The most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans | Daniel Amen

 "Behavior is the expression of the problem, not the problem". Daniel Amen

How to make stress your friend | Kelly McGonigal

"Go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows." That's an amazing sentence.

Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

 

Agenda of being an effective speaker regardless of it's planned or spontaneous!

Five Surprising Ways Exercise Changes Your Brain

 

We’ve all heard that exercise is good for us—how it strengthens our hearts and lungs, and helps us prevent diseases like diabetes. That’s why so many of us like to make New Year’s resolutions to move more, knowing it will make us healthier and live longer.

But many people don’t know about the other important benefits of exercise—how it can help us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage.

Around the world, people who are physically active are happier and more satisfied with their lives. They have a stronger sense of purpose and experience more gratitude, love, and hope. They feel more connected to their communities, and are less likely to suffer from loneliness or become depressed.

These benefits are seen throughout the lifespan, including among those living with serious mental and physical health challenges. That’s true whether their preferred activity is walking, running, swimming, dancing, biking, playing sports, lifting weights, or practicing yoga.

Why is movement linked to such a wide range of psychological benefits? One reason is its powerful and profound effects on the brain. Here are five surprising ways that being active is good for your brain—and how you can harness these benefits yourself.

1. The exercise “high” primes you to connect with others

Although typically described as a runner’s high, an exercise-induced mood boost is not exclusive to running. A similar bliss can be found in any sustained physical activity.

Scientists have long speculated that endorphins are behind the high, but research shows the high is linked to another class of brain chemicals: endocannabinoids (the same chemicals mimicked by cannabis)—what neuroscientists describe as “don’t worry, be happy” chemicals.

Areas of the brain that regulate the stress response, including the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, are rich in receptors for endocannabinoids. When endocannabinoid molecules lock into these receptors, they reduce anxiety and induce a state of contentment. Endocannabinoids also increase dopamine in the brain’s reward system, which further fuels feelings of optimism.

This exercise high also primes us to connect with others, by increasing the pleasure we derive from being around other people, which can strengthen relationships. Many people use exercise as an opportunity to connect with friends or loved ones.

Among married couples, when spouses exercise together, both partners report more closeness later that day, including feeling loved and supported.

Another study found that on days when people exercise, they report more positive interactions with friends and family. As one runner said to me, “My family will sometimes send me out running, as they know that I will come back a much better person.”

2. Exercise can make your brain more sensitive to joy

When you exercise, you provide a low-dose jolt to the brain’s reward centers—the system of the brain that helps you anticipate pleasure, feel motivated, and maintain hope. Over time, regular exercise remodels the reward system, leading to higher circulating levels of dopamine and more available dopamine receptors. In this way, exercise can both relieve depression and expand your capacity for joy.

These changes can also repair the neurological havoc wreaked by substance abuse. Substance abuse lowers the level of dopamine in your brain and reduces the availability of dopamine receptors in the reward system. As result, people struggling with addiction can feel unmotivated, depressed, antisocial, and unable to enjoy ordinary pleasures. Exercise can reverse this.

In one randomised trial, adults in treatment for methamphetamine abuse participated in an hour of walking, jogging, and strength training three times a week. After eight weeks, their brains showed an increase in dopamine receptor availability in the reward system.

Jump-starting the brain’s reward system benefits not just those who struggle with depression or addiction. Our brains change as we age, and adults lose up to 13 percent of the dopamine receptors in the reward system with each passing decade. This loss leads to less enjoyment of everyday pleasures, but physical activity can prevent the decline. Compared to their inactive peers, active older adults have reward systems that more closely resemble those of individuals who are decades younger.

3. Exercise makes you brave

Courage is another side effect of physical activity on the brain. At the very same time that a new exercise habit is enhancing the reward system, it also increases neural connections among areas of the brain that calm anxiety. Regular physical activity can also modify the default state of the nervous system so that it becomes more balanced and less prone to fight, flight, or fright.

