Written by: Peter Paul Parker, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Without wishing to state the obvious, but the world has become exceedingly stressful over the past few years. We can see that human beings have seen more change in the last 200 years, compared to thousands of years previously. Everything is moving so much quicker. If I look back at my lifetime, I would not have believed you if you had said that I would be able to carry a video camera, a tape-recorded, a phone, a word processor, a music production suite, and so many other features that a mobile phone can store, around with me every day. I would simply think that would be something you see in a science fiction episode of Star Trek. But here it is. Very real and very concurrent with our modern lives.
There is no doubt about human beings’ adaptability through the thousands of years on planet earth. If we did not have this ability, we would not have been able to survive. In fact, we are still not sure how our body works when going down to the quantum level. Our gut biome, for instance, is a marvel. It is made up of bacteria and viruses that are not even us, but we need them to survive in our current environment. Our immune system is also not fully understood, as we have a T1 and T2 response which has so many other factors to consider when trying to figure out how it all works. In fact, I would say that our system is absolutely incredible at adapting. But what about our minds? How are our minds coping with this new speed of living? How are our minds adapting to being more productive in a stressful world? Unfortunately, with some people, the mind is not coping very well at all.
What can we do to help the mind cope with this new stress? Take longer vacations? Have more leisure time? Shorten work hours? Maybe this would help. But to me, it is like offering a sticking plaster to sew up open-heart surgery. The problem is not healed. You are just dealing with the symptoms. Of course, most people would want longer holidays, more leisure time, or even shorter work hours. What if there was a way to actually be more productive and therefore relieving stress and anxiety from your everyday work life. There is. And the answer is inside of you. I want to share a story I have included in one of my online courses that can help you see what needs to be done to achieve the state I am talking about. The state that will help you be more productive while alleviating the stress of it all.
There is a woodcutter who used to work really hard. He was continually chopping wood as hard as he could and never really rested while he was working. He was really proud of his work ethic and had been with the company for many years. He was a respected member of the team. Business was good, and the company bosses wanted the company to grow, so they hired another woodcutter.
After about 6 months, the new woodcutter produced twice as much as the original woodcutter, so the company gave him a raise. This infuriated the original woodcutter, who went straight to his bosses and complained. They told the original woodcutter that if his production increased, like the new woodcutter, then he would be given a raise in salary. The original woodcutter went back to his work and tried even harder, but he could not get his production any higher. He wondered how the new woodcutter was so much more productive than him.
The original woodcutter went to the other side of the wood to see how he was twice as productive as him. He asked the new woodcutter how he worked. The new woodcutter said after every tree he cut down and the all-wood chopped into manageable sizes, he would sit down and do some deep breathing to relax and prepare his body for the next tree. While he was doing this, he would be sharpening his axe to make his blows more effective. This would speed up the time it took to cut the tree down and prepare the wood afterward. The new woodcutter was using his rest time to be stronger for the next task and sharpening his axe also to make the cutting as effective as it can be. The original woodcutter could see that he was not using his energy effectively and had to change. That is what we are doing when we stay in the fight or flight mode of our autonomic nervous system. We are not using our bodies effectively, as we are stressed, anxious, and even angry.
In saying all of this, some stress can be a good thing. And I mean some stress. This can inspire you to get on with what you need to get on with. What we are doing on this course is give you the tools to recognize what is real stress and what is perceived stress. Also, how we can use some stress to inspire us to work through certain situations and achieve the goals, we wish to achieve, with everyone being a winner in the situation. We call it Hong Ik in the practice I teach. It is a Korean terminology that simply means what is good for me is good for you too.
In the story, we see that the new woodcutter has no stress. He breathes deeply to take his body into a parasympathetic nervous state before working and makes sure everything is ready before he starts his task of chopping down the tree and chopping up the wood to manageable sizes. He was using meditation and mindfulness to help him work without stress and anxiety and still be the most productive worker in the company. Force is good in small doses but not as effective as power. When we use our full power or potential, we are very productive. Being tired, stressed out, and unprepared will make our workflow and creativity be that much harder to achieve. Being mindful, seeing everything that has to be done, and preparing ourselves both physically and mentally for that task, is so much more effective.
Learning to make your mind more adaptable is one of the keys to a productive and joyful life.
If you would like to know more about the courses I am offering, please visit my website, which is www.peterpaulparker.co.uk.
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Peter Paul Parker, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Peter Paul Parker is an expert in the mind-body connection, a sound healer, and working with both the energy body and the physical body. Peter is a Ki Gong champion, having entered a competition with the British Team in Korea in 2016, winning the International competition. Peter has run a successful coaching business for many years and has particularly done some amazing work with the elderly. He has set up a charity called Brighter Living to help the elderly with their health and well-being using Ki Gong and meditation. Peter has also worked with schools in his local area, helping people connect with themselves, from grandchild to grandparents. Peter has launched the Bright Beings Academy, which is his online business, which incorporates everything that he does to empower people to reach their full potential as human beings. Peter's motto is 'If you don't own your future self, somebody else will!'
