Trick your brain into limitless thinking!

Trick your brain into limitless thinking!

Do you want to bring forward your best state of mind on projects and leadership? This article will outline how different parts of your brain influence you and how to get into a flow that will generate your best work!

Fight, Flight & Freeze – What gets in the way!

I studied molecular biotechnology at The University of Waterloo. I learned how the brain forms and serves you in embryology, physiology, and psychology classes. I also, however, how your brain can sabotage you!

Reptile Brain

Pain and triggers of rage and fear are essential to survival. Therefore, it is beneficial to have your warning system functioning when you are threatened. In this state you can’t think thoughts; you react. This part of your brain, the amygdala, is like Bruce Willis – it will jump in and take over and protect you from a perceived threat. Does your teenager push your buttons? Do you get shaky before a presentation? How are you when your partner drives aggressively in traffic? Likely, the sympathomedullary pathway of your brain is activated, and you are either ready to take on the world or ready to run away! 

Most of us are generally physically safe, BUT many of us are daily aware of situations where we do NOT feel psychologically safe! This brain pathway is horrible at helping you make any decisions – it simply doesn’t have any words. We will get to neutralizing this response later. Just know this: you aren’t an action hero – you’re acting like a turtle – bite or hide in your shell.

Trauma

The problem with trauma is that it activates the fight/flight/freeze signals, which don’t always disappear when the trauma is over.

Traumatized people keep secreting large amounts of stress hormones long after the actual danger has passed.

A pathway has been formed to protect you from getting hurt again. But unfortunately, when triggered, your brain will not function correctly, and you won’t even be aware of what is happening because parts of your brain shut down!

My wife and son were hit by an impaired driver on Christmas Eve two years ago. Since then, my wife has been hyper-aware and cautious when driving and as a passenger. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens to all of us and not just with car accidents, but when someone makes us feel small, when we are rejected in front of a group, or we are embarrassed, ashamed, and hurt in places we don’t expect. As a result, defence pathways or “the walls of your heart” are constructed. Images and recollections of trauma shut down the left hemisphere of your brain, and you don’t have access to facts, statistics, language, or analysis.

How to optimize your brain for decision making

The neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux determined we can take two pathways when using our brains, “the high road” with our prefrontal cortex or the “low road” with the amygdala. Taking the high road means being aware of ourselves in the present and the past with the understanding that “Restoring relationships and community is central to restoring well-being.” Dr. Bessle van der Kolk expands this idea, saying:

Language gives us the power to change ourselves and others by communicating our experiences, helping us to define what we know, and finding a common sense of meaning. We can regulate our physiology, including some of the so-called involuntary functions of the body and brain, and we can change social conditions to create environments in which children and adults can feel safe and thrive.” [1] Let’s look at ways to explore the high road.

Hack Your Brain for High-Functioning thought

Therapy

You do the work with a medical doctor, professional counsellor, psychiatrist, psychologist, and spiritual director to help heal your body, soul, and spirit. You can desensitize your triggers and create new connections. You have neuroplasticity – brain cells that fire together, wire together! Revisit trauma in a safe and loving environment to heal.

Coaching

Trauma stagnates us because traumatized people can’t integrate new experiences into their lives. Working and reflecting on what is and how to move forward with a coach can help you make choices. In a safe and non-judgmental environment, you can make choices to move forward. A thinking partner can help challenge ways of thinking that are not serving you and draw out different perspectives! There are also mirror neurons that can be formed in your brain! Pick a coach like someone you want to be like! When we spend time with someone intentionally, we pick up their mannerisms, rhythms, and optimism. You can get your prefrontal cortex the practice of firing on all cylinders.

The frontal lobes allow us to plan and reflect, imagine and play out future scenarios. They help us predict what will happen if we take one action (like applying for a new job) or neglect another (not paying the rent). They make a choice possible and underlie our astonishing creativity.”

Physiology

Another part of your brain, the limbic system, is the seat of emotions and determines pleasure or pain. Ever get hangry? How productive were you in that state? Taking care of your physical needs (you’re healthy, well-rested, and well-fed) in a beautiful setting with good people around you means that you won’t get side-tracked by your limbic system, and you’re ready to use your high functioning brain.

Breathing, Meditation & Prayer

You shut down your fight and flight responses and enter the present when you breathe. Get grounded and become aware of yourself, your reality and your intentions.

Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world.” – Archimedes

If and when something discomforting happens, put words to it – you don’t have to analyze it or make it disappear. Instead, accept it as a gift of data about yourself and your present state. In meditation and prayer, there are techniques to surrender negative thoughts, emotions and feelings to something transcending, helping you manage what only you can control: yourself, now, and a response that you choose.

Psychological Safety

What is the rest of your life like? When you have a solid relational base of attachment, safety, and warmth, you are okay to step out of your comfort zone. You can experiment with thinking and brainstorming, imagine creatively and recruit your senses. In safe relationships, you are equipped to analyze data to gain many perspectives on what you are trying to accomplish. 

Being seen, heard, and fully loved and known are fundamentals of your neurological well-being and give rise to the highest forms of presence and thought. In addition, the relationships and rapport you have, create an atmosphere of psychological safety where you can be yourself and do your best work. 

Work agreements that perpetuate a culture of care and creativity in the workplace are essential. Brené Brown offers remarkable assistance through her book Dare to Lead. Help from a facilitator or your HR professional will do wonders in getting your team flourishing because of collaborative dialogue. High performance depends on the relational context of your work, so team-building and trust are a must!

Conclusion

Brain science has told us that some people have a significant advantage with their upbringing and environment to function their best. However, this privilege should not be used to benefit only those who have such a background and resources. We are responsible to our communities and colleagues and called to help develop them with what we have received. We can cultivate environments for ourselves and others that draw out the best solutions to our conflicts, challenges, and creativity. 

What can you do to bring your whole brain to the choices you have to make?

[1] Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

[2] Ibid.