The latest research even suggests that lactate—the metabolic by-product of exercise that is commonly, but erroneously, blamed for muscle soreness—has positive effects on mental health. After lactate is released by muscles, it travels through the bloodstream to the brain, where it alters your neurochemistry in a way that can reduce anxiety and protect against depression.

Sometimes, the movement itself allows us to experience ourselves as brave, as the language we use to describe courage relies on metaphors of the body. We overcome obstacles, break through barriers, and walk through fire. We carry burdens, reach out for help, and lift one another up. This is how we as humans talk about bravery and resilience.

When we are faced with adversity or doubting our own strength, it can help to feel these actions in our bodies. The mind instinctively makes sense out of physical actions. Sometimes we need to climb an actual hill, pull ourselves up, or work together to shoulder a heavy load to know that these traits are a part of us.

4. Moving with others builds trust and belonging

In 1912, French sociologist Émile Durkheim coined the term collective effervescence to describe the euphoric self-transcendence individuals feel when they move together in ritual, prayer, or work. Moving with others—for example, in group exercise, yoga, or dance classes—is one of the most powerful ways to experience joy.

Psychologists believe the key to producing collective joy is synchrony—moving in the same way, and at the same time, as others—because it triggers a release of endorphins. This is why dancers and rowers who move in synch show an increase in pain tolerance.

But endorphins don’t just make us feel good; they help us bond, too. People sharing an endorphin rush through a collective activity like, trust, and feel closer to one another afterward. It’s a powerful neurobiological mechanism for forming friendships, even with people we don’t know.

Group exercise has managed to capitalize on the social benefits of synchronized movement. For example, the more you get your heart rate up, the closer you feel to the people you move in unison with, and adding music enhances the effect. Breathing in unison can also amplify the feeling of collective joy, as may happen in a yoga class.

We were born with brains able to craft a sense of connection to others that is as visceral as the feedback coming from our own heart, lungs, and muscles. That is an astonishing thing! We humans can go about most of our lives, sensing and feeling ourselves as separate, but through one small action—coming together in movement—we dissolve the boundaries that divide us.

5. Trying a new activity can transform your self-image

Every time you move your body, sensory receptors in your muscles, tendons, and joints send information to your brain about what is happening. This is why if you close your eyes and raise one arm, you can feel the shift in position and know where your arm is in space. You don’t have to watch what’s happening; you can sense yourself.

The ability to perceive your body’s movements is called proprioception, and is sometimes referred to as the “sixth sense.” It helps us move through space with ease and skill and plays a surprisingly important role in self-concept—how you think about who you are and how you imagine others see you.

When you participate in any physical activity, your moment-to-moment sense of self is shaped by the qualities of your movement. If you move with grace, your brain perceives the elongation of your limbs and the fluidity of your steps, and realizes, “I am graceful.”

When you move with power, your brain encodes the explosive contraction of muscles, senses the speed of the action, and understands, “I am powerful.” If there is a voice in your head saying, “You’re too old, too awkward, too big, too broken, too weak,” sensations from movement can provide a compelling counterargument.

Physical accomplishments change how you think about yourself and what you are capable of, and the effect should not be underestimated. One woman I spoke with shared a story about when she was in her early 20s and found herself severely depressed, with a plan to take her own life.

The day she intended to go through with it, she went to the gym for one last workout. She deadlifted 185 pounds, a personal best. When she put the bar down, she realized that she didn’t want to die. Instead, she remembers, “I wanted to see how strong I could become.” Five years later, she can now deadlift 300 pounds.

Clearly, we were born to move, and the effects of exercise on our psychological and social well-being are many. So, why not start the new year right and add more movement to your life? No doubt you’ll feel better, be happier, and have better social relationships because of it.

