{"id":37222,"date":"2024-04-04T16:14:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T23:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37222"},"modified":"2024-04-05T10:14:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T17:14:20","slug":"unlocking-brain-power-for-a-flourishing-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/unlocking-brain-power-for-a-flourishing-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlocking Brain Power for a Flourishing Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was at a loss. At an impasse, actually.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had read most of David Rock\u2019s <\/span>Your Brain at Work<\/span><\/i> over the last couple of days. I could see lots of connections to my NPO project. But when it came to starting a blog article with a story about this book I was stuck.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I got up yesterday morning, after some unexpected scheduling shifts, I got into the shower later than usual and stood there letting the water run over my head with my eyes shut. I started thinking about all the things I needed to get done during the day. I was going to do task B first because it would take a long time and it was essential to get it done right away.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then I realized that task A, writing this article, also had an urgent deadline. So without at first realizing I was doing it, I set some priorities before my brain got too tired; I decided to focus on getting this article done first. (Since, as you\u2019ll notice, I didn\u2019t get this posted yesterday, I had to reassess my priorities throughout the day.)<\/span><\/p>\n

I was still at an impasse though so I thought, \u201cMaybe I should use some of the strategies in the book to help me get started on this new blog article.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So I relaxed my body, took a couple of slow breaths, noticed the feeling of the warm water on my skin, and unfocused my mind from the task at hand. Suddenly, the impasse disappeared! And I ended up with the start of the article you are reading right now. My conclusion? This stuff works.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found that I could inhibit old stories and patterns to allow a new insight to get me started. If, as David Rock suggests, I take most of the actors \u201coff the stage\u201d, the important information can become clearer. Not only that, but the creeping anxiety about my long to-do list was blocking my creativity. When I relaxed and allowed information from all my senses onto the stage, creativity returned. It helped me make connections from the information in Rock\u2019s book to my NPO.<\/span><\/p>\n

My NPO is about how self-awareness is a critical aspect of human flourishing. The opposite of flourishing\u2013feeling overwhelmed, overly-busy (hmmm\u2026 I think I see someone like me waving in the mirror), and burned out\u2013is more than just frustrating. Feeling overwhelmed and burned out in one area of life affects every other aspect of life. Illustrating the difference it makes to feel like you are flourishing\/happy vs. burned out, Rock writes, \u201cHappy people perceive a wider range of data, solve more problems, and come up with more new ideas for actions to take in a situation.\u201d [1]\u00a0 This is just the beginning of why it is important to aim for a flourishing life.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how does one move from feeling burned out to feeling happy? Even better, how does one move toward living a truly flourishing life?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Flourishing Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

While each individual\u2019s situation and context are unique, there are some common elements that contribute to whether one is flourishing or languishing. One of the greatest contributors to burnout is trying to meet other people\u2019s expectations. Often these expectations concern how available you are and how quickly you respond to other people\u2019s inquiries. In <\/span>Rest in the Storm<\/span><\/i>, Kirk Byron Jones points out that we can imitate Jesus. \u201c<\/span>He always seemed to be in control of the pace of his response to life. <\/span><\/i>He seemed to have a spiritual speedometer inside of him that did not allow him to move at a frantic, rash speed. He moved with deliberation and passion, which was all too apparent even in the most demanding of situations.\u201d [2] Jones uses the examples of Jesus sleeping in the boat during the storm and getting to dying Lazarus on his own time schedule. There are many things in life over which we have no control. Slowing the pace of our responses can help reduce people’s expectations and the stress we feel when we don’t meet them immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rock explains, \u201cExpectations are also central in the creation of upward and downward spirals in the brain. They can take you to the peak of performance, or to the depths of despair. Maintaining the right expectations in life may be central for maintaining a general feeling of happiness and well-being.\u201d [3] Whether it\u2019s other people\u2019s expectations of you, or your own of yourself, managing how you respond to expectations can be life-changing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rock also talks about the importance of paying attention to your \u201cdirector\u201d which he says is related to the idea of mindfulness (\u201cthe idea of living \u2018in the present,\u2019 of being aware of experience as it occurs in real time, and accepting what you see\u201d [4]). He adds, \u201cKnowledge of your brain is one thing, but you also need to be aware of what your brain is doing at any moment for any knowledge to be useful\u2026 The awareness of signals coming from inside of you\u2026[is called] <\/span>interoception<\/span><\/i>.\u201d [5] Rock recommends learning to pay attention to your director because it has \u201csensory information about your \u2018self\u2019: information about your thoughts and feelings, emotions, and internal states.\u201d [6]<\/span><\/p>\n

