What does 'four brain alchemy' mean for you?
Dynamic nourishment and consciousness of your four brain physiology will become an 'ever ready' oxygen mask, always at your disposal.
The value of erudite leadership agility has never been in question. What matters in equal measure (or more) are the softer and arguably, more sought after skills. Being in the present moment, feeling your emotions, having awareness for how you feel, is being human and being whole. These feeling centres sit in particular parts of our limbic brain (the amygdala, hippocampus, insula)
In 2018 (it feels like a lifetime ago) Thinking the Unthinkable was researched, written and published in the same year. It showed rather acutely then … and soaks through to now, the spiralling challenges of being a leader. Chris Langdon and Nik Gowing held gloves off, desensitised conversations with over fifty global CEOs (some of whom, agreed to be named) who revealed an increasingly complex challenges across the business landscape; from geopolitical and climate, to technology, society and economic. Their CEO interviewees revealed, both individually and as a collective group, that they felt in a continual code red scenario, firefighting the entire time.
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Do you recognise that different skills are needed and are you doing anything about cultivating them?
Continual code red is unlikely to be news to any of you. What they readily shared, was recognition of the need for different skills. A need for greater humility, showing vulnerability, compassion, and the need for a more purposed style of leadership that is not all about money profit, but that is more equally aligned with the impact on people, humanity and our planet.
What that means in real terms is a wholly different approach. Not only to where we were then but also to where we are now. The macro pressures(of an unstable world) alongside societal pressures, means a different, more intentionally nurturing approach is vital, not only for the world at large but for you and I. Quality of life and living is about how we feel in the moment.
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What are the Four Brains and why do they matter?
Knowing the complexity of the four brain physiological approach is less about knowing the academics and more that it represents a dynamic, agile dance of alignment, honour and integration. We’re such responsive, nimble creatures but we don’t always recognise the immense potential and power that sits within our own internal technology … far more impressive than AI!
For the purpose of this piece, I’m highlighting the limbic brain and system but the whole value is seeing and understanding how all four brains work together as one. The limbic system makes us human. It is our feelings centre, our emotional pulse and where sentience sits. For many leaders and people generally, this is the part of the brain so often repressed. It is the brain system that processes how we feel in real time, always in the NOW.
This matters for a few reasons; awareness of emotional state and how we feel is a vital part of who we are and if it is ignored it means other parts of us take over. That shows up as an absence of compassion and empathy and a lack of connection or dissatisfaction. And it’s part of the reason why so many people live between their reptilian and cognitive brains. The ‘always on’ is the fight or flight, sympathetic nervous system of the reptilian brain – high stress, high cortisol.
Developing agency towards what we’re feeling means cultivating a new perspective and a greater experience of life and living. The spectrum of choice that we naturally sit with, comes from the limbic system but we have become skilled at the unconscious defence mechanism of repression. This narrows the choices of the limbic system, it means we have trained ourselves to act from a place of lack and scarcity. More frequently in dissatisfaction. But when we engage the limbic system and allow ourselves to feel; where satisfaction becomes the fuel of living we switch into a more regenerative energy.
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The Four brains
If the four brains are aligned in a harmonious dance, you will feel safe and stable, have clarity and satisfaction.
If you are NOT feeling safe or stable then it will be harder for the cognitive and limbic brains to work optimally. Nourishment through nutrition, sleep, healthy microbiome, cells and organ function are all in your fundamental stability anchor - there will be more on this whole concept in forthcoming newsletters.
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2. Limbic Brain (LB) – Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction
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3. Reptilian brain (RB) – safe/ unsafe
4. Enteric Nervous System (ENS) – stable/unstable
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Most modern education skips the development of this knowledge and dimension, in favour of STEM subjects. Understanding and being in touch with our humanness also means we’re more able to cope. The complexity within us is an almost magical system that, when optimised, delivers high quality life experience but you and I need to practice this and it takes time, energy and intention. Anyone sensitive or not practiced at being present with emotions are likely to reach for coping mechanisms, distractions or addictions which in turn become proxies for feelings.
?How to start engaging with your limbic system?
Begin with silence. Sit quietly with no distractions. Your phone is off, there is no music, maybe you've decided sit under your favourite tree.
Sit for five minutes. just be present with your breath.
Then open up a notebook or journal and ask yourself the question - How do I feel? Don't think too much ...write down what you're feeling in that moment.
Do that everyday and let me know how you're doing!
On a personal note
This knowledge and understanding has never been more valuable. I haven’t talked a lot about it yet but I headed to Auroville, India, last December, returning in February. I committed to a 42 day programme, led by an extraordinary teacher. A simple way of describing it would be to call it a ‘Limbic Re-set’ but for everyone attending (around 30 of us) it was a consistent, daily structure that gently and at times brutally (discomfort is always where the treasure lies – pay attention to what you resist held profound shift, transformation and renaissance, in varying degrees. The learnings and the deep resonance of this teaching is too valuable not to share. We (myself and a team of amazing people)have been developing a way of making the knowledge, embrace and embodiment, your natural and ever ready oxygen mask
As a leader
If you’d like to know more, for yourself and your teams, I encourage you to have a conversation with me. It may just turn out to be the most valuable 20 minutes of your year so far. Infusing wellbeing culture into your business means connecting with people and helping them connect with themselves.
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DM me or contact me here https://wellintellect.com
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