Neuroscience as a life skill

I feel like I’ve neglected my neuroscience studies recently. I’ve been focusing on gaining my own Senior Leader qualification and been caught up with the busy-ness of life, and my usual approach to learning via lectures, courses and books has slipped entirely. But the thing is, it hasn’t really gone away. I may not have actively added new knowledge, but the knowledge I already had has been put to good use.

And actually… I think this has been really good for me.

I know I’m someone who is motivated by driving forwards. One of my core values is “Achievement” and even from an early age I have always liked to feel like I’ve achieved something on a regular basis. But my understanding of neuroscience has helped me approach that in a healthier way. Going through a busy period at work where a lot of the return on the investment of my time is still going to be months away has challenged this value. I became aware that I was taking on too much and committing to deadlines earlier than was realistic. And that’s not usual for me – I’d consider myself quite organised and time conscious, so it made me ask myself, “what’s happening here?”.

I found the answer in my understanding of the brain. I’m not getting that burst of “achievement” in the usual way. It’s really a hit of dopamine, a neurotransmitter chemical that makes us feel good after we’ve done something rewarding. And in the absence of my usual dopamine rhythm my brain was seeking its next hit through different methods. On top of this, I recognised I was going through a period of change that heightened my feelings of threat and rocked my social stability. When I added all this up, I realised that my judgement was clouded. My brain wasn’t acting to my advantage anymore. I needed to prioritise reassuring myself that everything was going to be ok and finding different ways to get that achievement value met. I put in place some new practices that have been helping.

All based on what I already knew and understood.

It makes me wonder why neuroscience isn’t on the national curriculum. Understanding our brains can help us make sense of so much. The example above is a work one, but I have countless ones from my personal life too. Understanding ourselves is the richest learning experience imaginable. And understanding others creates stronger relationships. They are core life skills that can be applied to pretty much anything you can think of.

Which is why I was so taken with the new Mindsville book series created by Soraya Shaw. Soraya was the person who first got me hooked on neuroscience, and I’ve not found anyone who can better her knowledge and application. But we have always spoken about neuroscience from an adult perspective. Mindsville is her book series aimed at children.

Through a combo of human and ‘brain’ characters, a story is told. It speaks of understanding how all our brains are different. Whether that’s curious and creative, or calm and quick thinking, every character’s brain has a home in Mindsville. The children in the story learn about neuroplasticity and are encouraged to think about how neural pathways add to their unique brain make up. It’s neuroscience but aimed at children helping them to make sense of their brains as they grow.

All of those in my neuroscience network find understanding how the brain works to be so beneficial. It makes me wonder how much stronger that would be if learned from an early age? I really hope that Mindsville is part of us finding out more about that in the future. Imagine how much easier it would have been to navigate the tricky teenage years and enter the workplace for the first time with more knowledge of what was happening inside our heads! In the absence of the curriculum being changed any day soon it’s a conversation that must surely be beneficial to be had at home, showing ‘future adults’ how neurodiversity and neuroplasticity are important factors in life.

You can purchase a copy of the first book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brainy-Brains-Mindsville-Welcome/dp/1036932990?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE