It is an obvious question if wisdom is something more specific than time on the planet what is it? As discussed in a previous blog post about our name if Coherence = Wisdom. What is coherence and where does it develop from?
The old myth that we only use 10% of our brain has been widely disproven.
Then the question becomes how many parts of the brain are in use simultaneously? This is coherence. The more effectively and holistically we integrate our brain functions the better we function.
One obvious example is I regularly experience when overwhelming fear kicks as a rock climber my brain narrows my focus to solve the problem. The challenge becomes what if the solution is outside our now narrowed field of thought. A possible life-threatening situation. Yet if we can recruit additional brain functions we can open up our solution path, we often can find a usable path forward. Hence, I am still here to share this wisdom with you.
A simplistic story is an example of one of humanity’s more perplexing challenges in understanding and moderating our own behavior.
Below is the list of science-backed practices that so far, activities I believe promote brain coherence and subsequent wisdom.
This list may change and grow as science evolves.
To my knowledge little or no head-to-head studies have been done comparing these practices. The top four are the practices I have seen the most in scientific articles etc., they all have evidence-based results worth paying attention to.
The three vital things I find to make these practices effective for brain coherence are:
- You must be intentional (you consciously are choosing to be on the path of inner growth)
- You must let go (stop driving your inner bus for a while)
- It must be a regular practice (I assume daily)
It is clear to me the above three requisites, that two people going on a walk-in nature together may get vastly different outcomes based on their adherence to the above loose criteria.
Meditation (all kinds)
Mindfulness (This is a broad description of a range of practices focused on being present in the moment)
Yoga (all styles)
Breathe work (intentional, through the nose, etc.)
Prayer/chanting
Time in nature/forest bathing/gardening/hiking 
Movement/Sports (in the flow)
Art, music (in the flow)
Gratitude & Generosity (as an intentional practice)
Traditional authentic indigenous ceremonies (such as traditional sweat lodges)
As stated above these are practices all with a scientific basis. I am not a scientist I will not attempt to educate you on that which I am learning. Do your own research. In my case having done several of these practices deeply and all of them on occasion, my personal experience has been overwhelming and positive.
Why do these? They have been proven to gradually over time improve your motivation, creativity, moral reasoning, resilience, and health indicators (such as blood pressure). This is a partial list, yet in my mind incredibly impressive.
For me when I started meditating over 40 years ago, I was fortunate to have no expectations. Meditating twice a day just became what I did twice a day every day with no thoughts or comparisons. It was years later I noticed subtle changes. I can say now without reservation that choosing to be consistent with my practice is the best decision I have ever made.
I just can imagine why others are not making their own version of this commitment.
Imagine a team of people at your organization who have their own individually designed self-practice from the list above. Far from being unified thinkers, they bring a flow of valuable thought and a capacity to collaborate and blend their original thinking with others. This new level of holistic approaches to problem-solving in my opinion is the next step in human evolution which will significantly evolve the business. Changes in the brain can happen quite quickly and are cumulative. It starts with a commitment to self-care and grows exponentially when we collaborate with others for the greater good.
This is how we collectively save humanity and increase our prosperity in the process. The new economy, the next economy will require this higher-level performance to truly live up to its potential. Social enterprises, social ventures, non-profits, B Corps, regenerative and triple bottom line businesses all require an ability to go beyond the known to do something new.
This is the beginning of a dialogue we will be having here on our blog, in our podcast, in our salons, and with our clients. Please join us.
We welcome your comments below and by email.
Can you and your organization use some wisdom?