Something you’ll hear me say a lot…
The goal of nervous system regulation is not to be calm all the time.
We are human beings moving through changing environments and contexts.
Sometimes we need to narrow our attention and act quickly.
And sometimes we need to widen our perspective, take in more information, explore possibilities and change course.
Sometimes we need to slow down and conserve energy.
And sometimes we need to expend energy (even without knowing if it will pay off). Mobilize. Approach something. Move toward an opportunity.
Our mind-brain-body systems need the ability to do all of these things.
And then.. (This is the really important part)… we need to take in the data from whatever happens with the thing we just did or tried.. And adjust again when the context changes.
What matters is our ability to adapt.
This is one reason I don't often describe regulation as "calming the nervous system."
It definitely can mean that (and we especially need an ability to do that intentionally).
But sometimes the most adaptive thing your system can do is to mobilize, act, increase your heart rate. Take a risk.
Human adaptability doesn't live in one brain region, one nervous-system state or one measurement.
It is emergent.. multiple systems coordinating with each other and with the environment around us.
And that can open our curiosity and the questions we ask..
For example, instead of:
How do I get myself, or someone else, into the "right" state?
We can become curious about:
- What does this context actually require, and..
- how many options does this human system have available to meet it?
That, to me, can often be a more helpful way to think about human behavior, optimization and regulation.
And it's one of the reasons I love looking at human beings through multiple scientific lenses.
Together with what someone experiences, what we observe, and what we understand about their environment and context... we begin to see a more nuanced, richer (and accurate) picture of a living, adaptive human system.
And it also opens us up to thinking about a different goal:
Not. constant. calm.
Greater RANGE.
Greater flexibility. Greater capacity to meet the threats AND opportunities our lives place in front of us.
Wishing you a beautiful Sunday,
Stefanie
P.S. If you'd like to explore different parts of this science more deeply, all of my courses and Academy center around the idea of Human Adaptive Systems:
TEACH THE NERVOUS SYSTEM™
Learn the neuroscience of regulation -and how to explain it in ways that help people understand and work with their own nervous systems.
THE ADAPTIVE BRAIN
Explore what happens when the brain encounters change, challenge and information that doesn't fit what it already knows.
SUPER-REGULATORS™ NEUROSCIENCE ACADEMY
This is where we go much deeper into these different lenses together and apply them specifically to your work. Week 4, we'll look at adaptability and flexibility through the lenses of heart rate variability and cognitive flexibility .. and what these different measures can help us understand about our capacity to adjust to changing contexts.
Week 1: The Neural Valley of Learning and Growth
Week 3: The Neuroscience of Why Change is so Hard
And when you join either the Digital or Live Academy, you also receive access to all of my 2026 courses.
