Lockdown 216

Lockdown Day 216 - 28 October 2020

The fun fact about fantasy and reality sparked a couple of ideas in me while I was navigating the internet, searching for non-slip stair treads. At first I got all excited when I saw the long list of results, perfect pictures and all.  

Armed with saved screenshots and telephone numbers added to my diary, I started calling down the list. This was the fantasy part, pre-choosing my favourite design and colour, affordable prices, etc. How easy could it be, I thought. Online is the new thing. It's time I tried it out. 

Well, after phoning one supplier after the other my fantasy turned into a reality. Some of them had answering machines stating their email address and some of them were only accessible via their websites. Others' phone numbers just disconnected upon calling.  After all that, only one replied on my emails, informing me they do not carry stock I can come and view. Up to now they have not replied my question about return policies and payment.

After taking a break, I returned to my PC with new ideas, searching for south African stores where I could physically go and view the product, changing my search lingo to more industrial keywords. Nominating a couple of companies that looked legit, I started with the bottom one, and bingo! A person actually answered the Jo'burg number. And he said he might have what I'm looking for. Well well. We will visit them in the near future. 

This is where my information traffic (imagination) definitely flowed in an opposite direction of the reality. Despite the fact that I voiced my frustration with the companies I did manage to speak to, such as flooring and carpet experts (they sounded like I was asking for a ton of gold coins), I could hear they were not in the least interested in my sorry opinion of not finding what I was looking for. (Builders offered a sticker so coarse, my feet will have to be bandaged if I ever tried walking on those strips).

Question after question ran through my mind: Is it just European people and pets who risk slipping on stairs? Why is stair-safety only important for big buildings and not houses? How does a company who calls itself an expert, not even know what I'm talking about? And how has no-one ever come up with a LOCAL solution? Why are the only companies who sell the carpet type treads abroad? Does anyone still want to actually see the product they buy anymore? 

I came to the conclusion our world has adopted the internet of things as the norm. Gone is personal service, customer satisfaction, etc. Those adverts really are just more lies mixed with half truths. 

I offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to our God who is a hands-on personal God, who does not promise in half truths and fairy dust. He is Truth, and we can trust Him no matter what. I also repent for not asking Him first where I would find those treads. He is, after all, my Leader and my Teacher. 

And He's got this.

Lockdown 215

Lockdown Day 215 - 27 October 2020

After struggling with a bad bout of sinusitis I decided there is only one thing to do: keep my brain busy with laughs and life hacks! So here goes (enjoy!) :

😀

#GGT #gbwy

Lockdown 214

Lockdown Day 214 - 26 October 2020

Viktor Frankl once said, "Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing - your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation." There's that choice thing again (coupled with that no-control thing again). 

So my 2020 rephrasing of Frankl's quote will be something like this: (Post) Pandemic life is mostly because of a virus that is out of control, and because of it, you can find yourself robbed from everything that makes you you. Except one thing - your freedom of choice and how you choose to react.

When you find yourself in that "I-reacted-before-I-chose" scenario, it helps to divert your attention for a while, then re-frame the circumstances and look at it from a different perspective. 

It is important to make sense of what is happening to you.  You don't necessarily have to be cheerily positive, but being honest toward yourself is paramount in a time such as this. Also, finding one thing to be grateful for in a day can put you on the right track to overcoming (post) pandemic stress. 

I believe we all need these (post) pandemic survival tools:

1. Walk with faith in God. 
2. Keep your amygdala happy. 
3. Take time to acknowledge and validate yourself in the now. 
4. Exercise....... Get the oxygen flowing. 
5. Don't overburden yourself. Think balance! 

And now, I would like to rephrase Frankl's quote again. This time from a spiritual perspective:

In a world where everything is changing and people find themselves lost in a sea of regulations, laws and rules, the only choice is to cling to Christ our eternal hope. 

In Him, there is Life, Freedom and complete Joy. And this is proven by Jesus' own words in Matthew 24:35, "The earth and sky will wear out and fade away before one Word I speak loses its power or fails to accomplish its purpose.”

Enjoy this 10 minute clip from the movie Mission 3:16.  In a way we are all on a mission to know Christ and to make Him known:

https://youtu.be/PA3zXRFy9Lc

As choosers of Christ, we can live a free life because He's got this in every possible way imaginable.

