Empowerment: is your brain fit and focused?
Last year during the summer holidays I wasn’t doing anything in particular when it suddenly occurred to me that the titles of all my 3 books have the word “power” in them. The subtitle of my second book reads, roughly translated, “transforming force into power” and the subtitle of my last book “using the unlimited power of the brain”. I understand very well why I use this word so much, because it is my passion to em”power” people. So, in fact, it is no wonder that “power” occurs in the titles of my books.
A bit of history
I’ve been running my own company for ten years now, and from day one, empowerment has been key. All along, it’s been clear to me that I can help people discover their personal strength only when I use science-based methods. I apply these techniques because I don’t want to end up in vague discourses where, frankly, I don’t feel at home. I suppose this has to do with my medical training. Finding the right approach took some careful deliberation because the boundaries with soft skills aren’t always that clear.
Neuro-leadership
About seven years ago, my enthusiasm for neuro-leadership started. It’s a new discipline that interweaves neurosciences, leadership development and personal development. The interesting thing about neuro-leadership is that it uses proven tools to work with empowerment, which I consider essential.
I worked hard to familiarize myself with the subject matter and now I feel confident I can pass it on to others. While I was perfecting my neuro-leadership skills something else also occurred. Gradually, I recognized that empowerment and using your brain (and mind) optimally are in fact identical.
Empowerment is making optimal use of the brain
Empowerment means knowing your personal strength. If you feel less than optimally empowered, you are not connecting with your inner strength. The organ we need to step into this personal strength is the brain. A case of burn-out can illustrate this. When someone has a burn out, the stress levels have been too high for too long, the bucket is overflowing, so to speak. It appears that the brain of people suffering from chronic stress changes (nerve cells in the amygdala start to grow and develop more synapses whereas some parts of the hippocampus and the frontal cortex shrink). The brain adjusts to the new situation. The person having the burn out has not made optimal use of the mind and the brain.
It doesn’t have to be this way: you can train your brain to be fit and focused
Conversely, when you dó make optimal use of your brain, you are the one in charge, and not your surroundings or your stress. A fit and focused brain can handle external pressure, stress or tension just fine. A fit and focused brain can bring about this empowerment and give you a better handle on stress and work pressure.
How do you get such a fit and focused brain, how do you step into this personal strength?
Fortunately, more and more data are available about how to develop such a fit and focused brain, how to become and remain empowered. I’ve written several articles on this subject, you can find them in this blog. I also realised how important it is to give people the opportunity to improve these skills. For instance, DVLC organises an in company training mental vitality. In this training you will learn how to remain in your strength by using your brain. Please send us an email by clicking here if you like more information.
Finally
I started this blog with the insight that my passion and my job is introducing people to their personal strength. I am very grateful that I can also offer you a highly effective and simple method to do just that.