SYBF Week 5 Check-in: Brain-Body Connection

Earlier in the week, we looked at the brain-body connection and how we can curb and control our feelings and mindset through our bodies. This mid-week check-in looks at mix-and-match strategies for fostering communication and connection. The timing of the Brain-Body Connection theme seems to be spot on as I have heard from many of you that you make a physical activity plan in our growth mindset week. Hopefully, you’ll find some strategies here that you already use and find new ones that can help you stay the course and meet your goals. The new or returning walkers, runners, hikers, gym rats, yogis - this week’s for you!

Believable

Use affirmations that are believable, at least in part, to you. No matter how beautiful the words are, if you can’t believe they are a little true now, your brain adds an asterisk*.

Spring (Your Brain) Forward Pre-Challenge: Set Your Calendar for our Official Start April 15th!

As we prepare for the Spring (Your Brain) Forward: Mental Health Tune-Up Challenge, let’s warm up your brains before our official start next THIS Monday, April 15th. Here’s a little “taste” of what’s to come in your weekly topic email. It will include an introduction to a mental health topic with easy-to-understand science, a few of my thoughts with a little humor, and 1-3 activities you can try throughout the week. These activities are designed to build up your brain function and health over time.

And now for our first lesson: The Brain on Autopilot.

First—science!

We make over 35,000 decisions a day. That’s the equivalent of the entire US FBI workforce. No wonder our most common feeling is “tired!”

Most of the decisions we make in a day are automated, like a computer program running in the background. For example, “Do I put on pants first or underwear?” I’m quite certain we agree here - the order of pants and underpants doesn’t seem like a choice. But ask any 3-year-old, and it IS a choice. This is a prime example of the everyday things our brains learn to automate over time.