I was taking a leisurely walk in the Amazon jungle here in Peru. It was a beautiful day. Pristine blue sky. Clean air. The sound of running water somewhere in the distance.
Everything went perfectly for the first few hours.
But then…
A tiger appeared!
Worse yet, he looked hungry.
Licking his lips, he started moving towards me.
I should’ve run away.
I really should’ve turned around and sprinted away as fast as I could.
But instead, I sat down, opened up my laptop, connected it to the 4G on my phone and came up with a new business plan for Rageheart.
Thankfully, Mr Tiger saw that I was busy. He paused, sat down on the jungle floor and licked his paws like Zeus and Storm do when they’re bored 😮💨
It was amazing!
I swear I came up with some of the BEST ideas of my life yesterday in that jungle.
Despite being absolutely terrified for my life, my brain just couldn’t stop firing GREAT ideas at me.
🤯
Obviously, this is a joke.
No, I did not come up with the best ideas of my life yesterday…
…but yes, I had a run-in with a tiger.
Just kidding.
I didn’t actually meet a tiger either.
That would be terrifying!
And that’s the point I’m trying to make.
When we’re in a survival state (ie. when we’re scared, nervous, ashamed, angry, etc), our nervous system allocates resources to survival 🫨
- scanning for threats
- tensing muscles
- preparing to fight or run away
- worrying
…and away from activities that don’t help us fight or run away to safety:
- digestion
- rest and repair
- creativity
In other words, if you’re in a state of survival (whether because there’s a tiger in front of you or because someone just cut you off in traffic), the last thing your brain and nervous system want to do is come up with new ideas (whether we’re talking about a new song, a new painting or a new business idea).
They’re far too busy figuring out how to stay alive in this DANGEROUS DANGEROUS WORLD.
That’s why I like to say…
Chilling out is good for your bank account 😌 = 🤑
Because when you learn to consciously activate the parasympathetic side of your nervous system (and bring yourself out of a state of survival), creativity gets a lot easier and great ideas flow faster than ever.
Now of course…
You can bring yourself into a parasympathetic state with a range of techniques, including meditation and journaling and breathing exercises…
…but the problem with most techniques is that they don’t address the elephant in the room:
The stored survival stress of years and decades gone by.
That’s what keeps the nervous system in a perpetual state of survival. All the unprocessed, unexpressed and unacknowledged feelings, emotions and survival responses of the past.
Getting cut off in traffic or yelled at by someone you love sucks… but that’s small potatoes compared with all the stored survival stress in your nervous system.
And the tools that most people use for managing stress don’t usually address this stuff… not directly.
That’s where The Rageheart Academy comes in.
It’s a crash course in how to work with stored survival stress in the nervous system 👨🏫
How to get it moving without overwhelming the system.
And how to restore parasympathetic rest-digest-and-create to the nervous system.
If that sounds good to you, join me inside The Rageheart Academy here:
Cheers,
John Wood
P.S. Know anyone who needs better ideas and a bigger bank account?
Refer them to The Daily Growl (this email newsletter) and give them better tools for unlocking the potential inside their nervous system.