Lockdown 213

Lockdown Day 213 - 25 October 2020

Today, while waiting for the rain to appear out of a heat wave, I mused about the balance in life, natural and spiritual law. Have you ever noticed how little is said/published about the obvious two sides of balance? Just as a scale needs weight on both sides to be in balance, artists also use light and dark to complete a picture. Even in Science and Math a positive and negative produces zero(balance). 

In order to understand the laws of the universe, it is important to note the balance between positive and negative, light and dark. According to these laws, where the one is, the other will inadvertently be/follow. 

So too, is thinking positively. To always have to be positive can actually cause a negative effect. And have you ever tried being negative 100% of the time? Both are incredibly hard to keep up. We also have a default way of viewing life. 

Some of us always see the negative and potential harmful things of something before seeing what's good about it. Like engineers who are trained to look for faults.... and rightly so, because who would want to drive over a bridge with faults that could cause an accident. 

Then there are the bohemian types who feel everything is okay, no matter if the boat they're standing on is sinking, somehow they are not moved by fear of drowning. 

An artist believes that shadows highlight the light in the picture and even if they portray something "negative", they always believe the audience will be inspired. 

The binding glue between positive and negative is faith. Faith that Murphy's law is not always right, but God's plan A always works. Faith also brings the correct perspective of Light and darkness. Just as light and dark cannot be quantified (light is light and dark is dark), positivity and negativity also have no unit of measure. 

So it is with faith. You either have faith or you don't. 

I believe we have been created with all these abilities embedded in our design. Faith will ensure you move from negative to positive when danger lurks. Put your Faith in the Light 

and the darkness will take its designated place. To keep your eye on the Creator will bring the balance He intended you to live in. Because He's got you. 

And because He's got this.

Lockdown 212

Lockdown Day 212 - 24 October 2020

Still on the topic of a happy brain, something else I discovered is how to solve difficult problems easier.

Logic says you need to keep at it untill you crack the solution. For anything in life, doing difficult things is always a challenge. But if you can learn to keep your amygdala happy you can trick your brain into thinking the difficult task is easier than it looks. 

Our preference for easy rather than difficult is such a strong human characteristic that always takes the lead in "prepping" the brain to procrastinate - putting off the difficult task. 

To counter procrastination you need to mix a little easy with the expected difficult task. Diverting the brain causes the same effect as the changing of gears I wrote about yesterday. 

In my line of work we talk about Hard Start Jump Easy. Whether in work, studies or doing life, álways start with the hard part to give your brain time to upload the initial scope of the challenge. And then, just before you feel deflated, you jump to something easy you can do, then take a break after which you return to the difficult part again. 

Hard Start Jump Easy also works in our spiritual walk with God. So many people find themselves in eternal guilt because they feel they don't spend enough time with God or simply don't find the time in the day to be 'alert' or 'in tune enough' to sit down with God and His Word. 

Using the Hard Start Jump Easy technique can help us tune in to the Word in bite size portions. Then, while your spirit digests the initial 'upload', do something else for a bit like taking a short walk. You might just find when you come back you actually crave more. Do this often enough and practise will make easy. 

Easy does it!!! 🤸🏼

So today, PLAN to try to do at least one thing you find difficult and beat the "amygdala hijack". You have an amazing brain! And you were designed for more.  Just trying will glorify God's design. 

He's worth it. 

Because He's got you. And He's got this.

Lockdown 211

Lockdown Day 211 - 23 October 2020

From today I will post my blog somewhere during the day in stead of late night. The purpose of the late night posting was to allow for daily happenings, because I did not want to be a "content" planner and writer. This means you create a content calendar where you decide what you are going to write about ahead of time. 

This blog is called Diary of a Brain for the exclusive reason that I want to write what I think about day by day. By choosing NOT to write my content ahead of time, I post honest in-the-moment things that are in my brain and/or happening right now. So everything you read is like freshly printed newspaper, hot off my brain's press. 

Posting during the day will afford my brain some night time thinking time, which is what I want to talk about today.

