I recently enjoyed another class in Neuroscience with Ursula Potting.  A bit of takeaways:

Our brain doesn’t know the difference between real and imagined experiences, truly experiencing an event or imagining it. Have you ever been awakened in the night by a dream that you are running, finding yourself breathless?  Have you spent much time thinking of a past confrontation with someone realizing that your thoughts have your heart racing and palms sweating?

This stress/perceived stress causes our bodies to release cortisol and/or adrenaline shutting down our pre-frontal cortex.

When these hormones are released and our body goes into ‘fight or flight mode’ our brain isn’t able to use the creative mind.

This in turn also shuts down our efficiency in memory-loading retrieval, empathy and ability to use patience.

Lessons:

Meditation is your friend.

Name your emotions. Don’t hold it in.

Control your environment when and where you can

Pay attention to what’s important

Empower yourself where possible

Create a support group

Don’t get caught up too much in ‘the story’

Have fun!