Lisa’s Note of the Day: 85 BILLION NEURONS

Science now says we have 85 billion neurons in the brain. There are 5 times as many neuronal networks allocated for threat detection than there are for non-threat input. This is why negativity is so easy to default to AND so contagious. Believe it or not, positivity can be trained and strengthened. What are you […]

Overcoming the Whirlpool of Placeness by: Travis Rumsey

You know how when you go back to the hometown you grew up in, how you almost feel like a child again? Sometimes you can feel it in your whole body, like you’re being transported back in time. For some, this can be a good feeling, yet for others of us it’s not always comforting. […]

Lisa’s Note of the Day: Exercise Your Cortices

Your cortices, like muscles, grow with use. So if you use your limbic brain to function mostly–in fear and threat–you strengthen that part of the brain so it dominates. If you use your prefrontal cortex mostly–for higher level thought like compassion, empathy and learning–that part of the brain gains dominance. What muscle are you exercising? […]

Befriending Fear by: Travis Rumsey

This time of year, we love playing with fear.  Some of us love terrifying ourselves at haunted houses, while others get a thrill out of curling up under the covers and watching a scary movie.   During the rest of the year, there is no shortage of other ways to scare ourselves; roller coasters, rock climbing, […]

Walk Your Own Path by Travis Rumsey

Our culture teaches us that we should be strong and resilient. Weakness is frowned upon, and asking for help is seen as a weakness. Am I telling you anything new yet? I’m all for asking for help – but only as a concept apparently, because I’m terrible at asking others for help. It’s just not […]

Adapting to a Changing World by Vija Rogozina

We live in a paradox: change is the only constant yet human psyche resists change. Ability to adapt to new circumstances has always been a powerful driving force of human evolution. Yet human brain finds comfort in the sense of predictability, perceiving the unknown as a threat. We tend to cling to the known undesirable […]

Lisa’s Note of the Day: Hormones, Neurotransmitters, and Brains Oh MY!

As we know our brains and emotions are intimately linked in a dance facilitated by hormones, neurotransmitters, and a myriad other stimuli.  So it stands to reason that if women experience a radical hormonal flux each month, that their brains might respond accordingly.  Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz, author of The New Feminine Brain notes that “before ovulation, […]

Lisa’s Note of the Day: Inner Navigation

We spend lots of time learning how to navigate people, things, situations, environments and any other external influence we can think of.  But it is the inner navigation, called interoception, that can be pivotal in our ability to heal and be compassionate in the world.  The quiet information and stories our nervous systems tell us […]

Lisa’s Note of the day: Mindfulness

Loneliness and social isolation can be a major contributor to some common neuro-degenerative diseases like alzheimers. A new study led by Carnegie Mellon University’s J. David Creswell offers the first evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces loneliness in older adults. If meditation has such amazing preventative health benefits, then which five minutes are you setting aside today […]

You Have it All: Right Here, Right Now by: Travis Rumsey

You know how you can hear the same idea over and over, but suddenly someone says it in a way that you finally go, “Oh!  Now I get  it!”?  This happened to me with one of my favorite Buddhist authors, Rigdzin Shikpo in his book, ‘Never Turn Away.’ In a chapter about the concept of […]