3 steps to empowering and optimizing every person
Last month, I had the pleasure of returning to Horizontal Talent to provide another group mental fitness training session for their employees that covered brain health, mental function, and neurodiversity as they directly impact not only mental health but also DEI+, performance, empowerment, achievement, conflict management, change management, and well-being.
The most rewarding part of my practice is the feedback I receive after every 4D Fit Mental Fitness training session, like this comment from Jennifer Zweig, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives:
Thank you for an extraordinary discussion. It had laughs, it had a lot of education, and it included easy actionable steps from doing nothing to getting help when needed. I appreciate the training so much!
Mental fitness requires individual AND group work
While it's EASY to use stress to motivate human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (since it's much easier to influence with fear than logic due to how our brain and unconscious nervous system works), actually achieving and maintaining healthful thoughts, feelings, and behaviors requires conscious effort to accept the human condition and the differences within, including our brain and nervous system.
Without this knowledge or awareness, life can feel like we're walking up an escalator when the escalator is going down; like we're getting nowhere fast when our environment is working against us.
Another analogy is like swimming in a toxic pool. Sure, we can learn to swim in it, but that doesn't mean it's good for us, or that we'll thrive in it.
Without awareness or acceptance of the many internal and external influences, or how they impact our brain and nervous system, it can be incredibly difficult to find and maintain healthful practices to regulate our unconscious stress response and optimize our higher functioning mind (i.e., prefrontal cortex).
3 essential stress-reducing factors for optimization
This is why 4D Fit Mental Fitness provides both group AND individual training in tandem, to both detoxify the environment and the individuals in it.
I follow these 3 essential guidelines when providing mental fitness training to empower and optimize every person:
SAFETY FIRST: Providing a sense of safety when talking about something as personal as one's brain and mind is an important step in optimizing the learning function of the prefrontal cortex. A little heart and humor can go a long way in helping reduce stress to optimize learning and comprehension. This also requires practicing emotional intelligence and awareness to assess the needs and stress level of others, to understand and navigate unconscious stressors of different people.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: Education is KEY to empowering people to make healthful choices and maintain their motivation. Understanding WHY something is important is a critical part of fostering that sense of hope we need to anticipate reward for our efforts and accomplishment, that may be different for different people. It's important to know that finding reward isn't about being selfish but finding ways to neurologically reinforce a healthful thought, feelings, or behavior that can be especially challenging when managing the neurological force of an unhealthful habit, mental health condition or addiction. This is why understanding and acceptance are key.
MAKE IT EASY, ACHIEVABLE, AND ACTIONABLE: Giving someone another "TO DO" list or saying "JUST DO IT" is rarely effective since our stress response can impair the motivation, impulse control, and emotional regulation we need to make healthful choices and seek the support we need. This is why the FIRST practice I teach is to DO NOTHING; to "just be" with yourself for a few seconds or a day, to be aware of your thoughts and feelings with self-love and self-acceptance, to take a moment to breathe deeply. Finding ways to rest and regulate your unconscious nervous system is a critical step in energizing your higher-functioning mind to prepare for whatever stress or challenges you need to navigate.
For more information about 4D Fit Mental Fitness training, look under the Brain Training tab.