A great comment by John Moore invoked the idea of this post. He wrote “In the world of business, this is especially true. We have all seen those companies that claim to have “world-class customer service.” But when you actually need help, you’re left on hold longer than a sloth’s nap time.”
Left longer than a sloth’s naptime was the trigger. I searched and found that Sloths have an extremely low metabolic rate, which means they move at a languid, sluggish pace through the trees.
Humans seem to also fall asleep after eating a slow to digest meals. This is because the drop in blood flow to the brain could trigger feelings of sleepiness.
The question that led to the writing of this post is about if digesting heavy and complex information such as some posts leads to feelings of sleepiness.
I am sure you experienced what I do frequently reading a comment or an article that I find hard to digest and reply to. I feel sleepy afterwards and I need to drink a cup of coffee to wake me up. It is the same with managers who confuse workers and customers with many options that they feel asleep. Managers can make employees feel sleepy with their productivity sliding down.
Do we suffer from the same when we feed our brains with “heavy and big” information?
This is a big question and I say it is directly relevant to learn-unlearn-relearn. We need to relax our minds and empty the spores of the old before filling them again. As if a sponge, which is full of water, cannot absorb more water until we squeeze the old water out. This is the sponge effect.
Unlike sponges, humans need to break the old patterns of thinking to empty out old information to allow new information in. How do we break patterns of old thinking so as not to keep feeling sleepy with indigestible and old information?
Jumana Anani suggested, “The first step to unlearning is acceptance, the second is finding sources of learning and relearning ,,,, the third is to being open to new experiences and knowledge … unlearning is about refraining …letting go…and making room for new ideas…challenging existing assumptions”.
What are your thoughts?