Years ago I was a school and family counselor.
I had recently finished graduate studies at NYU, where I got to take part in incredible research at the Institute for Prevention Science and at the Phelps Lab for Neuroscience Research*. I was so excited to share many of the insights I had gained collaborating with researchers, families and the community in a variety of settings and programs
*the name of the lab is now the Institute for the Study of Decision-Making at NYU - the Phelps Lab is now part of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard
Some of the most positive feedback I got, from students and from teachers, came when they learned about their human ability to harness the power of neuroplasticity.
I loved sharing the science behind the fact that there was a way to have more control over what we do with our brain activity.. and how this can help us update how we respond to live, our internal and external world, and to the people in it.
Just this one insight was an aha for many of them.
I could feel how excited and energized they were to realize that they had that power.
That was my first glimpse into what I now call neuro-education. Giving people explanations and descriptions of how brains are built, and how we can take part in building them in ways that truly serve us, and help us live a life that feels truly good to us.
Why this matters right now
At MIT, part of what we are looking at is how people are losing a sense of agency. I'm happy to announce that we have been granted our first round of funding, and I'll share more about it with you as it unfolds.
*the Human Agency Platform at MIT, part of the Global Humanities Initiative
Agency: the felt sense.. the embodied knowing.. that what you do makes a difference.
So if you are learning about your nervous system,
or about mindset,
or about how your brain systems shape what you notice and how you respond...
... you are working on the exact thing many people are losing a sense of.
And it counts whether you are learning it for yourself or for the people you serve.
That work does not stay contained in you.
It moves into how you speak to a student, a client, your own kid, yourself at 2am.
You are on track. The learning is the work.
A question to sit with this weekend
Where did you notice, even for a second this week, that you had more choice over your response than you thought you did?
Wishing you a weekend where you catch your own mind in the act of changing itself,
Stefanie
P.S. The words matter more than many people expect.
The Teach Mindset Science Framework holds the actual explanations and phrasing I have used to help people access the 'Life Force' within them to architect their mind and life.
It is built to be copied. Write it down, try it on in your own life to see how it fits and resonates, then amplify it into your content, your conversations, your own way of reaching the people you want to empower.
