Brain Leaders and Learners » overwhelmed or overjoyed

Holiday Blues for Business Boom

eweber — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:06:42 +0000

Ever notice how Thanksgiving and Christmas tend to bring out blues in some and blessings in others? Or how lonely people see vast spaces between themselves and others – even at festive holiday tables?

First glances show people blessed with close family and friends feel blessed over holidays while those alone feel abandoned. Not so. Loneliness replays for some yearly, in spite of holiday situations. A stored sense of misery, or fears of lost opportunity may well be stored in your amygdala, and that rerun reaction explains feelings of isolation for some while others cherish holiday cheer.

Researchers John Cacioppo and others may help explain why some people shop til their bank accounts drop – but still feel isolated at family feasts. New answers show why holiday blues for some becomes business boom for others, and could also help you free up more holiday happiness. How so?

Pleasure centers of lonely people light up with images of objects faster than with images of other people.
Lonely people tend to increase their sense of alienation by not seeking out interactions with others, as they don’t see these will satisfy.

Scrooge with loads of money and no friends likely says it best. Not surprisingly, imaging of a lonely person’s brain also showed less activity in areas of the brain that understand other’s views or needs, and so further distance themselves from social bonding.

Loneliness is bad for your health

While still unsure if loneliness comes more from your gene pool or from social experiences, researchers do agree on toxic outcomes. Feelings of isolation often lead to serious cases depression, obesity, high blood pressure, heart problems, and many stress related illnesses.

Those who remain alone in live tend to die younger and enjoy less quality of life in senior years. Mother Teresa described feelings of being unwanted as “the most terrible poverty.”

If loneliness is bad for your health, and if feelings of isolation are often choices, is it also true that people choose health problems that come from a sense of abandonment? That answer is less evident in the research and yet will likely be quite clear if you engage intrapersonal intelligence and reflect of how we change and grow mentally.

Rewire for holiday well being

With a few mental adjustments, that business boom need not come at personal expense this holiday season. Fortunately, you possess a unique ability to rewire negative emotions stored in your amygdala – from feeling isolated and bitter - to fully expecting fun with others in this holiday season. How so?

Act now on what you’d value in your future. Research shows how actions literally reshape your brain for more of what you expect.

Smile, regardless of how you feel, for example, and your brain’s plasticity changes in your favor. The action triggers your brain to create new neuron pathways toward a happier reality.

Give even a small gift of encouragement or support, without conditions, and in spite of personal loss. In response, your brain raises levels of serotonin chemicals for sustainable well being.

Mimic the actions of a person you most admire for their holiday spirit, and your brain rewires dendrite brain cells for more of the same admirable spirit in you. Develop a new intelligence at the same time, and your brain rewires itself for further growth in that area.

Laugh, especially at yourself, and not only will others laugh with you, but your brain will create enzymes for clear thinking, better learning and adventures brimming over with possibilities in spite of turbulent times.

Discover one new insight by converting a rut into a renewed reality you’d like others to see in you. Phone one person you dislike today and invite that person to lunch to find out what’s working well in life. Curiosity and this call moves your brain’s basal ganglia from the rut of loathing into newly created possibilities lived from within your working memory.

Support one person who thinks on the opposing side of your own holiday views, and watch how your concrete defense of that person will leave you mentally able to override your brain’s default for ruts that held you back in past. The action shows you new possibilities where you may have slipped into limiting problems in past.

Can you see how brain based recommendations here carry you beyond hopeful or positive thinking? Do a few simple behaviors, and your brain does the rest for you.

Use any one of the above brainpower tools by simply doing a related act and you’ll spark brain cell regeneration for more satisfaction over any holiday. Or create a brain power tool of your own and then use it, in spite of troubled times. Scientifically speaking, these tips come from neurogenesis research on how adult brains can grow new cells or regenerate old ones.

Worth a try to communicate colors where you once showed only sorrow for a festive event?

Expect Calm Under Pressure?

eweber — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:21:53 +0000

Experts tell us that when the going gets rough – brain chemicals get going. My question is, Do they move you into calm or chaos? If you’ve ever felt your amygdala heat up when a person upsets you – or if you’ve basked in inspiration of genuine encouragement, you also know a brain’s hormonal force. Far fewer people, however, take advantage of brainpower tools to choose between calm or pressured reactions that impact their outcomes for better or worse. Do you blame others or grow stronger in difficult situations?

