Nervous System Mastery, Growth & Note-Taking

You guys,

I went on my first podcast last week to talk about neuroplasticity and creativity with the wonderful Sam Sager - someone I met on Twitter.

Pretty cool.

I don't think I would've done any of that without my Year of Creative Experiments. It's been such a great forcing function to do things I don't feel ready for or feel embarrassed by.

I've gotten many positive reactions to this challenge, so I'm thinking of closing the year with a meta-experiment: a 1-hour workshop on how to create your own Year of Creative Experiments for 2023. Let me know if you'd be interested. It will be somewhere toward the end of December (and, of course, free!).

🤸‍♀️ IN THIS WEEK'S STRETCH:

• Change = Discomfort = Growth. The only way is through.

• Nervous System Mastery. "The next mindfulness wave".

• My Digital Note-Taking System. Writing from Abundance.

🐛 CHANGE = DISCOMFORT = GROWTH

Writing online has changed me in profound ways.

Mostly good. I've become more self-aware; more curious about who I am and what I want out of life.

Writing has shown me a different way of being and living. It has given me the confidence to leave my advertising career without much fear or worry. I could feel in my bones it was the right move.

But there is a flip side. (There's always a flip side.)

Writing is a solo endeavor.

Of course, writing communities are powerful (I now work for the best one on the Internet!), and I've connected with some incredible people online - but the actual act of sitting down and writing for hours on end? You have to do that alone. You have to say no to other things in your life. You have to prioritize - ruthlessly and continuously.

It's like American writer Kurt Vonnegut said:

“It’s physically uncomfortable, it’s physically bad for someone to sit still that long, and it’s socially bad for a person to be alone that much. The working conditions are really bad. Nobody has ever found the solution to that."

And I dove head-first into this unknown, virtual world.

Isabel describes it perfectly as "the addictive + isolating nature of deep work".

I feel like I'm only now coming up for air, and I feel confused.

Who is this introverted, obsessed person? Where did she come from? What's left of the old one? Are they really all that different?

It's a disorienting feeling.

But then I come across Tweets like this, and I'm reminded that how I feel is not unusual. Change is hard. Growth is uncomfortable.

Shivani writes in her beautiful essay Life's First Drafts:

"Part of building something new (and hopefully better) is processing. And part of processing a new stage of life is mourning the old one."

I remind myself that it takes time. It’s a process. And there's nothing to be so panicked about. It's a privilege to go through a transformation like this - that's the whole point of being here. As Richard Feynman would say, "I am here to create myself, continuously."

As usual, I find inspiration and encouragement in other people's writing. Like Paul Millerd's book The Pathless Path (a must-read if you're feeling constrained by 'the default path' of life and work) and Cecile Marion (a must-follow if you're dreaming of going on a sabbatical).

And Jamie Varon's words, well, they just make everything better:

(Okay, I'm done psychoanalyzing myself now. Writing this reminded me of my friend who told me she loves my newsletter but also thinks I have way too much time to (over)think. Ha ha - there's probably some truth to that.)

🫀 NERVOUS SYSTEM MASTERY

So here's a part I love and fully embrace about this new me:

A fascination with the nervous system; a desire to learn about my body and what it is capable of.

I discovered simple techniques like expanding your visual field and the physiological sigh - and it just blew me away.

I had no idea that I could control my nervous system like that, and have an immediate impact on my moods and focus. I realized I had completely lost touch with my own body and internal systems. And I didn't appreciate my hardwired capacity to learn and change. Understanding the basic neurological processes behind neuroplasticity and myelination completely transformed how I view myself.

Until now, I've mostly been learning through Huberman Lab podcasts and David Eagleman books.

Then I came across Jonny Miller's online course Nervous System Mastery.

(I had promised myself "no more courses this year" but hey, who in their right mind would oppose mastering their nervous system? Not me!)

This 5-week online bootcamp will equip you with a custom toolkit to regulate stress, build resilience & feel more aliveness.

If you're thinking, "uhhh sorry, what?", Jonny explained it well in our first session earlier this week:

Source: Nervous System Mastery by Jonny Miller

Everything in life involves a) a Stimulus and b) a Response.

In between that Stimulus and Response, there is a space.

For most of us, that space is small. We're immediately reacting - habitually, unconsciously, defensively.

The intention of nervous system regulation is to increase that space. To give yourself a moment to decide how you're going to respond, feel and behave. To internalize that you're not at the mercy of your feelings and knee-jerk reactions. There's a choice.

I recently read this in Irene Lyon's Twitter bio: "Nervous system health WILL be the next mindfulness wave."

I wouldn't be surprised. This stuff is powerful. And it's all hardwired.

I'll keep you posted on everything I learn over the next few weeks!

👩‍💻 MY DIGITAL NOTE-TAKING SYSTEM

One of the fundamental principles taught in Write of Passage is Writing from Abundance:

The art of collecting ideas so you can think better and avoid writer’s block.

The premise is simple — build a bank of inspiration while you’re away from the computer and before you sit down to write. Capture your epiphanies. Save the best quotes you read. Identify ideas that resonate with you and jot them down as notes.

To do that, you need a reliable system.

After 18 months of writing online, I have cobbled together a system that works well for me, with a few simple techniques and tools:

• Readwise (notes syncing tool)

• Readwise reader (read-later app)

• Roam Research (note-taking)

• Otter.ai (voice transcription)

• MyMind (images and screenshots)

My Digital Note-Taking SystemHow I use Readwise & Reader + Roam + Otter.ai + MyMind

And personally, I feel like having a note-taking system is valuable even if you don't plan on writing online. Most of the workforce today are "knowledge workers" for whom knowledge is their most valuable asset, and who spend most of their time managing large amounts of information. Without a proper system, most of that effort goes to waste.

Ta-taa for now!

Charlotte