ARTICLES + PODCAST EPISODES
Season 3 Episode 8 – Warriors Heart: Courage, Connection and Healing
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“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ― Shannon L. Alder Listen on Blubrry Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify How we distract ourselves…
New podcast tomorrow!
“What is success? To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to…
Outdoors
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” -Albert Einstein Our plan to take a day trip to the mountains yesterday changed due to various circumstances. I was still able to go on a nice…
Content coming soon
Taking the day off computers and phone to head to the mountains for the day. Although I am still very immersed in technology, I try to look for inspiration to continue to build towards my vision of a lifestyle…
Perceived Ability to Cope
As I was preparing and editing my interview with Kelly Harris of Warriors Heart for my upcoming podcast episode, a theme emerged: ‘perceived ability to cope’. It’s a concept that is very similar to the idea of agency and…
Mechanism of Healing
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” ― Kahlil Gibran Just as in a physical injury, when we embark on a healing journey, we take into account the…
Mechanism of Injury
In my wilderness first responder training this past weekend, an important task during various emergency scenarios was to figure out the Mechanism of Injury (MOI). Understanding how a person got hurt was important for figuring out further steps for assessing…
Neurobiology of Affiliation
As I began re-writing chapter 5 of my book, I wanted to share some highlights of a few studies. The neurobiology of affiliation – which is tied to interactive regulation – has 2 key components: Biobehavioral Synchrony…
It’s not the critic who counts…
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the…
Signal to Noise Ratio
A signal-to-noise ratio tells us about the level of signal power compared to the level of noise power. Signal refers to useful information – meaning frequencies and vibrations that are being transmitted that we ‘want’ to detect because…
Self and Service
The field of psychology and human behavior that emerged out of different schools (the three Viennese schools of psychotherapy, beginning with Freud, then Adler, then Frankl) reveals an evolution from what we can see as humans mature from self-serving…
Story-Telling
One of my favorite ways to learn about people and the world is through stories. We take story-telling for granted in the fast-paced, visual-imagery dominated world of technology. Stories I’ve been listening to recently have really shown me how…
Expedition
The word ‘expedition’ came out of my mouth the other day as I was explaining to a friend that I am attending wilderness first responder training. I didn’t even really know quite what the word meant, but as soon…
Heart-Brain Connections
The way forward is found on a path through the wilderness of the head and heart—reason and emotion. Thinking, knowing, understanding. Laurence Gonzales To understand our ability to thrive, adapt, survive and flourish, a deeper of understanding of our…
Self-Leadership and Collective Well-Being
“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the…
Adding Awareness in 2023
“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” – Albert Einstein The idea of preparation is one of the key concepts I’m learning about in partner-based teaching, leadership and facilitation. … not just preparing to succeed but also…
Resilience-by-affiliation
“Never underestimate the empowering effect of human connection. All you need is that one person, who understands you completely, believes in you and makes you feel loved for what you are, to enable you – to unfold the miraculous…
Invisible Wounds
There are neurophysiological effects from witnessing and experiencing events that violate systems embedded within us. These systems are designed to keep us safe and make us care deeply for others. Past events interact with our socio-neurobiology, and can get suppressed,…
Power and Purpose
“A change in purpose changes a system profoundly, even if every element and interconnection remains the same.” ― Donella H. Meadows Your Mind-Brain-Body is more powerful than you’ve been ‘taught’ to think. That was the key message…
Stories
One of my favorite parts of the holidays so far has been listening to people tell stories. It is amazing how much we can learn as we transport ourselves back in time and hear what someone experienced, the details…
Mindset and Change
Do you truly believe that growth is possible? That you have the ability to find new ways through whatever it is you’re going through? That one small shift of mindset is the first, critical starting point. Without that shift,…
Connection
Posted this earlier and took it down – but realizing I need to allow myself to put this out there no matter what because it’s what’s true to me and my heart… When we have a chance to create…
Gratitude…
Thank you to everyone for the beautiful words of support and encouragement I just received from so many people… I was not expecting that! As you all know, I do my best to try to work with what life…
Progress and discomfort
…there is a lot of trial and error involved as I make mistakes and then try to learn and evolve from them as much as I can. It’s not a linear process. It’s ups and downs, starts and stops. Putting…
Transitions
Transitions have generally been pretty easy for me for some reason. Except this one. Normally when I move, I do it with the goal of settling there for a while. But due to various reasons (including not giving up on…
System Optimization
Humans are literally, neurophysiologically, ‘better together’ than alone Attuned, problem-solving teams, partnerships and family units optimize our individual and collective functioning. Affiliative neuroscience shows us that self-attunement, other-attunement and a common-higher purpose are key to optimizing our mental health,…
Signals and Stories
Have you ever had the experience of feeling like someone really ‘gets you’? This can take various forms – like being able to share what’s on our mind and the other person holding space for us to explain. It…
An Evening with Me, Neuroscience, Story-Telling and Connection
“The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to tell.” – Ben Okri, poet and novelist One of my favorite things to do…
Seeking neurochemicals
How we regulate ourselves and deal with social danger, rejection, status, comparison, the need for acceptance are tied to neurochemicals. These neurochemicals are part of who we are and drive many of our behaviors- including constantly seeking external…
Season 3 Episode 7 – Danger, Attachment and Navigating our Neurochemicals with Loretta Breuning
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Danger – and how it is dealt with – is the central theme of attachment – and therefore human interaction. Who we turn to and who we have around us during times of uncertainty and threat affect our abilities for information processing and preparing and responding to future events.
