wonder if you Surfed before…
An exercise we did this week was to find a picture of ourselves before 10 – hopefully, around 6 or 8 – before many of the “worlds” voices have had a chance to change the “music” in your life. Pictures were posted of “little kids” invariably smiling, many of them twirling, dancing, playing… enjoying life. The concept is that is your natural self … and worth finding if you want to really understand some of your true talent/nature that has likely been covered up. And even with that instruction, many of us sheepishly said what we saw… and our Pod members chimed in with what they noticed, and what they saw both in the picture… and the adult version of that “kid” that is in front of them now… and were much more positive than the person being discussed. For me, there were two words that resonated….
…. and what is also interesting is that the research shows that when you are close to those qualities, you get into a trance-like state called “Flow“…. where time disappears as you are “naturally” doing what you are built for. The description is “talent matches the problem” – that is – you are challenged JUST enough to bring all of your best to it. For me, what I observed and was reinforced by my partners, were the words “curious”, and “mischievousness”. This blog is one of the best expressions of those qualities, and when I am writing/researching/editing (not as much…) time literally stands still. And like your brain with music, I am always most engaged when I am surprised…
… or was Dr No your soundtrack?
I knew I would put this song in this week, and knew for certain it was the perfect example of a Fender Stratocaster riff. It is only a few bars long, and was only played once by a session player in the UK – who received less than $10 for that. And yet – it has now become the backbone of an entire franchise, used in every film since it’ debut in 1962 – the height of the beginning of the Surf music era. It is so distinctive that all I would need to do is say a few words, and your brain (and likely your voice) would recreate it. Instantly – probably on key, and the right rhythm. That is how powerful your brain is. And it is not a recording – your brain actually RECREATES it every time – and remembers how to do it because when it is doing that, it is releasing dopamine 😉
Taking time to Surf…
The thing about wonder is it takes time, and is placed after observe not JUST because it made the acronym work, because you have to be in a different place to really take advantage of it. Without observation, you don’t have enough data to really be curious and think differently. And you are likely going to simply rush to execution which is where the world pays off. The “curious” and “mischievous” among you know this… and often get their voices and “music” drowned out by the focus on “delivery” not wonder… Some of us are a little more thick-headed, or better said, grounded well enough that we can take risks and try things that would never occur to others…
I just had a visit from a lifelong friend who is a fellow “wonder” junky. We were regaling each other with stories of times that we were challenged with “…. you can’t possibly…” which, of course, caused us to look for what others were missing. For us, the bigger waves just meant we had to work a bit harder to Surf on them. We also recognized how often those around us would say, “Nah – that is not worth doing,”… only to be done 5 years later by someone else. Ironically, the name of the movie where this first was seared into our consciousness was named… wait for it… Dr. No. And I was only half right – it was played through a Fender Vibrolux AMPLIFIER – a spin-off of the Showman that is one of the most sought-after because SRV used it… Vic Flick masterfully played it on a1939 jazz guitar that captured Surf times perfectly for the next 60 years – The James Bond Theme.
