Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life

Margaret Moore Founder & CEO Wellcoaches Corporation www.wellcoaches.com Co-Director Institute of Coaching McLean Hospital, affiliate of Harvard Medical School www.instituteofcoaching.org Coach Meg www.coachmeg.com

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Rules of Order

Sweep your brain clean

◘ Tame frenzy

◘ Sustain focus

◘ Manage distractions

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Rules of Order

Get above the forest to the big picture

◘ Harness working memory

◘ Generate leaps of insight

◘ Connect the dots

■ Negative emotions arising from the limbic

system which intrude and impair functioning

of the pre-frontal cortex

What is frenzy in the brain?

Frenzy gets in the way of mindful attention

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Tame frenzy – NAME & APPRAISE

◘ Gently stop and name the emotion

◘ Like a child that cries, the emotion is asking

for attention

◘ Naming an emotion enables the pre-frontal

cortex to notice the emotion and let it go

◘ Appraise whether the emotional state is

a valid one – are you over-reacting?

◘ Engage the thinking areas, the areas of

cognitive control (e.g. pre-frontal cortex)

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How to tame frenzy

Build new habits which bring calm:

◘ Exercise

◘ Meditate

◘ Mindfulness practices

◘ Breathe

Organize Your Emotions, Organize Your Life

1. Mindful Self: I am calm, open, mindful, accepting

2. Autonomy: I am free and feel in control

3. Body Regulator: I am fit, well fed, rested, healthy

4. Confidence: I am confident, competent, strong

5. Creative: I am creative and have fun

6. Curious: I have new experiences and adventures

7. Executive Manager: I am working toward goals,

organized and on top of things

8. Relational: I am loving, compassionate, accepting

9. Standard-Setter: I am good enough, achieving

enough, learning

10. Spiritual Meaning-Maker: I find meaning and the

big picture

Margaret Moore © 2013

How to Decode Emotions

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1. Mindful Noticing, Naming & Observing

2. Acceptance

3. Appreciation & Gratitude

4. Connection

5. Compassion for Negative Emotions

6. Savor and Harvest Positive Emotions

7. Curiosity

8. Learning

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Attention in the brain

◘ Key component to Executive Function

◘ Pre-frontal cortex, Anterior cingulate cortex

◘ Normal attention capacity ~ one hour

◘ ADHD ~ “minutes..seconds..what was the

question?”

Thinking Brainset

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Consciously manipulate information in your working

memory to solve a problem. State of purposeful planning

that comprises much of our daily consciously-directed

mental activity. You are “thinking” about something.

Flow Brainset

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Thoughts and actions begin to flow in a steady

harmonious sequence, almost as if they were

orchestrated by outside forces. The stream brainset is

associated with the production of creative material,

such as jazz improvisation, narrative writing, sculpting

or painting, and the step-by-step revelation of scientific

discovery.

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Brain Breaks

◘ Everything in moderation – take a brain

break

◘ Recharge your brain

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Apply the brakes: Stop/go paths in the brain

◘ The brain has pathways for stop and go

◘ Effective inhibition is:

• a key component to executive function

• ? the fundamental deficit in ADHD

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Apply the brakes (impulses, distractions)

◘ Stop the focus and go with the distraction

◘ Stop the focus and take a break

◘ Stop the distraction and go with the focus

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Apply the brakes (impulses, distractions)

◘ ABC – Awareness, Breathe, Choose

◘ Consciously choose between

Camp Spontaneity and Camp Sobriety

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Short-term memory + attention

◘ The brain can hold a variety of things in

short-term memory

◘ The brain uses short-term memory for

analysis, problem-solving, and creativity

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How to harness working memory

◘ Sleep and rest (sleep on it)

◘ Exercise

◘ Repetition

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Harness working memory

◘ Write things down

◘ Have a reasoned debate

◘ Go back & forth between CNN and Fox

News, or New York Times and Wall Street

Journal

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Harness working memory

◘ Two heads are better than one

◘ Get a coach!

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The flexible brain

◘ No multi-tasking

◘ Deep focus, leaping to another deep focus

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Set shifting – cognitive flexibility

◘ Get light on your cognitive feet

◘ Bust your silos

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Set shift - Generate leaps of insight

◘ Shift from mental to physical

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Set shift - Generate leaps of insight

◘ Welcome the opportunity to shift

◘ Make a beautiful decision to shift

◘ Jump with confidence

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The brain – making connections

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Connect the dots

◘ New ideas and perspectives emerge

from the combination of sustained focus,

working memory, and set shifting

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Rise to the big picture

◘ The clouds clear and the big picture

appears!

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Rise to the big picture

◘ Frenzy is tamed just by knowing you

have a path from the forest to the big

picture

Connections to Wellness Coaching

Margaret Moore Founder & CEO Wellcoaches Corporation www.wellcoaches.com Co-Director Institute of Coaching McLean Hospital, affiliate of Harvard Medical School www.instituteofcoaching.org Coach Meg www.coachmeg.com

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