The concept of how we regulate ourselves and with others, and how we deal with social danger, rejection, status, comparison, the need for acceptance, and how we diversify our abilities to navigate our neurochemicals are topics we cover in this Episode of the Mindset Neuroscience Podcast, where I interview Loretta Breuning of the Inner Mammal Institute.
In our interview, we explore:
-The neurochemicals associated with how it feels to have social support – and how this differs from social dominance
-The fluctuations of neurochemicals, feelings and behaviors tied to threat, rejection, and constantly seeking external rewards and short-term gratification
-Being more realistic about the ups and downs of all of our neurochemical states, rather than believing we should feel good all the time.
-The biological purposes to the fluctuations and varieties of states we experience and why it’s helpful for us to understand this so we can get better a-t making choices that are good for our mental and physical health
-The life-threatening feelings people experience when it comes to social rejection, and social comparison
-How our brain and body store information about threats, and how this can significantly influence our current reactions to people
-The idea of ‘dopamine droop’ and our constant urge to seek reward and avoid discomfort
“We have inherited a brain that compares itself to others to promote its survival. It creates has a sense of urgency about how it measures up. If you don’t know you are creating this feeling yourself, you think the world is doing it to you. You feel bitter, resentful, and victimized. Instead, you can accept that the people around you are mammals, and you are a mammal too.” -Loretta Breuning, Inner Mammal Institute
Self-Talk
What is your self-talk? Self talk is an internal working model. It’s the activity of brain circuits that are well-used and repeated. Because you were around a small set of people during critical years of brain development, you…
Social behaviors and information processing
After spending a day with people’s brainwaves yesterday, I was about to wrap up for the evening and was overcome with the sense that it was time to put up another episode so I recorded another portion of one…
Work to do
Thought I was figuring stuff out… realizing I have sooo much work still to do. Hoping that being near family for a couple months and helping out my mom will help me in my own process of healing as…
Science of Connection – Guest Interview
“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms Don’t know about you.. but I feel the world needs more opportunities, programs and gatherings where our intention…
Healing
“In one lifetime we can be reborn many times” -yung pueblo A true teacher of healing, resilience and transformation is someone who is able to turn inwards to heal and reflect on themselves, and take compassionate and sincere accountability…
Voice and Vibration
“The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play.” -Richard Strauss The vibrations of your voice affect the world around you. Every letter, every sound of your voice is…
Our Statistical Brain
“We spend our life monitoring our behavior as well as that of others, and our statistical brain constantly draws inferences about what it observes, literally “making up its mind” as it proceeds. Learning who we are is a statistical deduction…
Season 2 Ep 6: Love, Purpose and Relational Realities
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“Love is at once an affirmation and a transcendence of who we are.” ― Esther Perel “And what is true for human beings is true for every living thing: all organisms require alternating periods of growth and equilibrium. Any person…
Seasons
Every season has its benefits… seasons of the earth and the seasons of our life. The winter (at least where i’m from) leads to sense of quieting, deadening, retreating… but it’s not wasted time… it’s meant to prepare for…
The hedgehog’s dilemma
German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer used the term the ‘hedgehog’s dilemma’ as a metaphor about the challenges of human intimacy. Although hedgehogs may seek to move closer to one another, they cannot avoid hurting each other with their protective spines….
VIDEOS
Neuroscience of Self-Regulation: 5 Ways to Master Your Nervous System
The spectrum of human behavior we see as ranging from inspirational to irritating to horrific are tied to two key mechanisms Self-regulatory systems: neural and behavioral resources that we are NOT born with and must have attachment-based experiences in order…
Neuroscience of Attachment: how to have more intimacy and independence in our adult relationships
As children, we all seek a secure base. The harbor we know we can return to and rely on, no matter how upset or distressed or emotionally messy we get. As children, it’s not our job to be a secure…
Why growth mindset is a neuroscience-informed mindset
Growth mindset is more neurologically accurate than fixed mindset. A growth mindset reflects the idea that we can build and evolve our abilities and intelligence. A fixed mindset is the idea that we have ‘fixed’ amounts of intelligence and…
How to slow down anxious thinking using neuroscience
Anxious thinking is associated with fast brainwaves. The more relaxed you are, the slower your brainwave activity. In this video I show you how to slow your brainwaves so you can access a more relaxed state. I also go into:…
3 powerful mindset shifts to unleash human potential
“Paradigm: the mindset out of which the system – its goals, structures, rules, delays and parameters – arises.” -Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems The idea of presenting one thing next to another in order to see both more clearly is…
How to stop overreacting – Part 2 of 2
What does it mean to react? An important aspect of the word reaction is ‘re’ – which means that it happens again. To re-act is to act again and again in a similar way. In the psychotherapy…
My interview at the Big Brain Summit
In this interview, we focus on why learning new ways of being, thinking and reacting can cause discomfort. I share my two ‘origin stories’ of how I got into the world of neuroplasticity and neuroscience research, and my discoveries of…