Now Who's Talking
Written by Rebecca Firegrave on Sunday the 16th of January 2011
After serious and studious self-assessments and empirical experiments I would like to offer my scientific extractions on the internal workings of the most marvellous and mysterious human organ, the brain:
[Scene One]
"Go on, just do it."
"Do what?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Don't bother."
"But what shall I do?"
"Try this..."
"What's the point in that?"
"Sit still."
"Just do something."
"You don't want to do that."
[End Scene]
When the little people gather in your head for their board meetings, who do you listen to?
Is it the loudest, the most insistent, the most logical, rational, reasonable, convenient? Each little person wants the best for you. It really does. They are not there to torment you. To embarrass you. To trick you. To lead you into a parallel universe where everything you'll ever do will only ever amount to one huge, stinking pile of regret. When one of them tells you 'Don't bother. No point.' It is not willing death on you. But lovingly trying to steer you out of trouble, reserve your resources. Or perhaps avoid the unknown. Each little voice genuinely thinks it has your best interest at heart. If you'll only just listen to it, then you'll be fine, dandy, wonderful, perfect. But you can't listen to all of them. And they can't all be right. They may have a point - but the one in charge of resources would be happy for you to sit around all day eating cheesy whotsits. While the one in charge of curiosity certainly would have something to say about that. And the one in charge of love would want a whole different game plan. And the sex guy, well, would you put your life in the hands of a nymph..?
So how best is it to come to resolutions in these board meetings?
The subconscious, intuition, your inner voice, gut feeling or Bob. Whatever you want to call it, (I quite like Bob), there is one voice, that tends to sit at the furthest end of the board table, at the head, sometimes out of sight, way, way down, that calmly takes note of everyone's opinion (yes, the nymph's as well) and sends you in the direction that suits you best. The voice is distinct - calm and assured. And this guy has a plan.
Though sometimes hard to identify, it is always there. But focus on the other voices too much and Bob will loose confidence and fade into the background noise. Or perhaps, if he gets bored of being ignored, he might pop out for a cup of tea, thinking no one will notice. He might even bunk off if he knows that evey breath is wasted on you as he hears the constant sound of crisp crunching. But don't worry, he wants the plan to work, too, so it doesn't take too much to garuntee his attendance. And the more you listen, the louder he gets.
And what is the plan? You'll have to ask him.