This is exactly the sort of thing I\u2019m working on in my NPO. I believe that to live a flourishing life, you need to become adept at noticing your inner world\u2013your thoughts and feelings\u2013so you can intentionally choose how you interact with people around you, and respond calmly to potentially stressful situations. Too many people coast or float through life, completely unaware that they have the freedom to affect their happiness simply by becoming aware of their inner world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving out of enemy mode when status is threatened<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most eye-opening examples of this is described in Jim Wilder\u2019s book, <\/span>Escaping Enemy Mode<\/span><\/i>. \u201cAccording to their founder, Christians should be distinguished by their ability and eagerness to form good relationships with people who act like enemies. \u2018Love your enemies,\u2019 Jesus said\u201d… Enemy mode produces relational blindness and keeps us from seeing people as fellow humans with value.\u201d [7]<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilder explains that enemy mode is when we react to another person, unconsciously thinking of them as a threat. We don’t feel a relational connection to the other person. It’s as if they are an \u201cit\u201d, not even a fellow human. \u201cAn uneasy tension develops when relational connection signals are being missed, ignored, mistrusted, or feared\u2026 Enemy mode starts with the feeling that someone is not on our side.\u201d [8] Rock reflects this same idea in the SCARF model for change with the S – people’s fears about the threat of losing status[9]. Combining these concepts from these two authors it becomes clear that as leaders–as human beings on planet Earth–we need to slow down before our brains perceive the threat that someone else is an enemy, trying to take a higher status.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we recognize the Self through our Director we can stop, breathe, and slow down. We can remember that the other person is not an enemy. By paying attention to our inner world and using some of the brain-based strategies Rock, Wilder, Dan Siegel, Martin Seligman, and others recommend, we can \u201cmake our brain\u2019s processes more explicit and, as a result, gain more veto power over dealing with too much information, too many demands on our time, [and] too many distractions.\u201d [10]<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

======<\/p>\n

1 –\u00a0 David Rock,\u00a0Your Brain at Work; Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long.<\/em> (New York: Harper Business, 2020),\u00a0 148.<\/span><\/p>\n

2 – Kirk Byron Jones,\u00a0Rest in the Storm; Self-care Strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers<\/em>. (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2021), \u00a052.<\/span><\/p>\n

3 – Rock, 141.<\/span><\/p>\n

4 – Rock, 89-90.<\/span><\/p>\n

5 – Rock, 90.<\/span><\/p>\n

6 – Rock, 95.<\/span><\/p>\n

7 – Jim Wilder and Ray Woolridge,\u00a0Escaping Enemy Mode; How Our Brains Unite or Divide Us<\/em>. (Chicago: Northfield Publishing, 2022), 23.<\/span><\/p>\n

8 – Wilder, 48-49.<\/span><\/p>\n

9 – Rock, 198.<\/p>\n

10 – Rock, 56.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was at a loss. At an impasse, actually. I had read most of David Rock\u2019s Your Brain at Work over the last couple of days. I could see lots of connections to my NPO project. But when it came to starting a blog article with a story about this book I was stuck. When […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"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":[2681,2967],"class_list":["post-37222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-rock","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37222","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\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37222"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37242,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37222\/revisions\/37242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}