Living WELL Aware, LLC

Pick YOUR Brain!

Hello LWA Seekers of Greater Well-BEing!

Important end-of-the-year message. We’ve all asked someone knowledgeable in a particular area: “Can I pick your brain?” We don’t do it enough! The people who need to be asking often don’t. Those that frequently do ask desire to get better faster.

I love “picking people’s brains.” I take them out to lunch, have them over for dinner, have them as walking buddies (Yes, Tammy, that would be you!) Who can help me get where I want to BE? If you ask, be prepared for their advice. Find people smarter than you are (For me, that’s easy!) in some aspect of life. Tell them to be HONEST – as painful as it may be. It takes COURAGE!

There’s one brain we should be constantly picking. OUR OWN BRAIN! Harvard neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor refers to this as Whole Brain Living. We really have two minds (2 hemispheres of our brain), each with an emotional center AND each with a thinking center. Our right and left brains are wired differently, have different functions, and have their own personality. It’s truly fascinating and life-changing when we understand HOW our brain functions and that we have the power to control its operation.

Most of us live primarily in the ego-centric left brain with its “get things done” thinking. It’s this area of the brain that helps me with my To Do List. The left brain is also home to an emotional center and its fight / flight / freeze response. Our left brain is our survival brain while on planet Earth. It functions like a serial processor, figuring out what to do based on the past, trying to predict the future. While important, our left brain’s emotional center can drive us crazy if we let undesirable past events run the show, causing us to live in a state of self-pity, inadequacy, victimization, anxiety, and any other frequently surfacing negative emotion we may find ourselves in.

The right brain is very different. It is all about the present moment. Our emotional right brain is fun-loving. It’s loving what is, looking for joy. The thinking right brain is our sage / inner spirit. It is present to the moment, deals with reality (no matter how unwanted, unexpected), looking for all the gifts, opportunities, possibilities – in the present moment. It doesn’t let the past get in the way and doesn’t worry about the future. Our sage is empathetic, understanding, kind – taking people and events right where they are NOW - - not judging from past experiences. It makes decisions in a state of peace and joy.

Here’s the GREAT NEWS: You and I can PICK the area of our brain we want to dominate, run the show, with each life encounter.

Here’s the PROBLEM: We can be so wired to feel, think, and react in left brain programmed, predictable patterns, it can be difficult for us to “see” and “believe” there are better, more productive, creative, often kinder options available to us if we use our “right” brain.

Here’s the ANSWER: We need to use our ENTIRE BRAIN! While located in separate hemispheres, the right and left brains are connected via a neuronal network called the corpus collosum. They can communicate with each other. We need BOTH working together to engineer and maximize our earthly existence. We need to appreciate our left brain which has helped us accomplish so many things in life and more so in the future. We need to understand and engage our right brain to live life to the fullest in a state of peace and joy.

This is FACT: We have a choice as to which area of our brain we engage in each and every situation. Example: Think of one situation where you can find yourself stressed out, worried, disappointed, depressed, even angry (OK - - I said JUST ONE!) You can STOP, realize you are operating out of your emotional left brain’s center and engage your emotional and thinking right brain – which deals with reality, lives in gratitude, and looks for the many possible opportunities. Example: You have a friend or family member that routinely aggravates you with something they are doing or saying. STOP! It’s the left brain that’s turned on. Shift to the right brain and just be present to them – with understanding and kindness. See the good in them with unconditional love. Miracles often happen!

HOW do we learn to do this? What does it require? AWARENESS! It’s all about living well AWARE. We must:

understand our O.S., our brain’s complex operating system (NO, you do not have to be a neuroscientist!)
be AWARE of our programmed patterns that are running the show, and
learn strategies to improve neuronal pathways that elevate our well-being.

Folks, this is amazing, it’s fun, it’s the key to taking control of our health and happiness and getting to the next level – at warp speed! Join us on this journey! It’s a focus of our upcoming retreats.

Everyone’s invited. Get ready for 2024!

Join us on Zoom Monday, December 11 at 6:30pm

for Keys to Making Lasting Changes in 2024

ZOOM LINK:

Topic: LWA 2024 Starts NOW!

Time: Dec 11, 2023 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81548998159?pwd=Q3Y4ckgrayt1YjkxWGkwV1RGcE56UT09

Meeting ID: 815 4899 8159

Passcode: 456958

Upgrade Your Operating System: REGISTER NOW!

LWA at Cedarbrake Retreat Center:

- January 5: Women’s Retreat