{"id":37219,"date":"2024-04-04T13:28:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T20:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37219"},"modified":"2024-04-04T13:28:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T20:28:30","slug":"lookin-for-fun-and-feeling-groovy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/lookin-for-fun-and-feeling-groovy\/","title":{"rendered":"Lookin’ for Fun and Feeling Groovy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSlow down, you move too fast<\/em>
\nYou got to make the morning last<\/em>
\nJust kicking down the cobble stones<\/em>
\nLooking for fun and feelin’ groovy\u201d<\/em> (The 59th<\/sup> street by Simon and Garfunkel)<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I decided to enroll in a doctoral program was because I wanted to learn the discipline of writing. As a pastor for the past 15 years, I spend a lot of time reading and thinking and being creative, but then preaching, not writing, as a way to communicate my thoughts about what I\u2019m reading and thinking for the benefit of others. Admittedly, I\u2019ve struggled with finding a rhythm and discipline of writing in this first semester, from finding the right day and the right time, the right location, the right motivation. My pre-frontal cortex is \u201cfussy\u201d as Rock says (61), and it\u2019s frustrating me.<\/p>\n

Currently, I\u2019m sitting in a vision care office waiting for my son to complete an eye exam while I write this post on the day that it is due. It\u2019s not going well.<\/p>\n

After reading Dr. David Rock\u2019s Book, \u201cYour Brain at Work\u201d it is becoming obvious why this is a challenge. I\u2019m in a new and unknown environment with plenty of distractions. There are other people here in the waiting room talking, looking at glasses, walking by, each movement and sound an opportunity, then an interruption to my writing, while I\u2019m invited back to talk with my son\u2019s eye doctor. As this happened I realized this theory comes to play in our induvial lives every single day. My pre-frontal cortex, the stage, as Rock calls it, is working too hard on tasks that I don\u2019t need it to be working on in order it to work on writing this blog post.<\/p>\n

Rock\u2019s book has been tremendously helpful this week in better understanding myself, and the people around me. It has given language to some of the processes that go on every single day, as well as confirmation and a path forward in further training our brains to become the best selves that God has created us to be. As Rock says, \u201cthis whole book is about helping you develop explicit language maps with the prefrontal cortex for experience that until now have occurred only implicitly.” <\/em>(56)<\/p>\n

We live in a distracted world of a multitude of things that are constantly vying for the attention of our pre-frontal cortex. Our brains are constantly being overwhelmed to process large data sets of information from texts, emails, people around us and the environments we place ourselves in that it can be difficult to do any sort of meaningful work in the course of day. Couple that with the fact that our brains seem to be wired for self-preservation and doing the least amount of work possible. Rock says that \u201cwe all often thinking about what\u2019s easy to think about, rather than what\u2019s right to think about.\u201d (28) Its comforting and challenging, that meaningful thinking, and writing, like this course, is challenging us to do is happening at all.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m realizing, thanks to Rock\u2019s book, is that I\u2019m learning how to find the \u201cflow\u201d of writing-that groovy feeling where my pre-frontal cortex is locked in on my desired task of writing well and that I am limiting and inhibiting external and internal distractions in order to become a better, and more consistent writer.<\/p>\n

Rather than attempting to try and make my brain, which isn\u2019t wired, to focus on critical and creative thinking for hours at a time. I am learning some of the basics of Rock\u2019s book in finding the flow for my doctoral studies. Here are a few tips for \u201cfeeling groovy\u201d:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Minimize Distractions<\/strong>: As we are inundated with interruptions and distractions, this dual-task interference limits our ability for creative and critical thinking. \u201cIf accuracy is important, don\u2019t divide your attention.\u201d (Rock, 35) How can I be aware of external distractions like new people or sounds, technology, or movement around me and minimize those when I am trying to do focused work. I also need to be aware of internal distractions like stress, other thoughts or ideas that might seem easier then the work I\u2019m currently doing or frustrations and fatigue that come (like they are right now) as I try to gut through this blog post. How can I offload some of those internal distractions so that I don\u2019t derail my opportunity for success?<\/li>\n
  2. Push through initial resistance:<\/strong> Because of constant distractions and fatigue of the pre-frontal cortex due to stress or a high \u2018allostatic load\u2019 I have to be aware that I will have an initial resistance to thinking about or doing harder tasks. Staying focused and persevering through the initial resistance will not only help me stay on task, but will re-wire my brain to be more robust in the future. The \u2018Director\u2019 of Mindfulness is helpful here. Embracing the limits of what I can do and mono-tasking in the moment can be crucial tools in learning this new advanced task of consistent writing<\/li>\n
  3. Remember and Renovate:<\/strong> Finally, Rock helped me realize that the stress of a doctoral program, its assignments and expectations, does not have to cause distress but instead can be converted into eustress. He says, \u201csuccessful people learn to harness deep stress and turn it into eustress<\/em>, thus enhancing prefrontal cortex functioning.\u201d (Rock, 115) I\u2019m still working my way through how to do this effectively but remembering that this stress that I am feeling about my doctoral studies is stress that I chose and that will result in me becoming a better leader for the people and purpose I\u2019ve been called to, helps me to convert this stress into positive stress, which enables me to persevere. This practice, when done multiple times, will hopefully Renovate my brain into a healthier functioning system. These values are things I can constantly call to mind and develop a new pattern for responding to stress in a positive way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This is a book I want to come back to this summer, because “Neuro Leadership” is becoming for me a very interesting field to explore. It also has implications for my NPO and study on Sabbath Keeping (which is a great time for mindfulness in various forms). But for now, I\u2019m grateful that I\u2019ve hit my word count and persevered through this assignment, hopefully cultivating more opportunities for \u201cfeelin’ groovy\u201d in the future.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cSlow down, you move too fast You got to make the morning last Just kicking down the cobble stones Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy\u201d (The 59th street by Simon and Garfunkel) One of the reasons I decided to enroll in a doctoral program was because I wanted to learn the discipline of writing. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37220,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37219\/revisions\/37220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}