I have recently discovered the brain learns and works harder, faster and with more ease when you take breaks more often. Now I know this sounds like some kind of excuse not to do your work, but it is found the amygdala (part of the limbic system, it is our emotional memory centre) needs to be happy in order to learn/work effectively. 

Say you need to do an assignment, or you are having 8 people over for dinner (assignment!). There is a deadline for both and you keep thinking if you just dive in and keep going till you're finished it will be best.  Not so. Somewhere between diving in and the deadline you find yourself either losing the plot or extremely tired. This especially doesn't work is you're a number 99 person who finishes almost late.

The common denominator is TIME. If you do not take enough time ahead of the deadline to plan your execution (plus breaks) and allow time for your brain to diffuse/recharge, you will fall short somewhere. Maybe you will accidentally miss a whole topic or forget the eggs in the baked pudding. Or you will be extremely tired come deadline or an irritated dinner host who can't wait for the last guest to leave so you can get some shut-eye. 

To most students and working people alike, extremely tired is a sign of being a good student/employee. This couldn't be farther from the truth. To run the "extra mile" has never meant burnout.  It means to make sure your timing and planning feeds your brain and amygdala rather than burning up everything you have. 

So, to keep your working memory accessible and your brain alert, you need to change gears every 25 minutes or so. Even if you keep the "work" sessions 25 minutes and break for 10, it will be effective. What do you do in that break? Everything that is NOT reading or any type of screen or device. If possible, go horizontal, meaning a fast nap or something in nature. This affords your brain thinking time where it can work "behind the scenes", loading what you have already done, sorting out what needs to be done and finding more creative ways to finish the job with.

A whole night's sleep can unglue a "stuck" brain, giving you a new and fresh perspective or great ideas when you wake up. If you know your best brain time is in the morning, chances are your amygdala recharge ought to happen at night. If you are a night owl, remember to take into account your human design by making sure to be in bed not later than 23h30, also taking care to start planning earlier when a deadline is due.

Night owl or daybreaker, one thing is for sure. We were designed by God to use, not abuse our brain. To care for it and nurture it so we can lead productive and fulfilling lives. Maybe Lockdown came to teach us it is never too late to start now. 

Because your brain is worth it. Because you are worth it. And because God's got this.

Lockdown 210

Lockdown Day 2010 - 22 October 2020

Today became another scorcher. Having many errands and personal things going on, I was busy all day. Getting in and out the car made the heat even worse. And shaded parking is few and far between with most offices' staff using them full time. At one point I registered the temperature as 36°C in the shade. With the seasonal changes and the rain that eludes us, I have been observing people for some time now. Everyone is complaining about the regulations, but after this past week I find myself wishing they would just keep to it. 

One one of these days, I saw a man sneeze without using his elbow, mask or anything as a shield. The morning sunlight caught the "sneeze droplets", highlighting them each with a drop of sunlight. They wallowed like a ball of sardines in the sardine run, slowly landing on a widespread area while moving with the air, landing a few steps away from me on a veranda I was standing on. 

And then, he sneezed again! And a second wallowing droplet ball followed the path of the first, perfectly visible in the morning sun. I have to say, that was scary to watch! I had my mask firmly in place, covered by a screen. I left and after sanitising profusely, decided to talk about what I saw.  It was too late to tell the sneezer as he had left while the wallowing ball had my attention.

I also saw a mother and child, both with masks hanging beneath the chin in a busy supermarket. While thinking I can understand it when you feel out of breath to just drop the mask for a second to catch your breath, I saw the mother cough profusely. After the wallowing ball episode, I imagined another wallowing over the child and the yoghurt fridge directly in front of her. 

I kept going, went to the another aisle after which I went to pay. Sure enough, the still coughing mother, now with child on hip and still hanging masks stood behind me in the queue. The only thing I could think was "and everyone wonders why the numbers are climbing again" while inwardly rolling my eyes.

I get that we all feel trapped from time to time and we all feel we are not to blame. But untill we really know for sure how this virus operates and we regain control, we need to act as if all the ICU's are full (which they are) and the hospitals admit more and more people (which they do). Fearless and strong, as children of God need to do.

But most of all, we need to look up. Look full into the face of God, not diverting our attention to earthly things. I am reminded of a song I would like to bless you with, " Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the world will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

https://youtu.be/2TH70QX3oyM

Because He's got this.