MM MECC ANICA

…mmmmmm forged and cnc’d goodness… when installed correctly…

So following the mental beatdown a few weeks ago, I’ve begun training my brain in some very strange ways and applying the last year of work and some very apparent lessons from recent experiences. If you’ve been reading, you’ll know that my left brain has been in control, and well, as humans we shouldn’t be solely operating that way. As I’ve opened up a seat at the table to the right, I’ve observed the thinking brain constantly throwing teenager level fits, fighting, justifying and defending its actions in almost every scenario. It’s an ongoing process of training but some fascinating discoveries are happening in the process as I get both sides to work together.

Last week I decided in meditation to try and ‘separate’ my left and right brain treating them like individual entities and will call on them in scenarios as needed. How I know they both agreed and signed up for this is a bit complicated and I’m not sure how to write about yet. Let’s just say once you are in the right state of awareness, you can ask questions and get responses.

“I am not my thoughts,” is a good starting point for for the concept. Learning to scan your body and identify the meaning of feelings is another good starting point.

After the negotiation I now try and approach situations by internally asking each side it’s thoughts on the matter and come to a decision. It’s my brain, so technically it should serve me, right? This isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen every time, but I’ve been having some success at it. I’ve also been moving energy and awareness around the different sections and then between the two to train the balance. It may still sound crazy to some of you, but I can feel when things are off balance doing this type of body scanning, and it’s becoming another tool in the tool box.

I’ve learned that each side has certain proverbial cups that need to be filled. Left side needs mechanical projects, feeling of accomplishment, logical puzzles and the right side needs sensory experiences, connection and creativity. I’m pretty sure they both love adventure. I now pick activities, engage that side of the brain and fill their cups. The negotiation is that the other side doesn’t interfere with the activity but remains active learning it’s piece in what the other side is doing.

So…to the piston rings… as I’ve been doing this, some hiccups have happened. Where in my past, I’ve had amazing visual snapshots during complicated assemblies, this last week when I was putting together my 701 engine, and well, was missing a snapshot. After fully assembling the engine, putting in the new piston, rings, and reassembling the head after machining, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t remember the orientation of the 2nd ring. I had a visual snapshot of the oil wiper and the compression ring, but not the secondary. Fuck.

The next day I went into the garage and pulled the engine apart, and no surprise, 2nd ring was installed upside down. Left brain missed a process step and right brain wasn’t present, or was it. Which side woke me up at 1:30am saying “you don’t remember which way you installed the 2nd piston ring.” That mystery continues. Kinda Thomas Campbell like and his red programming punch cards. I think he talks about it on a podcast if you don’t want to read his books which I recommend.

So, after screwing up once, I consult the manual taking every step one by one and reassemble the whole engine again. That night, I’m woken up again, I still don’t have a mental snapshot of the installed direction on the rings. WHAT THE FUCK!!!

What I do know this time, is that I visually inspected every ring, oriented it in my left hand and walked it over the top of the piston. But did I flip them by accident as I did that? I can’t remember what happened between looking at the ring in my hand and putting it over the piston. Worst case engine will burn oil and I’ll have to spend the same amount of time taking the engine apart and flipping the rings. It’s not expensive and I’m not creating a bigger problem for a 50/50 shot. Maybe I should send the engine positive vibrations and tell it that it’s assembled correctly. Not completely joking.

So, I’m going to surrender to this one and let it shake itself out, hopefully not literally. Throwing a piston at 8000 rpm directly at my crotch while sitting on a gas tank would not be ideal.

As you can see, not all of my lessons and self teachings always are going well, I’m only sharing this one since it seems to be on blog theme. A few days following this (after I’ve spent hours doing my left side right side brain workouts following this blunder), during an argument, I could feel which each side of my brain was reacting to the other party as it transpired. Fascinating. Full presence and identification of feelings, identification that left brain could not derive logic and solve the problem and wanted out.

Right Brain : What a different world I’m living in now, beautiful.

Left Brain : Really need to finish setting up the bike to figure out which way I installed the piston ring.