wonder if you Surfed before…
This week’s exercise was to find a picture of ourselves before 10 – hopefully, around 6 or 8 – before many of the “world” 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 “your natural self,” … and were wondering if some of that has been lost. Many of us sheepishly said what we saw, supported by our partners… a much more positive, fun-loving person than we were now…
Research shows that when you are close to those qualities, you get into a trance-like state called “Flow,” where time disappears as you “naturally” do what you are built for. The description is “talent matches the problem“: said differently, 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 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 sure 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 this. And yet – it has now become the backbone of an entire franchise, used in every film since its debut in 1962 – the height of the beginning of the Surf music era. It is so distinctive that I only need to 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 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… but because you have to be in a different state of mind to take advantage of it. With observation, you have enough data to be curious and think differently. Without time, you are likely going to simply rush to execute, which is where the world tells you it 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 to 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. But not on a Strat – Vic Flick masterfully played it… on a 1939 jazz guitar that captured Surf times perfectly for the next 60 years, and hopefully, your new theme song for wondering what you might have left behind – The James Bond Theme.
