September/October 2005
New Article
Read Band-Aid or Bonanza here... Cruise with Arlene (host #42316)
Stimulate your brain (e.g., grow dendrites on your neurons) through travel and informal discussions about brain function. Ask about Continuing Education Credit for nurses (CA BRN CE Provider #08580) and MFTs/LCSWs (CA BBS CE Provider #37). Register early with EOT to secure your reservation. Seminar Opportunities
September 26-27, 2005, Florida Hospital Waterman, Tavares, Florida. Contact Faye Rose at (352) 253-3389, or faye.rose@ahss.org.
October 20-21, 2005, Shady Grove Hospital, Rockville, Maryland. Contact Shari Chamberlain at (301) 279-6187, or schambe1@adventisthealthcare.com.
The Brain Program. Napa Valley, California. I plan to present two more programs in the Napa Valley before the end of the year. Register for one of them now and complete your Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment (BTSA) well in advance. If you are a program alumna/alumnus and already have a BTSA profile, you may register to audit for a refresher.
View current speaking schedule... Frequently Asked Questions
A. Downshifting is a metaphoric term that addresses a natural brain phenomenon. Some writers actually use that word (e.g., Leslie Hart, Marie Barron, Joseph Chilton Pearce) while Robert Sylwester prefers the terms reflective versus reflexive. I like the word downshifting as it provides an easy label to help you wrap your mind around the concept, so to speak. Briefly, the brain can be described in terms of three functional layers that, in turn, can be compared to gears in a vehicle. When you are driving a vehicle and the going gets tough, the automatic transmission shifts to a lower gear to help you get through. A similar situation can occur in the brain. In situations of trauma, crisis, or in the presence of any type of fear, the brain tends to downshift automatically to access responses it perceives to be safer or that promote safety. Downshifting results in an automatic shift of the brain’s attention and energy away from the thinking brain layer toward lower brain layers, and it can happen outside of conscious awareness. The emotional brain layer (2nd gear) responds to signals of danger provided by both the action brain layer (1st gear) and the thinking brain layer (3rd gear). Signals of danger that might be perceived from the thinking brain layer include evaluation, criticism, and anxieties created in your own imagination. When you are insecure, anxious, undecided, and tense, the focus of attention can become divided among the three brain layers. Each brain layer has its own agenda, in effect. Consequently, you may think one thing, feel another, and act from impulses that are completely different from either of the other two. Even a good thing taken to the extreme can lose some of its helpfulness. Thus you would not want your brain’s attention and energy focused primarily toward the lower brain layers for prolonged periods of time. The good news? Your brain is so complex and capable that you can think about and implement pre-planned strategies to increase conscious awareness and high-level thinking even while temporarily downshifted! Access responses to other questions in the FAQ section of my web site. Selected Brain Facts
Brain Bender
Riddle
News Note
Levine's explanations can be helpful if you have children or grandchildren, or work with children or young people. The information can also be useful to you personally--because you have a brain that is as unique as your thumbprint, with your own learning style. As Dr. Levine puts it, no mind should have to beg to differ! Point to PonderLook at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. --Jacob A. Riis Identifying what your brain does easily is an ongoing journey, as is learning to find effective ways to accomplish the tasks/activities it finds energy intensive. Do something every day to move you closer to who you are innately. At times it may seem as if you are making little progress. But then, perhaps suddenly and unexpectedly, you will realize you HAVE been making progress. You will catch a glimpse of where you were a month ago, a year ago, compared to where you are today--because of all that has gone on before. And you will keep hammering away at releasing who you are innately from the confines of generational inheritance, expectations, missed opportunities, and blurred vision. It was Michelangelo Buonarroti who said he saw the angel in the marble and carved until he set it free! See who you were meant to be, and set YOURSELF free!
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Quick Links... |
Learning
to implement appropriate strategies and exhibit functional
behaviors in life can be a challenge--at any age. It's often
much easier to figure out what you think someone else could
or should have done than it is to critique and learn from
your own behavior. That's what this fish tale is all about:
Band-Aid or Bonanza. Enjoy it!
September
17, 2005, Saturday, 9:00am-5:00pm, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Meet me in Canada for 
Q.
What is downshifting?
Information
regarding Downshifting can be found
in the "Brain Function" section of Selected
Brain Facts. Beg, borrow, or purchase some of the books
mentioned. Take advantage of your age-proofing 30 minutes
per day of challenging mental exercise while learning
more about the brain and its amazing functions.
More
stimulation for your cerebral neurons!
The
book A Mind at a Time was written by Mel Levine MD,
a pediatrician and educator. He believes the one-size-fits-all
learning philosophy does not match the brain's typical individual
learning patterns. It is taken for granted in adult society
that we cannot all be 'generalists' skilled in every area
of learning and mastery. Nevertheless, we apply tremendous
pressure on our children to be good at everything. The long-term
cost to children from this pressure will have lifelong repercussions.