The Intellect / Ideas Spectrum

*From my old Friendster Blog site written on Dec 23, 2006.

Having discussed both Anger and Anxiety in the previous two topics, we have actually mastered everything for the Emotional Energy spectrum. Negative and Positive. Recall that for Anger, being Assertive gives you Well Being. And for Anxiety, the reward for being courageous is Confidence. If we can change all of our anger and anxiety into positive energies, (insyaAllah - on God's will), we will be granted Happiness - the center point of the positive emotional energy spectrum. By the way, every negative feeling that you have, you name it, it'll always have a combination of both. For example, ANNOYED has more anger while SCARED has more anxiety in it. So, being able to handle both will give you the skill to master almost every negative feeling. Isn't that nifty?

Now, let's move on to the next topic - Intellect / Ideas Spectrum

Our intellect resides inside our personal boundary. Remember, it is one of the three psychologies (Emotional Energy, Intellect/Ideas, Decision-Making). We have left brain on the left side of the spectrum and right brain on the right side of the spectrum. Combining the power to use both gives you Genius.

I also thought that this is profound - Your brain is much better than you think.

Therefore, let's not waste it. We should learn to apply the Da Vincian thinking style. Learn all that you can until you're on your deathbed. In fact, Islam itself encourages learning regardless of our age. Therefore, we should try to balance how we use our brain by learning all of the intelligences that we have (Logical, Musical, Kinesthetic, Mechanical, Verbal, Social, Interpersonal).

Now, let's get to know our left brain. It is for the book-smarts. If you're someone with good Education, then you use most of your left brain for that purpose. It's most familiar with the History, or anything that's organized. Imagine that it works like a Hard Disk in your computer. The left brain is also good at calculating probabilities. It keeps an eye on your goals, so that you won't lose track of your original destination. If you are going to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles, the extreme left brain will suggest that you go straight towards L.A by flying over the Pacific Ocean all the way from the beginning without compromising the idea of using a route that's a bit north (towards Japan). Well, if you're lucky enough, you'll reach that final destination, but in a very risky way.

So, how about our right brain?

This is what lefties claim as their speciality. It's also used the most by street-smarts. The right brain is related to Experiences. It likes Disorganization, and it'll always try to think about the future. Just imagine the right brain like the Internet. It connects thousands of millions of scattered servers across the world. Instead of calculating probabilities, this one is good at finding Possibilities. In the flight from K.L to L.A, the right brain gives flexibility to use a further-north route which is safer, and will also accept refueling in Taiwan or Japan. But you don't wanna leave everything to the right brain, because you might end up in Italy (by going west instead of east). It provides Flexibility but it doesn't really have the final destination in view.

My tips would be this (not that I have done exactly all of this):

Explore your brain, non-stop. Learn and become a master in all of the seven human intelligences. Know what it means to practice the Da Vincian thinking. Use both parts of your brain, and you will be a Genius! You'll get good in idea-management, while being able to use time efficiently in learning. Good luck to you! (and me).

Reference:
Dr Paul's "Mind OS"
Michael J. Gelb's "How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci"