Wonderbringers Newsletter with Monica Parker
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Hello Wonderseekers!
This week marks the Lunar New Year celebration. Structured around the Chinese zodiac in a cycle of twelve years, each year represents a different animal, and this is the year of the snake. The snake signifies shedding old skin and beginning anew, and it is seen as an auspicious time to catalyse fresh ideas into action.
It was also the year of the snake, this time twelve years ago, that my husband and I sat across from each other at Four Seasons restaurant in London’s Chinatown, planning our future. At a cosy table over roasted duck, we decided to take the leap and start our workplace consulting company HATCH. Now, twelve years later, we are starting a whole new cycle in a new home with new professional goals and a new perspective.
Humans love cycles and patterns for so many reasons. (The money alone spent on pumpkin spice season should be proof of that.) Tracking patterns and cycles has been key to our existence throughout our evolutionary history. Observing tides, weather, seasons, harvests, migrations, and other cycles (hello ‘Cicadageddon 2024’) all determined the survival of the community.
Only mammals have developed the distinctive brain layer responsible for tracking patterns known as the neocortex. This outermost layer of the brain is characterised by its intricate folding structure, contributing a remarkable 80% of the human brain's weight.
Renowned futurist and inventor, Ray Kurzweil, refers to this region of the brain as our ‘pattern recogniser.’ He believes the neocortex is responsible for our high degree of neuroplasticity and is what allows humans to learn the myriad natural, verbal, numerical, facial recognition and social patterns critical for acquiring new knowledge, and skills over time. The neocortex is so finely developed that even AI algorithms lack the skill of pattern recognition that humans have.
And patterns are the root of wonder. When a pattern we expect to complete doesn’t, we take notice, and when that differential is wide enough, we feel a sense of wonder. But patterns also give us a sense of certainty and comfort. How often has someone said in a time of chaotic uncertainty, ‘The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west.’
So what happens when the world is so shambolic, when it feels like up is down, when the norms that we have come to depend on vanish overnight and the patterns we crave don’t give us the certainty we need? We feel intense stress and to soothe ourselves, we start to create false patterns, falling down all manner of erroneous pattern rabbit holes in an effort to make sense of the senseless.
What to do when the world lacks any rhyme or reason? Find ‘comfort patterns’ in other places.
Try to be really present for those things that are consistent in your life, like walking your dog or making dinner.
Find a new pattern-rich hobby you can engage in every day. It can be mental, like a daily Wordle or Sudoku, or physical, like cross-stitch or knitting.
Adopt new rituals that have some meaning. Try a regular practice like prayer, meditation, or journaling. Separate rituals—activities that have an intention, a set time and place, use symbolism and objects, and engage the physical as well as the mental—from routines, like taking a shower or working out.
Look to collective rituals, such as church services, storytelling groups, or regular volunteer service activities.
Feeling overwhelmed? What rituals or comfort patterns help you find equilibrium?
Some wonderbringers for me this week:
Listen: A New Year: Reflecting On Cycles In Modern Life
Unlocking the mysteries of the brain’s neocortex: Entrepreneur Jeff Hawkins explains how knowledge of the brain can help us understand AI.
The surprising power of daily rituals: Rituals are found in many different forms and cultures but why are they so important?
With wonder,
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