Coached by Einstein - {Guest Article}

By Samer Hassan - www.kunacademy.com 

One of mankind brilliant minds, once said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”.

When I first read Albert Einstein’s quote many years ago, I said to myself what an amazing sentence. I  felt that these words hold the universal equation for success and happiness. I literally fell in love with Einstein, but then after the infatuation / marvelling effect calmed down, my analytical mind kicked in.

In my head I started speaking to / fighting with Einstein- Feeling like a mad scientist :). Wait a minute Mr. Einstein I said in my head, how can a person use a different kind of thinking then her / his? If thinking outside the box and looking at problems from a different perspective was that easy, we would be living in an utopian world by now. It is like telling me about this amazing dessert that made my mouth watery without mentioning where to find it or how to make it. Are you teasing me? Thanks, but no  Mr. Einstein I would rather take the blue pill from the Matrix movie and not know about the existence of such dessert. Looking back it was a hilarious introspection!

After I took the frustration out of my system, I remembered that the right question is better then a thousand irrelevant answers. I should know that I am a coach, for god sake. We never help people by answers we help them by asking questions. I decided to look at what Mr. Einstein said as a question and not as an answer. And this is what happened.

In this article I will be exploring and answering questions that were  inspired by Einstein’s quote. Questions like:

• What is thinking?
• What differentiates one kind of thinking from another ?
• What can we change to be able to change our way of thinking?
• How can we change the way that we perceive a present situation?
• Want does coaching and teaching martial / healing arts have in common?

So let us start our questioning  journey:

Question –  what is thinking?

From many definitions I adopted this one: Thinking is the subjective act of processing, reasoning and experiencing information.This information is what we sense, what we feel and what we subjectively perceive. The sources of this information are the situations in which we are in, the memories / experiences that we have and the aspirations / expectations / imagination that we have.

Another question- what differentiates one kind of thinking from another ?

In my opinion it is the pattern that we use in processing information. Each individual develops her / his own thinking patterns, based on the dance between three mental states.

• The first mental state: Past Orientation is when we gravitate to past experiences and memories as the primary source of information, letting any other information become secondary.
• The second mental state: Future Orientation is when we find future aspirations, goals and expectations more attractive, so it becomes our primary source of information and shadows everything else.
• The third and the last mental state: Present Orientation is when we make the present situation with what is happening in it our primary source of information and keeping other information secondary.

Each one of us can access any of these mental states, yet each one of us have her / his unique formula that she / he follows depending on the situation and the time.

For example:

• You meeting a person that you love and enjoy her / his company, so you are listening attentively with each cell of your being. (Present orientation)
• You in a meeting with a difficult client, so you start browsing your memories and experiences to figure out how to overcome her / his resistance. (Past orientation)
• You going to a restaurant that you heard of and how great it was, so you had a lot of expectations and when you went you were disappointed. (Future orientation)

Another question, to be able to access and use  different kinds of thinking as Einstein suggested – what do we need to change? Or better -what can we change?

My answer to that was this: If there is something that we can change, it must exist in the present experience. After all this, is the observed reality that we truly live in. The past and the future are distant, perceived and purely subjective realities that we can’t truly do anything about, unless we shifted something in the way that we perceive the present.

You can’t change a memory that you had unless you shifted the way that you perceive the present. For example: I always remembered my father as this tough man that had a problem loving people. But then I grew up, and as I was experiencing difficulty to express my love to someone for the first time, I remembered my father and in less then a moment I started looking at him with a different eye. I understood that he is an extremely loving person, yet he just has difficulty to express his emotions.

You can’t change a future aspiration or expectation that you have, without shifting your perceived abilities in the present. For example: Do you remember when you were a child, and people used to ask you: what do you want to become when you grow up? When you shared all of these aspirations of becoming a doctor, an astronaut or even a princess, and then as you grew up you kept adjusting your aspirations by adjusting your perceived abilities- in other words being realistic, till you became who you are now. Maybe you are much better then an astronaut, but the point is that your aspirations changes depending on how you perceive yourself in the present.

One last question – how can we change the way that we perceive a present situation? So we can access and use different kinds of thinking and accomplish what our genius Einstein was / is trying to teach us.

When I reached this question, I knew that I am home! Before becoming a professional coach I had been teaching Qi gong, Tai chi, meditation and martial arts, for more then two thirds of my life. If you will ask me what do coaching and teaching martial / healing arts have in common?

My answer would be that they all focus on helping people notice and absorb more information from the present situation then what they are used to. In other words, to help you become more aware of what is happening around you and inside of you within a present moment by increasing your ability to sense.

• In martial arts, we use training methods that help you, not only to sense an attack while it’s coming, but to sense it before it starts.
• In Qi gong and Tai chi, we train you not only to sense what is happening and shifting in your body, we increase your ability to a high level that will help you sense the subtle shifts in the water, air and energy around you and inside of you.
• In coaching, we use open and profound questioning to increase the ability of the client to sense into what truly matters to her / him. Explore her / his potentials and challenges by helping them to sense into them.

My answer to the last question was – it all depends on our ability to sense. Being able to sense more is the key to changing our present perception, therefore accessing different kinds of thinking that depend on more realistic information!

We experience a present situation by sensing it. Which means using our Neural Sensory System to receive information from the outside world and our inner world, within a situation. The more information we receive the more our thinking will be informed by reality.

So at the end of this journey, I believe that what Einstein was referring to is that “We can’t solve problems by using the same level of sensing that we used when we were creating them”.

Inspired by this journey I created a coaching approach, that is based on the solid belief that any kind of sustainable change must include purposeful shifts in the Neural Sensory System. I call this approachSomatic Thinking™.

Samer Hasan is a highly sought after speaker, facilitator and coach for his expertise on emotional balance, powerful communication and body mind balance. Samer is known for his strong calming presence, deep understanding of the human being patterns, high multi-culture communication skills and his ability to create an experiential coaching environment that encourage clients to bring their all to action and go beyond their comfort zone.