4 Things to Help You Survive & Thrive.
4 Things in Your Body that Help You Survive & Thrive…OR NOT:
Learning & Retention Tip: Seek Out 1-3 specific pieces of information that have value and significance to you. Write it down and review it 2 times in 24 hours. Write down 1 Action step you commit to…in Sherpa Executive Coaching we refer to this step as IC2 (I Commit To…).
I know something about you.
If I don’t offer you information that will help you survive and thrive you will tune me out.
Your brain is on the look out for information that will help you survive and thrive.
Survive: to continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship.
Thrive: to succeed and flourish. Flourish: grow and develop in a healthy or vigorous way.
If I don’t make the complex, simple, applicable and even sustainable to support your ability to survive and thrive, you are likely to unsubscribe.
Your body is created to protect you. Now, when I was diagnosed with advanced cancer the thought crossed my mind: my body betrayed me!
After pondering my situation for some time my perspective shifted dramatically to: No, I betrayed my body. I exposed it to intensely stressful situations for a long period of time which took a toll, and my body couldn’t keep up.
It was if my body was saying: If you don’t make some serious positive shifts in your life: spiritually, emotionally and physically we are out of here.
I recently listened to a very powerful talk by Simon Sinek: Why Leaders Eat Last. Below are a few highlights I expanded on for you to ponder:
4 Things in Your Body that Help You Thrive & Survive…or not. It all depends on the behavior associated with them:
- Endorphine: Hormone, designed to mask physical pain, good thing to have when you are attacked by a bear in the woods…or fall off a bike going full speed ahead.
- Dopamine: The motivation Compound, it helps you focus on goals and get stuff done on your to-do list AND respond to bings, dings, & pings. You get a hit of dopamine each time you cross something off your list. Down side: it’s highly addictive. Great example: Nomophobia
- Serotonin: This is the leadership compound. Why? It plays a crucial role in social behavior and connection. Studies continue to reveal that when human connection is present, then people are capable of extraordinary things. Watch the movie RUDY.
- Oxytocin: Commonly known as the bonding hormone as it fuels love and trust. I heard of a study done awhile back on the “corner office syndrome”: As people got promoted to higher up positions in companies (i.e. the corner office), their testosterone levels increased and their oxytocin levels significantly dropped as well as their ability to show up and create meaningful relationships…hmmm now that’s some food for thought.
- Cortisol: The stress hormone. It protects you from real danger like lions, tigers and bears. The problem is that our body doesn’t return to homeostasis when the attack is over, as is the case for the zebra who shakes the lioness off it’s backside. Why? because we don’t “shake it off” like the zebra, we internalize and ruminate. We have replaced real danger with imagined danger that comes from negative beliefs we have about ourselves, mind-reading and story telling which fuels fear, self-doubt and worry which constantly prey on our sense of meaning and significance, safety and connection. Animal planet has gone viral in our thought life and is wreaking havoc on our physical well-being and ability for high functioning. Cortisol inhibits oxytocin (the bonding hormone), shuts off the growth and repair mode and your immune system.
A 20-year landmark study out of the University of London concluded that stress is more of a contributing factor to heart disease and cancer than cigarette smoking and high-cholesterol foods.
The Harvard Study of Human Development, longest study done on human behavior concluded that meaningful relationships is the source of lasting happiness. Now we may say…you think? Of course it is! Yet, does our behavior align with that knowledge?
What percentage, from 0% – 100% of your time and attention are spent in a given week on creating and/or nurturing meaningful relationships?
People don’t change when they come to work and abandon their basic human needs for safety and connection/meaning and significance. In Sherpa Executive Coaching, we use a phrase: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
The final steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (step 11 and 12) speaks to the power of connecting to God, waking up to that relationship and the power available as a result of that relationship, and THEN taking that message of healing and restoration to other people who are addicted and powerless over their life as a result of that addiction (meaningful relationships = happiness with God and other people).
Take Action:
- Align your behaviors this week with your choice to create and strengthen meaningful relationships.
- Email involves rational thinking which blocks oxytocin (bonding hormone). Make a meaningful connection by responding to emotional questions like: what did you think of my presentation OR how I cleaned up the house? With face to face or voice to voice communication.
- Face to face eye contact, shaking hands, a high five, hugging, a pat on the back all release oxytocin and nurture meaning and significance: I see you, you matter.
- Help your body, help you. When you feel stressed out, don’t sit in it…do something about it. Stress is the power you give to outside circumstance to define your worth, value and capability. Don’t let stress be the boss of YOU or your health and wellness.
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Support Resources for Professional & Personal Excellence:
2. Faith Based Coaching: Edge God In Podcast:
3. Health Tip from My Journey: Make transitions an opportunity for prayer and connection with God, 1-2 mind breaks to drop into your heart, breathe, listen and respond. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, let your requests be known to God. And, the peace of God, which transcends all human understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Enjoy your gift of life,
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
-Leo Buscaglia
