** slightly longer article today. No time? Scroll to the bottom for the 4 things

I love the human brain. I love my brain. I love neuroscience – the science of the brain. Because everything we do or don’t do relates back to our brains. How we interact with others, our sense of belonging, our sense of self, how we move, how we feel, and how we view the world around us, all happen in our brain. These are the things we have ‘control’ over. This means, that if we bring our awareness to any of these, we can do something about them.

But there are also the things that the brain controls automatically (thankfully) in the background that we are not even aware of until they go wrong.

Last week, in my postscript, I stated that I have dialled back my intermittent fasting to the usual 13 hours. Towards the end of our (Markus and my) two-hour consultation with my functional medicine doctor, I got quite hungry and visibly restless. I could feel the sensation coming. My brain was warning me, and my doctor noticed it too. I was laughing at my body’s reaction, but it was not funny.

I started intermittent fasting to enhance my well-being but had the opposite effect. My body was stressed!! Instead of reducing cortisol, my body was making more! Not good. (Cortisol is a natural anti-inflammatory but at the right levels).

My brain and body were desperately trying to re-establish harmony. Homeostasis. Within a few days, I had my brain and body back in synch. With a quick fix to our meal plan and some additional insights from my doctor, my brain and body are friends again.

I find this brain-body connection FASCINATING. We can all do little experiments on ourselves and learn so much both from a brain and body perspective. I embarked on intermittent fasting to improve my gut health. The mix of microbes in the gut improves when the gut has a break. And a break is defined as a minimum of 16 hours sans food, daily. (The gut is often referred to as the second brain because of the many receptors that link directly back to the brain – hence gut instinct).

Because the foundation of my work with clients is based on neuroscience, I practise it myself to better appreciate and understand how changes, sometimes subtle, can have an impact on me. And understanding my experience helps me have more choices in the future. Just as I did with my fasting above.

But this is true for any context. Though it may not seem so, subtle subconscious triggers can determine the outcome of your important meeting without you even being aware of it.

Yes, our brains are brilliant but rather crafty too. However, with some basic knowledge about the brain, we can all make better choices, in the boardroom or the golf course.

Here are 4 things you need to know about your brain so that you can be the brilliant you:

1.      Our attention is PRECIOUS

The thinking brain or the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is small and fragile compared to the rest of the brain. And to access it requires energy. This means we have to optimise its usage. We need to treat our attention like gold dust. For optimal focus, meetings in blocks of 25-30 minutes are best. 12-15 minutes are ideal. And focus on one thing at a time.

(Fact: the brain cannot multitask as many often think. It can task switch instead which tires the PFC further).

 2.      We have emotions WRONG

Emotions get a bad rap. Mainly based on myths most of us have grown up with. We unknowingly suppress our emotions, especially at the workplace. But suppressing emotions is not good for our brain. It makes us MORE stressed. Instead, acknowledging them or speaking about them quietens the brain and allows us to engage our PFC.

(Fact: Suppressing your emotion, in a conversation, can make your recipient’s blood pressure rise)!

 3.      The SOCIAL world is important

The brain is a social machine. It is constantly picking up cues from the surroundings and connecting the dots. Here’s an interesting fact, the brain feels and reacts to social ‘pain’ just as it feels and reacts to physical pain like a cut on your hand. That’s why performance appraisals or receiving feedback can feel as ‘painful’ as a physical injury.

(Fact: Taking a painkiller for social ‘pain’ works just as it does for a headache).

 4.      ATTENTION changes the brain

This is my favourite one. Understanding our brains gives us more choice! Because we can train ourselves to become an observer of our brain which allows us to choose better responses. This ability to be an observer of our brain is priceless. To know and understand our experiences can help us catch things before they unfold! This process helps us rewire our brains through attention.

(Fact: We can’t change old wiring, but we can create new ones).

Wouldn’t it be great to choose a better response in any situation? Well, the good news is we can by befriending our brains. When we know why we do what we do, we can do something about it. Learning about our brain can change the way we fundamentally function and interact.

Spend time with your brain and appreciate it and its subtleties. It may be the edge you need to win over your colleagues in your meetings.

As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com

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