Our brain is a prediction machine.
It is constantly running models built from its history - and then using this to predict and filter data about what's about to happen,
and what we're capable of handling.
It's efficient.. and.. it's also why 'change is expensive'. (and not always favored by the brain-body system!)
Now lets add dsyregulation, anxiety, overwhelm...
.. all of that noise can shift us out of flexible, adaptive learning and into rigid, reactive behaviors.
All of that 'noise' can limit our ability to update our behaviors and expand beyond our undesired patterns...
Which is why I teach these two things together.
I find it hard to talk about self-regulation and nervous system states without talking about mindset..
..and I find it hard talk about mindset without bringing up nervous system states and regulation... they are so intertwined that it feels misaligned for me to not bring them both into the dance.
It's why my graduate studies and career began with the idea of 'self-directed neuroplasticity' and mindset.. and quickly began to include self-regulation.
Nervous system tools matter.
And.. they can become more effective when people understand something even deeper:
that the parts of themselves they believe are fixed may actually be changeable.
P.S. If you teach nervous system regulation, mindset belongs in the conversation.
Because helping someone regulate in the moment is powerful. Helping them understand that the patterns their brain-body predicts and repeats are changeable expands what becomes possible from there.
That’s why I created the Mindset Science Teaching Framework: to give you the neuroscience and teaching tools that can help mindset and regulation amplify each other's power for living our best life.
References and further reading
Meadows, D. H. (1999). Leverage points: Places to intervene in a system. The Sustainability Institute.
Burnette, J. L., O'Boyle, E. H., VanEpps, E. M., Pollack, J. M., & Finkel, E. J. (2013). Mind-sets matter: A meta-analytic review of implicit theories and self-regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 139(3), 655–701.
Vogel, S., & Schwabe, L. (2016). Learning and memory under stress: Implications for the classroom. npj Science of Learning, 1, 16011.
Crum, A. J., Salovey, P., & Achor, S. (2013). Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 716–733.
