The BRAIN Huddle
Category: Articles, The Brain, | By: Dr. Jill | Share On Facebook
Are you experiencing anxiety and fear that get in the way of you living life the way you want to? You are certainly not the only person who feels this way. In fact, from time to time, most of us do. One way to break out of the cycle of emotional reactivity is to use my tool called The BRAIN Huddle. This simple method is the true power of Whole Brain Living.
Our Four Characters take turns running our life. Our Character 1 goes to work, our Character 2 wants to make sure we are safe, our Character 3 gets us outside to play in the sun, and our Character 4 comes out when we feel grateful and connected to others.
Although it is common for our Four Characters to run rampant inside of our heads with minimal awareness of one another, we do have the power to call a BRAIN Huddle, which brings all Four Characters into the immediate conversation. Here, we can actually choose how we want to be and which character we want to show up as in the next moment. Leading a life on purpose satisfies our C1 need to be productive, our C2 need to be safe, our C3 need to connect with others, and our C4 need to belong to something greater than ourselves.
Breathe: Our breath is always with us. It is the first thing we do when we are born and the last thing we do before we die. Our breath is like a train that runs on a track constantly throughout our life, and we can choose to focus our mind on our breath and jump on that train at any time. As soon as we think about our breath, we are bringing our mind into the present moment, and this invites our right brain Characters 3 and 4 into the conversation.
Recognize: Once you bring your mind into the present moment, recognize which of your Four Characters you were exhibiting when you called the BRAIN Huddle. Any of the Four Characters has the capacity to call the Huddle, so pay attention to which character was in the lead and called the Brain Huddle
Appreciate: Regardless of which character called the Huddle, appreciate the fact that you have four different characters and ask them all to participate in the Huddle. By doing this we are calming ourselves down and bringing all parts of our brain online and into our immediate awareness. This is particularly important when our fear-based Character 2 has been triggered and could use some support.
Inquire: Invite all Four Characters into the huddle, so they can collectively voice their opinions and consciously strategize your next move.
Navigate: Life is made up of sequential moments and once our Four Characters are all in the BRAIN Huddle, we then have the power to choose which character we would like to have come out next. This is how we own our power, and no one can take our power away from us. With all of our Four Characters gathered in the BRAIN Huddle, we can choose moment by moment who and how we want to be.
You will find that practicing this technique strengthens your ability to hold on to your peaceful mindset more often. In fact, you will realize you have so much more power over what is going on in your head than you were ever taught!
From my brain to yours,
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