Surprisingly, it’s not so much the pressure or problem that pummels you, as it’s your response – or tone skills you use – to the pounding that decides what fate will follow. Depending on chemicals you carry out of the gates, you’ll either create calm or chaos within your brain’s chemical and electrical networks. Solutions in the face of pressures come faster when we choose calm, and then act out choices for well being and resolutions. Notice I avoid references to how you feel here. Chemical or electrical chaos comes when you choose to eat for comfort, panic and run from fears while pressures mount, or punch back. It boils down to a frantic or focus week. Have you seen recent research on the dangers of stress?

Let’s say you are down in the dumps because you’re sinking under financial pressures or caught in credit card debt. Add to that people make demands and each challenge seems to require more money, packing new punches for more pressure. Been there? Unbelievably, you have choices, impossible as it seems when bombarded by pressures flying at you like bats in a dark cave.

Cortisol reaction adds stress – You worsen chances to win, when you choose to worry, avoid extra bills that come in since you cannot pay them anyway, run scarred and vent but avoid acting on solutions, because there’s little you feel you can do under the cortisol generated by these approaches.

Serotonin reaction adds calm - You add well being to calm whenever you decide that you are going to try a few solutions to pay off credit cards. For instance, you might download Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan free on Oprah.com, search for answers that specialists recommend, and then act on one solution that most resonates. Or you might take a trusted financial expert to lunch and ask for suggestions to get you started. Any of these acts will likely add to serotonin generated by a positive approach toward doable solutions.

What choice will guide your finances in the rocky year ahead. I find myself securing my choices for calm, as I write this blog. You?

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Smart skill 22 = Expect Neuron Pathways to Dynamic Solutions
Smart skill 23 = Expect Peace in Brain Based Bits
Smart skill 24 = Expect to Bypass Bullies Where you Work
Smart skill 25 = Expect Vision to Fuse Racial Differences
Smart skill 26 = Expect Calm Under Pressure
Smart skill 27 = Expect Brain Benefits from Humor
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Overjoyed or Overwhelmed this Christmas?

eweber — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:26:44 +0000

Job loss, economic woes. Why do tough times stir despair in some and courage in others, especially during holidays like Christmas? When people feel life hitting back – below the belt, why do some rise and some fall?

I’d been inspired recently in discussions on this dilemma, with Robyn, Eva, Greg, Pamir, Jeannie, Lissa, Janet and Dean. Great ideas from smart leaders whose blogs nudge us deeper into keys for Christmas contentment. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah or others, key principles for contentment come hardwired into your brain. What’s your take?

Listen to this year’s Christmas stories out there, and you’ll hear endless tales of overwhelmed and overjoyed polar opposites in people’s response to holiday stress. Surprisingly, overwhelmed people sometimes sport bigger bank accounts, better health – even positive attitudes, or finer intentions. Have you seen it too? Equally surprising, is the fact that some people in the overjoyed camp often face life’s bigger challenges. Their 401K nest eggs melt into 101 ashes, health care drops off their firm’s benefit package just when they need it most. You can likely name endless other direct hits from our troubled economy.

Research shows how human brains equip people to fill holidays with cheer – in spite of debris that washes up to spoil life’s shores. How so? The brain’s power tools can help you build wonder in places where you’ve settled for woe’s misery in the past.

Act now on what you’d value in your future. Research shows how actions literally reshape your brain for more of what you expect.

Smile, regardless of how you feel, for example, and your brain’s plasticity changes in your favor. The action triggers your brain to create new neuron pathways toward a happier reality.

Give even a small gift of encouragement or support, without conditions, and in spite of personal loss. In response, your brain raises levels of serotonin chemicals for sustainable well being.

Can you see how brain based recommendations here carry you beyond hopeful or positive thinking? Do a few simple behaviors, and your brain does the rest for you.

Use any one of the above brainpower tools by simply doing a related act and you’ll spark brain cell regeneration for more satisfaction. Or create a brain power tool of your own and then use it, in spite of troubled times. Scientifically speaking, these tips come from neurogenesis research on how adult brains can grow new cells or regenerate old ones. Worth a try?