What about your brain?
Leaving aside stress that affects our brain resources, we say that people are differently dominant in our hemispheres. Some of us are more imaginative, creative, approachable, emotional, impulsive and a bit chaotic (right half). Others are more orderly, like more structure and detail, plan and are more rational (left half). We have all the traits, but some are more pronounced. What are your most prominent features? And has it always been so? Because I don’t think we are one or the other throughout our lives. At least if we don’t want to be.
If we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses in terms of how we function in our personal and professional life, we can also learn to control and master impulses and we can choose behavior depending on the context. I have met people who in their work role are strict and extremely clear, while in their private life they are relaxed and let go of control. I do not believe that we are either/or.
We should also remember, as I wrote in a post earlier this week, that our youngest part of the brain, and especially the frontal lobes, are the most sensitive to stress. The part of the brain responsible for controlling impulses and keeping things in perspective. The part of the brain that increases our ability to feel compassion and love. It is negatively affected by stress, which is a major social problem today. So what happens to the idea that we are more dominant in one hemisphere? What does it matter if we knock out a part of our brain capacity that affects both halves of our body?
The right brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. Our nervous system (with its different subdivisions and functions, coming in another post), connects our body and brain. So maybe it’s not so simple to just say that we use one half of the brain more than the other. We need to understand more about how we are systemic in our being, and that this should form the basis of our understanding of how we act and communicate with ourselves and others.
You in color and letter codes
I also think it is dangerous to divide people too much into different color and letter codes. I myself have done such tests, received training and been in organizations where these codes are used. It is very easy to put a label on a person and for people around them to form preconceived ideas before they have even met the person. And those who, according to the colors or letters, become each other’s opposites, risk communicating on the basis of established norms, instead of taking an objective approach.
We are evolving. Things in life affect us. We make conscious choices. What about the color/letter code and stamp? When we are no longer who we were when we took the test, yet we have both the expectation and the stamp on us that we are a certain way. THAT if anything can go very wrong and hamper both an individual’s development, but also that of an organization.
If these tests and classifications are to be used, then use it as an additional tool, as a resource to draw on if necessary. Be clear that it is not a truth about anyone, because what happens when we put chosen truths in people’s laps?
In my (and others’) view, we could instead focus on providing each other with better sorted feedback when conflicts arise. If we can take intentions, framing and chosen truths more seriously, maybe we can start seeing people from a different perspective than color codes. See all the colors of the rainbow and take advantage of all the resources inside the shell.
Neuromotor underlay
You can improve your neuromotor base through movement. It is an umbrella term for how movements in our muscles and joints work and affect the body and brain function. Regulated and controlled by our brain. The next section suggests what you can do. So nice and relaxed is my opinion and many with me. I work actively to incorporate some type of slow movement when I’m out working on assignments, big or small. Because it makes sense, try it a few times and see if it makes a difference for you.
Slow movements – strengthening the brain
In a previous post, I talked about the impact of movement and exercise on our brain. In this post, I’m putting a little extra emphasis on low-slow movements. You can do them rotating, diagonally and in eights (lying, standing) and preferably lying on a comfortable surface. Imagine thai chi in the tempo of the movements. What they do is improve the connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain (diagonals), creating new nerve fibers in the brain and contributing to better balance between our inner and outer muscle layers. Lie down for 10-15 minutes and move slowly, breathe in and out through your nose, pay attention to your limits by moving where your body signals that it wants movement and avoid doing movements that require a lot of muscle power. It should be comfortable and pleasant.
However, if you find it too boring to lie down and move around, put on a quiet song that makes you feel harmonious and move slowly (according to the suggested patterns) to it. Instead of doing nothing at all, I mean.
Have a nice Sunday in your brain hemispheres!
/Rebecca
