Maintain vascular health through exercise and managing cholesterol to ensure proper blood flow to the brain. Support neuron structure and electrical conduction with omega-3 rich foods like fatty fish or chia seeds; fertilize your brain’s ecosystem with regular exercise, which releases growth factors like BDNF; and continuously challenge your mind by learning new things and expanding your thought, as this prevents parts of your brain from becoming dormant and modifies neural connections.
When feeling fear, panic, or anxiety, consciously slow down your breathing, inhaling and exhaling slowly through your nose for about two to three seconds each. This physiological control helps prevent hyperventilation, which can lead to twitchiness and impaired thinking, allowing for clearer thought and emotional regulation.
Understand that your brain and mind have a reciprocal relationship; conscious efforts like emotional regulation, meditative breathing, and daily reflection structurally modify the physical connections in your brain. This ongoing self-improvement builds up parts of your brain, making it easier to deal with future challenges at a physiological and cellular level.
Manage anticipated stressful periods by compartmentalizing the disruption to a specific timeframe, protecting the time before and after for living fully. Adopt a ‘seasons of life’ mindset, recognizing that growth, triumph, tragedy, and difficulty are cyclical, which helps view stumbles not as setbacks but as phases to push through for the next ‘springtime.’
Learn from those facing mortality that there is ’no time to waste,’ fostering a deeper appreciation for each day and inspiring a focus on quality of life. This perspective encourages living fully and intentionally, rather than taking days for granted.
Before high-pressure tasks, engage in light physical exercise for postural preparation, avoiding anything that fatigues your hands or forearms. In the last 10 minutes before sleep, mentally run through the challenges and dangerous aspects of the task, allowing your subconscious mind to work on solutions overnight and provide background preparation.
Approach interactions, especially in caregiving or leadership roles, by bringing your authentic self and sharing personal complexities, fostering a deeper connection. Offer reassurance and maintain physical presence, like holding a hand or making eye contact, to ensure others feel supported and never stranded, even when outcomes are uncertain.
Recognize that life’s triumphs and tragedies are not permanent; by viewing life’s moments as cyclical seasons, you can enjoy the present and understand that difficult periods will eventually pass, leading to new phases.
While providing connection and spending time with older loved ones, avoid doting on them by performing their daily activities. Encourage them to maintain their independence in tasks like walking to the bathroom or kitchen, as this helps prevent the ‘use it or lose it’ decline in physical and cognitive function.
Develop self-awareness by using physical cues, such as glasses fogging up during stress, as a ’neurofeedback’ mechanism to signal the need to slow down breathing. This internal dialogue helps navigate emotions and thoughts by controlling physiological responses.
Understand that resilience isn’t just an innate quality (systemic resilience) but also something that develops through struggle (processive resilience). This perspective offers optimism, knowing that difficult challenges can bring out unrecognized strengths and abilities.
Seek out varied life experiences and odd jobs beyond academic or conventional paths to develop a deeper understanding of human nature and bring richer context to professional interactions. This broadens perspective and enhances empathy when dealing with diverse individuals.