I have always been fascinated by the complexities of our central nervous system. As part of an occupational therapists' education numerous hours are dedicated to understanding the relationship between the brain and motor, visual, perceptual and cognitive function. As a student I recall presenting an in-service on the olfactory system and the limbic lobe, a primitive brain center which is responsible for the manner in which familiar smells like apple pie, vanilla, cinnamon may trigger an associated reaction of calmness, awareness or even excitability. I used this knowledge to quickly sell our first home in Atlanta by boiling nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and allowing the scent to linger in our house. Many home buyers commented on the pleasant scent and their interest in the home was intensified by their unsuspecting primitive reflexes! This trick may not work as readily in today's economy however appealing to one's pleasure centers will likely always lend an advantage.
My friend, Kate Hafeman, is a wellness coach and offers a monthly email newsletter. I appreciated her approach today to positive thinking as being developed and driven by our brain center. While attending the University of Florida, our neurology teacher encouraged us to take brisk walks before tests to heighten activity within the reticular activating system improving focus, memory, and alertness; just another reason to exercise! Kate highlights how to use this important group of cells to improve our daily life. I am happy to share it with you all. Thank you Kate for this great information!
Conscious Living for Higher Levels of Health
Leaning Towers of Thoughts
September 2010
Monthly Reflections by Life Coach Kate Hafeman
At the base of our brain are a group of cells called the Reticular Activating System – RAS. Their job description involves, first, turning on our memory network. Second, they are responsible for shining a flashlight on anything that is important within the memory network which should be brought to our conscious attention. This system is activated, for example, after you buy a new car (new dog, new piece technology etc.) and “suddenly” you notice and see this car everywhere you go.
People who tend to see their world or their glass half FULL as opposed to half EMPTY have learned to use the RAS to help them focus their attention on the positive aspects in their wor ld, allowing for a happier outlook. Those optimists whom you admire in your life have engaged and strengthened their RAS like an athlete improves his muscles. This is something all of us can consciously choose to be more aware of. But it isn’t just as easy as being aware of the positive. We also have to be aware of our “negativity bias.”
Our brains are wired with a “negativity bias” as an evolutionary, protective-mechanism to keep us alive in potentially dangerous encounters with lions, tigers and bears. It is this “bias” that remembers the one scary bush incident that we had 10 thousand years ago with a lion and applies this to every future foliage look-alike as a harbor of lions or other potentially life threatening encounters. Our negativity bias has served us well as a protective mechanism in terms of our survival. It is this same “negativity bias”, however, that also remember s the one negative comment card and forgets the 99 comment cards that rated your performance as “excellent”.
Most of us, however, don’t just remember the one negative comment. We begin to take “remembering” to the next level. Soon we start ruminating on this one negative comment and then we might begin to sprinkle it with a dose of obsessing and if it really gets out of control we start to perseverate. By the time this negative comment cooks itself into a full course of perseverating, it’s like a locked up computer that you can’t shut down, not to mention that it isn’t usually a very attractive look on most people!
The point of this, is that while were perseverating on this one criticism, we completely ignored and quite frankly, dishonored the 99 genuine heart-felt glowing reviews.
To purposefully engage our Reticular Activating System, we need to decide to look for the positive. ;
Once you decide to notice the positive, make sure that you take a moment to recognize and “enjoy” this by filtering it through all of your senses. This helps to anchor the habit of “feeding our happiness” or a positive outlook as a whole body experience. Granted life isn’t all Happy Happy Joy Joy! However, people who score well on optimism scales have learned to take a challenging situation with plenty of negative facets and then find some equally true pieces of the situation which cast a positive thought or a thought that makes you feel better about the situation.
You mustn’t stop here though! You can’t just try to find a thought that makes you feel better about the situation. What you need to do then, is to “lean into” the positive. This doesn’t mean deny the negative, only that you should “lean” into the positive and pay more attention to the p ositive part of the truth. Lean into the positive. This isn’t dismissing or denying any of the emotions, because all emotions serve a purpose. Choosing to lean into the equally true - positive part of the situation is to develop the habit of seeing through the lens of an optimist.
The glass is equally full as it is equally empty. Both are true statements. We don’t want to deny the truths. Leaning towers of truths fill the paradoxes of our life as professionals, parents, athletes, and any of the other one hundred hats that we wear each day. The question is, which tower of truth do you choose to lean into?
• In what situations in your life are you more able to lean into the positive and model the glass-half -full in your outlook?
• In what situations do you tend to lean more into the pessimist, glass-half-empty outlook? Do you notice any patterns in these two lists?
