Modern technology has enabled us to learn some secrets about the brain over the past 10 years which is very helpful when it comes to coaching. The choices we make change the functioning of the brain moment by moment by creating new hardwiring. Over time Yolanda will focus on trying to help you establish new neural connections. Inevitably, patterns of thinking become ingrained habits over time. This leads to what we call thinking in circles. I attempt to get you to think differently by challenging you with questions and observations.
Think of learning to ride a bicycle and drive a car. When you attempt it for the first time you have to think about so many things at the same time. The brain hardwires everything we do on a regular basis because it wants to learn new things. To make space it stores previous knowledge in chunks. This is almost like a filing cabinet or library. To access information we need to pull the right file or go to the right subject on the shelves.
Conscious thinking involves deeply complex biological interactions in the brain among billions of neurons. Every time the brain works on an idea consciously, it uses up a measurable and limited resource. Some mental processes take up a lot more energy than others. The most important processes, such as prioritizing, often take the most effort.
Surprises about the brain that you may not be aware of:
- You can only focus on one conscious task at a time.
- Switching between tasks uses energy; if you do this a lot you can make more mistakes.
- If you do multiple conscious tasks at once you will experience less accuracy or performance.
- The only way to do two mental tasks if accuracy is important, is doing them one at a time.
Now this is very important for you as a person to know. The brain has an overarching principle to minimize danger (an away or flight response), and to maximize reward ( a toward or fight response ). The away response is stronger, faster, and longer lasting than the toward response. The away response can reduce cognitive resources, making it harder to think about how you are thinking, making you more defensive, and mistakenly class certain situations as threats. Once an emotion kicks in, trying to suppress it either doesn’t work or makes it worse.
How to cope with this:
When you start feeling an emotion, tell yourself what you are feeling. Example: I am starting to feel anxious, sad, frustrated, anger, etc.
That will be your first step to help yourself.
The second step will be to concentrate on your breathing. Think of a balloon inflating and deflating and imagine your lungs. The balloon takes in air – the chest cavity must expand (grow bigger). As you breathe out the chest cavity must contract to push out the air.
Why is this important? Some people reverse breathe, making their breathing ineffective. That means as they inhale they do not allow sufficient air in to make their chest grow bigger. This leads to fast, ineffective breathing. Little oxygen is taken in, the brain and the body try to compensate for the lack of oxygen and get stressed. The brain does not function optimally and the body becomes tense and sore.
