There were eleven of us who came to the December 11th meeting. Eight members and three guests turned up in PJ's Damansara Kim. Hidden behind a block of beat-up lockers on the first floor of a very nondescript shophouse on Jalan SS20/10 is this speakeasy bar and kitchen, The Locker & Loft.
Our meeting theme was "Present and Fast Forward". Every attendee had their own personal and unique take on it.
Here's my interpretation. The present is the period of time now occurring. It is probably safe to say that the vast majority of humanity "live" in the present. But there are those who live in the past and certainly, there are those who fast forward from the present. The latter are more often called day dreamers.
These persons keep themselves in a maladaptive daydream state and not staying in the present. I guess they are looking to the future when everything works out well for them and life is "better". And even as daydreaming is more often considered the stuff of losers and slackers, science suggests that mind-wandering (a better term to use, methinks) freely to more congenial thoughts is actually beneficial. (I bet you didn't know this).
Actually, we shouldn't lump together all mind-wandering activities as one. I read that not all research has differentiated between depressive rumination (like replaying an ongoing disagreement with a co-worker in our minds) and pleasant daydreaming (letting our minds wander freely). Now, some newer science is painting a more nuanced picture of what happens to us when we let our minds wander. Though the research is young and growing, it suggests that daydreaming may actually make us happier and more creative – if we do it the right way.
In a study, "What Types of Daydreaming Predict Creativity? Laboratory and Experience Sampling Evidence", by Claire M Zedelius, et al, published in August 2020 in the Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, the lead researcher looked at the contents of people’s thoughts to see how that related to everyday creativity (outside of a lab setting).
Participants, including some creative writers, were prompted via cell phones throughout the day to report on the nature of their thoughts and, at the end of the day, how creative they had been. Findings showed that people’s minds often wandered to fairly mundane things – like planning for a later shopping trip – and that these thoughts had no effect on creativity. But when people’s minds wandered in more fantastical ways (playing out implausible fantasies or bizarre, funny scenarios, for example) or in ways that seemed particularly meaningful to them, they tended to have more creative ideas and feel more inspired at the end of the day, too. Interestingly, this was true for both writers and everyday people.
“Writers probably do this for their creative process all the time – thinking through stories, considering ‘what ifs’ or unrealistic or bizarre scenarios”, said Zedelius. “But lay people will also do this more to be more creative”.
Increasingly, there's more research exploring this topic but it is not my purpose to dwell on it too much here.
What I'm trying to say is, I, for one, frequently "fast forward". Of course, I know that I can’t always dismiss today to "escape". Besides, I've learned too that if you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
Love Life, Live Life. You can say WSC KL live up to it!
#publicspeaking
#theartandscienceofrhetoric
#confidentcommunication
#communicationinnovations
#worldspeakerscoalition
No comments:
Post a Comment