Intellect and Experience – The Winning Combination

By dougnau on Nov 17, 2009 in Consciousness, Personal Growth, Wellness Coaching

The Intellect

What makes us unique as human beings is our incredible capacity to think. Our ability to analyze, prioritize, imagine, dream, compute, predict and interpret is truly amazing. The modern world values these qualities and those that can use this intellectual capacity to solve the problems our society collectively face are rewarded with high paying jobs, acknowledgment and praise. Those with a less attuned ability to think in terms of what the business world demands are often punished with respect to their opportunity and pay grade. So, the goal should be to raise our intellectual capacity – right?

Problems with Intellect (Monkey Mind)

When taken to the extreme there’s real danger in ‘over-thinking’. You’ve likely heard of analysis paralysis (a situation in which someone freezes instead of making a decision because they are over-analyzing the item at hand), this scenario is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people listen so closely with their thoughts that they literally talk themselves out of taking any action of meaning and value.

Our amazing ability to analyze, imagine, dream, interpret, etc. turns into a personal demon that second guesses every inclination that we have. We ask why did this happen, how could that happen, what will happen if, and think I just couldn’t, I shouldn’t, what would mom say about this, and the list goes on and on. The conversation we entertain in our heads stops us from meeting the love of our lives, from becoming physically fit and healthy, from excelling at the work we do, and even recognizing our strengths. We become a prisoner to these thoughts.

Living Experientially

Consider that what’s written above is not black or white. What I mean by this is that on the spectrum of using our intellect properly to improperly, we sometimes use it wisely, and sometimes we don’t. Seldom does one only have self defeating thoughts, and seldom does someone always use their intellect in the most useful way possible. That’s not to say that using our intellect does not have its dangers. The biggest issue that arises when engaging our intellect is that we’ve come to rely on this part of ourselves far too often. We give more value to our capability to discern than other truths about who we are. In doing so have lost the capacity to live life experientially. What do I mean by this?

Look at a child. How do they approach the world. They jump into the ocean to play, they pick up the bugs in the yard, they socialize with new children as if they were best of friends. In a nutshell, they don’t overthink the world, they experience it. When we get so caught up in our thoughts and our intellect, we run the risk of drowning out the opportunity for experience in our every day lives. Often, even when we do experience new things, our minds are running so fast that we hardly take the time to enjoy it.

Sometimes we think that we’ll postpone our enjoyment/experience to a day in the future – perhaps next week, or over the holidays, maybe at your birthday, when your kids graduate, when you get the promotion, or when you retire. I’ve got news for you, if you don’t train your mind to know how to experience life right now, you won’t know how to do it when retirement comes. Every day you think the same way, you reinforce the neurosynaptic pathways that thought travels through in your brain. These literally create a thought pattern of least resistance within your brain. In turn, when you do retire, you’ll just look for the next milestone that represents your opportunity to live. While its not unsurmountable, it makes change more challenging if you don’t start now.

Self Inquiry

What does this have to do with you? Take a look for yourself. Are you enjoying the moment while properly using your intellect to plan effectively for the future? Are you able to turn off and simply be? Are you doing what you need to do to support your health and well being? Are you living a fulfilling life? If the answers to these questions are not what you’d like them to be, turn off the part of your intellect that wants to wallow in the moment. Use the part that creates a positive plan to move forward. And notice just how good you feel in the now as you take action. Bottom line, creating an exciting plan and executing it feels great not only in the future, but in the now. You can be the goal before the attainment of the goal. This is the key to mastering the relationship of experience and intellect.

Be Well