Consciousness

Brainpower Newsletter

You may have noticed that problem-solving is one of my favorite topics. Well, I've got a new page on that for this week.

By the way, that last mailing seemed to cause some confusion. I won't unsubscribe anyone, and you never have to respond to keep getting the newsletter. But thank you to those who sent the nice emails.

Enjoy!

A problem solving strategy is a general "plan of attack." There are perhaps hundreds of specific techniques for solving problems, but relatively few basic strategies for putting those techniques to work. Here are three good ones to try.

Problem Solving Triage

Medical emergency personal use triage as a strategy to decide which patients get their attention. They ask, "Who here will die regardless of treatment?" "Who will survive regardless of treatment?" and "Who will survive only if they get treatment?" The latter are treated first, of course.

In the numerous problems of life and business, the important triage questions are...

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http://www.increasebrainpower.com/problem-solving-strategies.html

- The fat molecules in cow's milk are up to five times larger than those in goat's milk, and it takes the stomach three times as long to digest them.

- The "horn" of a rhinoceros is made of hair.

- Starfish don't have a centralized brain, but have neurons spread throughout their bodies instead.

Try speaking with full consciousness of your articulation and you will likely stop speaking. The same for walking or many other actions that are actually performed at a less-than-conscious level. We speak without quite knowing what our words will be, and then justify them or correct them after the fact. We consciously guide them, but cannot predict what they will be. In other words, consciousness guides, but actually gets in the way if it tries to control too much.

This is just a bit to get you thinking. I hope to have more on the nature of consciousness in future newsletters.

You are in a contest which requires you to determine which one of nine water-filled balloons weighs more than the others. All the others are identical in weight, All nine look the same, and you can't tell the difference in weight just by lifting them. You are allowed to use a balance scale, but the prize money is reduced for each time you use it. What is the least number of times you can use it to identify the heavy water-balloon 9 (and how)?

(Answer is below)

Sometimes negative emotions and feelings get in the way of clear thinking. One way to reduce their impact is to quietly name them. In recent research, it was found that simply saying "anger," or "pain" or otherwise labeling negative feelings calmed the part of the brain that processes emotions. This is an centuries-old technique from mindfulness meditation traditions, and the research showed that although it worked better with meditators, it worked to some extent even without experience or training.

Some powerful persuasion techniques have been developed from NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) methods. If, for example, you hear a person saying, "I see," a few times, they are probably processing information visually, according to NLP. To influence them then, you would use phrases like, "You can see how..." or you would actually show them things. A more auditory person would be influenced by, "I hear what you're saying," and "Listen."

Notice if they use visual, aural, or kinesthetic words. If you want to convince your spouse to go to the Bahamas, it makes a difference which words you use. "We'll be feeling that sun on our backs," is not the same as...

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http://www.increasebrainpower.com/persuasion-techniques.html

Exactly how do you create new stories? Often the ideas just come to you, but what do you do if they don't? Try a few of these ideas for a more systematic approach.

What's in the news? This is a good source for new stories that is mined by television shows all the time. For a twist that will get the story read, though, take a real life issue that is in the news and approach it from a different perspective. Take the story of a businessman who profiteers after a hurricane, for example, and find a way to make him the good guy.

What is important to you? Take any principle that you consider to be important, and find a story in it. If honesty is important, create a story populated with characters that are defined by how honest or dishonest they are, and show the consequences of this...

Continued here... http://www.999ideas.com/new-stories.html

Until next time,

Riddle Solution: The answer is one or two. You could simply put eight water-ballons on the scale - four an each side, and if the scale is balanced, the one you left out has to be the heavy one. This of, course requires luck, and you could end up repeating the process many times to be sure of which is the heavier one.

To be sure without luck take two times. First put three water-ballons on each side of the scale. If one side is heavier, that group contains the heavy one. If the scale is balanced, the group of three not weighed has the heavier one. Now from the group that has the heavy one, weigh put one water-ballon on each side. Either one of these is heavier, or if they balance, the excluded one is the heavy one.