By: Daron George on April 22, 2023
INTRODUCTION In “The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race,” authors Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long present a captivating exploration of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in motivation, reward, and the pursuit of novelty.…
By: Laura Fleetwood on April 21, 2023
For as long as humans have existed, personality has been studied. And yet a comprehensive understanding of what makes humans so different from each other has largely remained a mystery, especially when it comes to proving personality science. Daniel Nettle set out to solve this mystery in his 2007 book titled, Personality: What makes you…
By: Daron George on April 21, 2023
INTRODUCTION Effective leadership is more crucial than ever in today’s complex and rapidly evolving world. Tom Camacho’s insightful book, “Mining for Gold,” offers a fresh perspective on how to draw out the best in ourselves and those around us. Cutting through the complexity and challenges of leadership development, Camacho provides practical and effective tools to…
By: Shonell Dillon on April 20, 2023
Personality: What makes you the way that you are Dissociative identity disorder The DSM-5 states that dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder) is characterized by “switching” to alternate identities. You may feel the presence of two or more people talking or living inside your head, and you may feel as though you’re…
By: Shonell Dillon on April 20, 2023
The Body Keeps the Score If you are a social worker, business owner, youth recreation director, community advocate, mom, and grandmother you probably already know that “The body keeps the score”. The body is a tell-all that you need to rest, stop, and sit down. The body has a true way of communicating with us…
By: Daron George on April 20, 2023
“The Body Keeps the Score” is a seminal work that has significant implications for leadership in the context of trauma. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s insights into the physical and psychological effects of trauma, as well as effective interventions and treatment strategies, are highly relevant to leaders who seek to promote the health and well-being…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 20, 2023
The book Sway by Pragya Agarwal has some very timely application for the ways that our unconscious bias can create significant obstacles and issues in our interaction with each other and with society. He addresses a number of biases and shares stories about how they have real world implications. For this blog I want to…
By: Caleb Lu on April 20, 2023
Book Summary In his book, The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk argues that trauma is not just a psychological problem, but also a physical one. When we experience trauma, our brains and bodies go into “fight-or-flight” mode.[1] This is a natural survival response that helps us to cope with danger. However, if…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 20, 2023
Ask Questions Learn More In the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling he passionately instructs his readers to consider new ways of thinking or certainly ways to avoid thinking. Rosling says “This book is my very last battle in my lifelong mission to fight devastating global ignorance. It is my last attempt to make an impact…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 20, 2023
Discover Your Label There seems to be a constant desire to understand one’s own personality or the personalities of those we interact with. The drive to understand what makes each other tick, why we would act in such a way, what motivates us to keep moving through this life has certainly intensified over time. There…
By: Audrey Robinson on April 20, 2023
My goal in writing this essay is to provide a different lens on unresolved posttraumatic experiences and how these experiences are a lurking crisis in our society. The first section is a high-level overview of Van Der Kolk’s book. The following section is a personal account of a lived traumatic experience. And lastly, is a…
By: Tonette Kellett on April 19, 2023
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk teaches the reader how to get through a traumatic past and the difficulties that result from that past. In reading this book, I noted four lessons that I would like to briefly discuss, and then…
By: Alana Hayes on April 18, 2023
“We must learn how to turn off our intense reactions and regain control of ourselves so that we can process painful memories without being overwhelmed.” (1) Many of us have been through trauma in our lives, whether as a result of an accident, a crisis, or a traumatic encounter. So what happens once the trauma…
By: Becca Hald on April 17, 2023
In his bestselling book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, the author discusses the impact of trauma on the body. His groundbreaking research details the impact of trauma on the body. He writes, Trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way mind and brain manage perceptions.…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 17, 2023
Traumatic Experiences Leave Traces Psychiatrist, Bessel van Der Kolk, in his book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, writes that in order to successfully treat psychological trauma, clinicians must consider the bodily symptoms experienced by the traumatized person.[1] Van der Kolk notes that though human beings are…
By: Greg McMullen on April 17, 2023
Being a pastor can be difficult at times, especially leading a multicultural church. It seems I am always offending a different culture and beliefs each month. Mentioning such words as Easter Egg Hunt, WHO, Economics, Enneagram, Vaccine, a person or culture gets offended and leaves. In all of this, I feel as if I have…
By: David Beavis on April 17, 2023
In a comedic, yet troubling scene in Pixar’s Inside Out the main character, Joy, who is named for the emotion she represents in the psyche of her human, Riley, knocks over several boxes while riding a train. Some of the boxes were labeled “facts” and the others were labeled “opinions.” After knocking over the boxes,…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 16, 2023
Abandoned at a hospital as a newborn baby, by a 25 year old mother who had a 5 year old son already and could not bear to keep another child, then placed into foster care until a plan could be made… This is how the story of my life began. Nameless, I spent time with…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 16, 2023
The year 2020 changed so much about our current world and the way we see the world and even exist in the world. The toilet paper shortage of the lockdown is one that many of us will remember for a lifetime and in years from not will still be the memes the bring both laughter…
By: Chad McSwain on April 16, 2023
What can truly make us happy or what is the connection between personality and happiness? These were some of the thoughts as I read, Personality: What Make You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle. Interestedly, Nettle had the same idea, as he also wrote a book on happiness[1], concluding that happiness is the evolutionary…