Source: https://bit.ly/3a0tY0P

About the Author

Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a health psychologist who specializes in understanding the mind-body connection. She is the best-selling author of The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress. Her latest book, The Joy of Movement, explores why physical exercise is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Choices that can Change your Life | Caroline Myss

 

“You’re not entitled to anything.” Hearing this truth makes me grateful for every single second, every single breath. 💕

The 5 rules of self-care for great leaders

Leaders emerge and grow from their passion for helping and serving others, and it’s easy to forget about their own well-being, balance, and mental state along the way.

 

Each time before takeoff there is a safety demonstration, and each time the crew reminds you that in case of an emergency, you should put on your mask first before assisting others. The urge is to always put your children, your spouse, your parents—your loved ones—before yourself. We take care of other people more than we take care of ourselves. 

This is true for leaders, too. Leaders emerge and grow from their passion for helping and serving others, and it’s very easy to forget about their own well being, balance and mental state along the way.

And this year the importance of putting their own mask on first (literally!) was crucial. 

I was used to remote work, hopping on and off planes on different continents and time zones. My digital marketing company had all necessary tools in place—for calls, project management, planning, team building. Zoom was installed and used long before it became a thing of 2020. My teams were more equipped than most for the new normal, but it didn’t mean we were less stressed about the new normal. 

No matter what situation we all had at home—kids or no kids, with a huge family or alone, with a partner or a flat mate—everyone was fighting their own battles. So while I was prepared for remote work leadership, I wasn’t prepared for remote work leadership when I am stressed and everyone on my team is stressed, and all of us are scared. 

This is where I started with me—I searched for my own “mask.” And I’ve built up the routines in the new world that ensured that I can show up, day by day, for my team. 

Here are the five self-care rules I’ve built along the way.

Be honest

Trying to come up with an answer takes more energy and time than saying the blunt truth. If I don’t know, I’ll say I don’t know. If I disagree, I’ll openly admit it and share my opinion. If I am destroyed, upset or anxious, I’ll share that with my team, too. Truth is rewarding and it reinforces the bond. The team knows what they hear is exactly what I am thinking right now. It might not work for everyone, but I don’t want everyone on my team either. 

Be kind 

First of all, I am kind to myself, and that’s where the self-love really becomes self compassion. Negative self talk only makes things worse, leaves me in the state of distress and insecurity, and nothing productive can emerge from this state. I accept that I’ll make mistakes while I grow and lead my team—this is a part of the process. This does not mean that I don’t care if I make a mistake—because that’s not the case at all. But rather than harping on the negative, I accept that I was wrong and I try to learn as much as I can from it. 

Love your body 

This is not even about looks. This is about being healthy and taking good care of my physical self. Exercise, drink at least 2 litres of water per day, start the day with a nutritious healthy breakfast. During the pandemic I bought a treadmill for walking more even during lockdowns, a blender to make smoothies, and a jump rope. 

Working from home has actually made this easier for me to master, a silver lining so to say. Exercise gets the stress out of your system, and physical health gives the level of confidence that benefits me greatly to lead others.

Say “no” 

I say “no.” To events, people, and circumstances that make my life uncomfortable and less enjoyable. It’s okay to sit out of something if it’s not something you want to be a part of. Having learned and accepted this, if I don’t like something, I now try to get it out of my life as quickly as possible.

Take breaks

I occasionally do nothing. Rest and relaxation is non-negotiable. I spend time in bed, I scroll through social media, search the web, sleep, and even just stare at the ceiling. This chill time is necessary and gives my brain what it needs to recharge.

My values and beliefs, my professional experience, my goals that are approved with my boss, people who chose me as their leader and who I choose to lead, our achievements and success—this is what defines me at work. 

My age, gender, height and weight, world’s beauty standards, other people’s opinions, past mistakes, expectations of me from someone in another department—this all is irrelevant to who I am as a person and as a leader. 

This is what I remind myself each and every day as I grow personally and professionally, and I truly believe there’s value in building on these rules for self-care as we all work to embody the evolving manifesto that is leadership today. 