&bu ll; Who are your optimist heroes?
• What situations can you practice “leaning into the positive”?
• When you have successfully “leaned into the positive” how does your body, mind and spirit feel afterwards? How does this feel different from sitting in the “negativity bias” side of the truth?
• What are your signs and symptoms that you have focused too long on the “half-empty” side of the truth?
• When should you lean into the “negativity bias”?
My friend, Kate Hafeman, is a wellness coach and offers a monthly email newsletter. I appreciated her approach today to positive thinking as being developed and driven by our brain center. While attending the University of Florida, our neurology teacher encouraged us to take brisk walks before tests to heighten activity within the reticular activating system improving focus, memory, and alertness; just another reason to exercise! Kate highlights how to use this important group of cells to improve our daily life. I am happy to share it with you all. Thank you Kate for this great information!
Conscious Living for Higher Levels of Health
Leaning Towers of Thoughts
September 2010
Monthly Reflections by Life Coach Kate Hafeman
At the base of our brain are a group of cells called the Reticular Activating System – RAS. Their job description involves, first, turning on our memory network. Second, they are responsible for shining a flashlight on anything that is important within the memory network which should be brought to our conscious attention. This system is activated, for example, after you buy a new car (new dog, new piece technology etc.) and “suddenly” you notice and see this car everywhere you go.
People who tend to see their world or their glass half FULL as opposed to half EMPTY have learned to use the RAS to help them focus their attention on the positive aspects in their wor ld, allowing for a happier outlook. Those optimists whom you admire in your life have engaged and strengthened their RAS like an athlete improves his muscles. This is something all of us can consciously choose to be more aware of. But it isn’t just as easy as being aware of the positive. We also have to be aware of our “negativity bias.”
Our brains are wired with a “negativity bias” as an evolutionary, protective-mechanism to keep us alive in potentially dangerous encounters with lions, tigers and bears. It is this “bias” that remembers the one scary bush incident that we had 10 thousand years ago with a lion and applies this to every future foliage look-alike as a harbor of lions or other potentially life threatening encounters. Our negativity bias has served us well as a protective mechanism in terms of our survival. It is this same “negativity bias”, however, that also remember s the one negative comment card and forgets the 99 comment cards that rated your performance as “excellent”.
Most of us, however, don’t just remember the one negative comment. We begin to take “remembering” to the next level. Soon we start ruminating on this one negative comment and then we might begin to sprinkle it with a dose of obsessing and if it really gets out of control we start to perseverate. By the time this negative comment cooks itself into a full course of perseverating, it’s like a locked up computer that you can’t shut down, not to mention that it isn’t usually a very attractive look on most people!
The point of this, is that while were perseverating on this one criticism, we completely ignored and quite frankly, dishonored the 99 genuine heart-felt glowing reviews.
To purposefully engage our Reticular Activating System, we need to decide to look for the positive. ;
Once you decide to notice the positive, make sure that you take a moment to recognize and “enjoy” this by filtering it through all of your senses. This helps to anchor the habit of “feeding our happiness” or a positive outlook as a whole body experience. Granted life isn’t all Happy Happy Joy Joy! However, people who score well on optimism scales have learned to take a challenging situation with plenty of negative facets and then find some equally true pieces of the situation which cast a positive thought or a thought that makes you feel better about the situation.
You mustn’t stop here though! You can’t just try to find a thought that makes you feel better about the situation. What you need to do then, is to “lean into” the positive. This doesn’t mean deny the negative, only that you should “lean” into the positive and pay more attention to the p ositive part of the truth. Lean into the positive. This isn’t dismissing or denying any of the emotions, because all emotions serve a purpose. Choosing to lean into the equally true - positive part of the situation is to develop the habit of seeing through the lens of an optimist.
The glass is equally full as it is equally empty. Both are true statements. We don’t want to deny the truths. Leaning towers of truths fill the paradoxes of our life as professionals, parents, athletes, and any of the other one hundred hats that we wear each day. The question is, which tower of truth do you choose to lean into?
• In what situations in your life are you more able to lean into the positive and model the glass-half -full in your outlook?
• In what situations do you tend to lean more into the pessimist, glass-half-empty outlook? Do you notice any patterns in these two lists?
&bu ll; Who are your optimist heroes?
• What situations can you practice “leaning into the positive”?
• When you have successfully “leaned into the positive” how does your body, mind and spirit feel afterwards? How does this feel different from sitting in the “negativity bias” side of the truth?
• What are your signs and symptoms that you have focused too long on the “half-empty” side of the truth?
• When should you lean into the “negativity bias”?
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