I don’t remember when was the last time I wrote a newsletter from home, but here I am, back in Barcelona after visiting 4 countries in the last 6 days.
The last week of January left me with gifts, questions and several reflections, some of which I will share with you below.
Let’s get started.
Seeking external validation disconnects you from your authenticity.
There are people who worry so much about pleasing, fitting in, being accepted, that they end up forgetting who they are.
Stay true to your essence!
H1: Change of mentality
And in most of those meetings I mentioned 4 mindset shifts, that can help anyone grow both personally and professionally:
- Growth Mindset:
- Transforming failures into learning
- See every obstacle as an opportunity for expansion
- Actively seek new knowledge and skills.
- Abundance Mentality:
- Breaking the constraints of scarcity thinking
- Sees opportunities where others see scarcity
- Believing that there is more than enough to go around.
- Creative Mindset:
- Identify connections that others overlook
- Developing innovative solutions
- Adapt to changes with flexibility.
- Resilient Mentality:
- Maintaining focus on long-term objectives, despite temporary deviations
- Transforming obstacles into opportunities
- Develop emotional stability for rational decisions.
It may sound easy, but changing your mindset is a process that takes time and energy.
If you are encouraged to give it a try, start by identifying what resonates most with your current situation and begin to make small changes.
When you master one way of thinking, move on to the next, and keep moving forward, step by step, until you integrate them all.
H2: David Lynch and creativity
This week I learned of the passing of David Lynch, a multidisciplinary artist, recognized mainly for his work as a film director.
On a personal level, and despite not having seen any of his films, Lynch is part of the list of people who in one way or another changed my life.
And he did it thanks to his book Catching the Big Fish .
That book, which I read for the first time about 17 years ago, expanded my mind in an incredible way and helped me lay the foundations of a creative process, which even today, after so many years, continues to generate great results.
In Catching Goldfish, Lynch explains that “if you want to catch big fish, you must venture into deep water.”
A poetic way of explaining how great ideas emerge from the depths of our unconscious.
In the book, Lynch attributes the secret of his creative process to (transcendental) meditation.
For him, the daily practice of meditation dissipates negativity and allows a clearer and more expansive perception of ideas.
These are some of the notes I took while reading the book:
- Meditation is the ideal ideal toolto access the universal source of ideas.
- Mental clarity is essential for creativity and for being able to identify (or connect) ideas.
- Chaos and order coexist in the creative process
- The connection with the quantum field enhances our creative capacity.
As I said at the beginning, Lynch was a special person to me, and even though I never met him, he inspired me and (in a roundabout way) taught me how to turn my ideas into reality.
Life has these things, sometimes ironic, sometimes curious…
Perhaps, had I not read that book 17 years ago, my life would be different, and this blog would not exist.
Curious.
And since I’ve talked so much about the book, let me know if you’d like me to share a longer summary.
I have more than 10 years without reading it and it would be nice to reread it to share it with you.
H3: Life is a continuum
While reading reviews and news about David’s passing, I came across an insightful interview he gave to the BBC in 2023, in which he shared a fascinating perspective on life and death.
“Life is a continuum and no one really dies“, said Lynch…
“You just leave the physical body and we will all meet again.“.
Now Lynch, as he explained, has transcended, left his body and returned to the unified field, of which he spoke so much, to continue creating.
H4: The art of being alone
On Friday I came across an interview with psychiatrist Enrique Rojas in which he shared an interesting reflection on the art of being alone and being happy.
Rojas states that one of the biggest challenges when being alone is to face our negative thoughts, which usually revolve around three time axes:
- Past mistakes
- Current concerns
- Fears for the future.
What is most interesting is his proposal for managing these moments of solitude. According to him, the key is to transform time alone into an opportunity for growth and self-knowledge.
To achieve this, Rojas shares some practical strategies:
- Establish a routine that combines productivity and pleasure
- Practicing mindfulness to calm the mind
- Cultivate gratitude on a daily basis
- Developing creativity
- Connect with yourself through reflection.
“Happiness consists of having good health and a bad memory.”
With this phrase, he invites us to take care of our physical and mental balance, while we learn to let go of what we cannot change.
H5: Life and suffering
I have previously written and shared videos of Antonio Gala, and earlier this week, Youtube’s algorithm showed me the gem I share with you below.
In 2 wonderful minutes, Antonio leaves profound reflections on life, suffering and growth.
I hope you enjoy it.
H6: Siesta as a solution
I’ve never been a fan of naps, but yesterday I read a study published in the Journal of Sleep Research that reveals how a simple nap can boost our ability to solve problems.
What struck me most was discovering that REM sleep, even in short periods of just 13 minutes, can significantly improve our ability to find connections and solutions that we did not see before.
Researcher Carmen E. Westerberg and her team at Texas State University conducted an experiment in which they divided participants into two groups:
- One took a two-hour nap
- The other stayed awake.
And these were the results:
- The group that slept solved significantly more problems.
- REM sleep strengthened weak connections between ideas.
- The nap helped to recognize hidden patterns and similarities.
- It wasn’t about better memory, it was about better connectivity.
According to Dr. Westerberg: “If you have a difficult problem that you can’t solve, the processes that occur while you sleep may give you insights after you wake up that could help you solve it“.
If you’re having trouble solving a problem, the solution could be waiting for you after a simple nap.
I hope you enjoy your Sunday.
And next week we will be back with 6 new highlights.
Feedback? I would love to hear from you. Remember that you can contact me at any time through vladimir@younity.one.
