I could've navigated in my sleep was now all wrong!
Who does this to a woman?
I first recognized the visual overwhelm.
Ooh, shiny new objects I haven't seen before. MUST.LOOK.
The second thing I noticed was the physical overwhelm moving through my body—the muscle memory of where things "should be" felt uncomfortable and activated my nervous system.
Thank you, nervous system, for keeping me safe, but seriously, you are activating fight or flight, and I don't function as well in these situations. Also, I haven't made time for this.
GIVE MY PREFRONTAL CORTEX BACK!
And then here goes the brain.
Jamie, you only have 30 minutes today. Why didn’t you leave more space for this? You must get in, grab the necessary items and get out. I repeat R.D. & T.
Because of my daily grounding practice (oh, hi, 1% on Marco Polo), I could reach for a tool to ground myself in the moment of distress. Having this practice allows the wave of emotion and chemicals in my body to process themselves and regain control of my brain.
Emotional regulation for the win!
I gather my R.D. & T. I experience a blip while checking out (easy breezy) and race back to my car to head home. PHEW!
Now, let’s sweep the brain…
Our brains don’t have a finite capacity
For long-term memory, it's endless. But when you are more specific about the types of memory, there is a limit.
Science says our brains consist of about one billion neurons. Science also provided me with a phenomenal analogy to help me describe what that means:
If your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of T.V. shows. You would have to leave the T.V. running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage. [Source]
So yeah, we've got a mental capacity for memory storage. Cool, but that is no fun to talk about. So let's chat about the challenging stuff.
“Working” or “short-term” memory is different. These behave more like leaving the garden hose running in the backyard, forgetting about it, and returning to a new pool!
Fun for the kids and dog, not fun for the desire to keep the inside of my home somewhat respectable. #Mud
You can mentally reach a point of over-saturation and stop accepting information. When we chunk information together, it helps us remember things.
Remember when I said R.D. & T.?
Do you remember what I picked up from the store to be presentable? You might because I gave you an acronym.
You might not because you skimmed my email (gasp, the audacity!)
We can choose to learn tools to that will increase our mental capacity.
Such as practicing routine and creating habits. These repetitive actions free up the cognitive load on our brain so that some of what we need to do can achieve subconsciously. Now, our brains are free to do more of that prefrontal cortex thinking, like over-analyzing what someone said to you in that email, and now you feel triggered.
Wait, is that just me? Cool Cool.
Jamie, what is your point?
Parts of our brain do have a capacity. It's not an infinite resource. #OverFlowingPools
We can begin to recognize where our threshold is and gain awareness of when we approach that line. #FreeFromOverwhelm
We can choose to learn tools to help us increase that capacity. #Neuroplasticity
We've got to start with where we are at.
And a nod to Week 62 | Weekly Mind Sweep | Capacity, where I referenced Time, Energy, and Attention.
Our T.E. & A. have a capacity #SeeWhatIDidThere
We can begin to recognize where our threshold is and gain awareness of when we approach that line #LookingAtYouTarget
We can choose to learn tools that will help increase that capacity.
We've got to start with where we are at. #HumanExperience
Are you ready to take control of your brain and your business?
You belong here; I can help.
Where to find me
EVERY MONDAY: 8 am - Curated Conversation - Zoom
THINK TWICE: Did you miss our Live ? I’ve got you, the replay is available inside the Chickbook Creative Community. Are you NOT A MEMBER YET?! Join the group, here.
MISS MY VOICE? Check out recent podcast episodes.
What I’m reading
The Creative Act: A Way Of Being by Rick Rubin
The Creative Act sits at the intersection of self-help and spirituality.
With his extraordinary career in the music business, Rick Rubin has plenty to say about the art of being an artist and what it takes to be truly creative.
Current Collaborations
PODCAST with KIM CONANT
Episode 4: It's Never too Late to Change Your Life with Jamie Chapman
“In this episode, I talk with Jamie Chapman, owner, and founder of Chickbook Creative. Listen as she shares her personal and professional reinventions. You can visit her website Chickbook Creative to learn more about her business and the services she provides to business owners.”
In other news…
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