Source: https://bit.ly/3bXmPBc

About the author

Olga Andrienko is the head of global marketing at Semrush, a digital marketing platform

How Being Wrong is Part of Success

 

Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.~Winston Churchill

Before I moved from Minneapolis to New York City in 2006, I worked in the prepress production department of a family-owned advertising agency that is consistently listed as one of the best places to work in Minneapolis, for good reason. (OK, I will spill: It’s Periscope.)

We had a saying there that I still refer to whenever I need it (which is often): “It’s okaaaayyyy to be wrong!” When someone discovered that she had made a mistake, she would raise her hand in the air and say, “I was wrong; it’s okay to be wrong.”

There was no blame. There was no asking whose fault it was and firing them or making them feel bad. It was a culture of acceptance of mistakes.

 

This allowed us to learn from them and improve.

We talked about our mistakes — what they were, how they happened and how we could avoid making them in the future. We talked about how we could do better, and because we treated them as a learning opportunity instead of a shameful failure, our mistakes led to better work.

This has been a tough thing for me to learn.

 

You Must Be Perfect

My mom did not think it was okay to be wrong.

A few years back when I was visiting Minneapolis, she loaned me her second car so I wouldn’t have to rent one. I accidentally left one of my liquid ink pens uncapped on the passenger seat.

 

Fabric sucks the ink out of those things at light speed, and it left a spot about the size of a dime. When I mentioned it to Mom, she said, “It’s a good thing that wasn’t my new car, because if it were, I would be mad.”

 

I know my mom doesn’t think about this consciously, but the underlying message there is: I value my things more than you. It’s not okay to spill things, break things and otherwise screw up. You must do everything perfectly, or I will get mad.

As an adult, I can look at that message and consciously know that something is wrong with it.

 

As an adult, I can think of myself as a kid — still trying to figure out how the world works, how my own body works, still growing into my motor skills, my big chubby fingers, my still-developing brain — and realize that I was being subtly told that mistakes were not okay.

And this at a time when it was inevitable that I would make a billion of them.

 

A Never-Fail Strategy Fails

As an adult, I know that anger, properly, is a response to an injustice. Spilling ink on a car seat is not an injustice. I had not wronged my mom. It was an accident. It was not a big deal. Certainly not a cause for anger — even if it had been her brand new car.

But as a kid, all I knew to do was to avoid my mother’s anger by avoiding mistakes. I grew up into a girl who tried to never fail.

 

My klutziness, my messiness, any moment of carelessness — all were sources of shame. Not knowing how to do something and having to be taught, especially if it were something physically awkward — whether it was how to use chopsticks or how to shoot pool or how to bowl — could bring me to tears in seconds.

 

My “never failing” strategy didn’t work out so well. I still made mistakes, and yet I missed out on the lessons I could have learned, the ways I could improve, the successes I could have had, because I hid my face in shame rather than deal with them head on.

 

I’m still afraid that I’ll fail at the thing I love to do the most. I’m afraid it won’t have meaning in the real world — this writing thing I’m doing, just as my mother always predicted. That I will need that backup plan that I don’t really have.

 

Not Afraid Anymore

That fear has nearly paralyzed me for many years. It has kept me from sharing and connecting.

I’m finished with that now. I will not be afraid of spilled ink anymore.

 

I will spill it all over the place to get where I need to go. To this day my mother still tells me I need to be more careful, even though I am one of the most careful, detail-oriented people in the world.

 

I still forget things. I still misplace things. I still spill things. I still fail.

Some of the time.

But now I know: All of that is normal and necessary. All of that is life; it’s figuring things out; it’s being who you are. It’s learning.

I am not infallible, and I never will be, and I don’t need to be. Because it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to be wrong.

How has being wrong helped you succeed?

 

Source: https://bit.ly/3oTAdda

About the author

Rachael Ann Mare is a writer who helps creators stay motivated. At her blog, SpunkyMisfitGirl.com, you can download her free e-book for tips and tricks on living a more inspired life.