by Areti Vassou
How Words Affect our Life
The human brain has evolved over six millions years. The most primitive parts of our brain operate at a deeply unconscious level, and influence a great deal more of our conscious behavior than most of us realize. As we added more complex structures to support critical thought, reasoning, language, and social behavior, our frontal lobe grew larger to accommodate a great workload. However, this part of the brain continues to be cross-wired with the more primitive structures that support survival. This is a simplified explanation of why a dispute at work can generate a “fight or flight” response when our physical survival is not even remotely threatened.
While the precise language timeline is hard for science to pin down, our capacity for language developed only recently. And yet, language doesn’t operate simply at the newer, conscious level of the brain. We respond to words at a visceral, autonomic level as well. Understanding the impact of words on the brain can help us to become better managers, parents, negotiators—almost any other role in which we as human capital professionals may find ourselves.
Happy New Year!
The University of Georgia is teaching lawyers how to use words to prepare clients for mediation. Harvard is studying the effect of using positive words or images, such as those related to rewards, victory, or security, at the start of a negotiation, rather than focusing on the items in dispute. This priming can trigger the production of oxytocin, the neurochemical that helps trigger feelings such as well-being, affinity, and security.
Change management plans might be more effective if we are careful to prime our communications with positive images and emotions. Managers might choose words very carefully in performance reviews, recognizing that certain words will trigger a fight-or-flight response and shut down the higher cognitive functions in an employee’s brain. And since you are hearing yourself using these words, be mindful of the effect of your own words on your brain. You may be telling yourself a situation is a “problem” when you are trying to present that it simply is a puzzle that you expect to solve.
On the other hand, there are times when the fight-or-flight response is exactly what is needed. In that case, the same principle applies. Don’t wash over difficult issues with soft words, or you risk losing the impact you need to stimulate your audience to action.
Words and neuroplasticity: Neuroplasticity is the term used to describe how the brain continues to re-invent itself. Older, unused pathways fall away, and new ones, with repetition and focus, emerge. What we think about actually rewires our brains—for better or worse. We now know that our choice of words has a direct and immediate effect on our emotional response and makes our brains inclined to respond in specific ways. This is true whether we are reacting to spoken words delivered by someone else, or to the inner self-talk that we hear ourselves “saying” inside our heads.
Are we a race of singers?
An intriguing theory out of MIT suggests that human language may have evolved from imitating the songs of birds. As we learned how to express a wide range of emotions in song, we starting adding the first simple words to further clarify our meanings. We may be a race of singers. Could this be why American Idol seems to tap into something deeply tribal for so many of us?
This article was first published at Association for Talent Development by . (For more on neuroscience applications for human capital, check out the full blog series here.)
What is resolution?
A New Year’s resolution is a tradition in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior.
The definition and origin of resolution:
noun: resolution; plural noun: resolutions
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a firm decision to do or not to do something.“she kept her resolution not to see Anne any more”synonyms: intention, resolve, decision, intent, aim, aspiration, design, purpose, object, plan
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a formal expression of opinion or intention agreed on by a legislative body or other formal meeting, typically after taking a vote.“the conference passed two resolutions”synonyms: motion, proposal, proposition, plan
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the quality of being determined or resolute.“he handled the last British actions of the war with resolution”synonyms: determination, purpose, purposefulness, resolve, resoluteness, single-mindedness, strength of will, strength of character, will power, firmness, firmness of purpose, fixity of purpose, intentness, decision, decidedness;antonyms: irresolution, half-heartedness
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the action of solving a problem or contentious matter.“the peaceful resolution of all disputes”synonyms: solution to, answer to, end to, explanation to;antonyms: continuation, prolonging
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MUSICthe passing of a discord into a concord during the course of changing harmony.“tension is released by the resolution from the dominant to the tonic chord”
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MEDICINEthe disappearance of a symptom or condition.“complete remission was defined as resolution of clinical evidence of disease”
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CHEMISTRYthe process of reducing or separating something into constituent parts or components.
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PHYSICSthe replacing of a single force or other vector quantity by two or more jointly equivalent to it.
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the smallest interval measurable by a telescope or other scientific instrument; the resolving power.
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the degree of detail visible in a photographic or television image.“a high-resolution monitor”
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Origin: late Middle English: from Latin resolutio(n- ), from resolvere ‘loosen, release’ (Thank you google.com for your help)
New Year Resolutions Ideas by IdeaDeco and Areti Vassou
Religious origins
- Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.
- The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.
- In the Medieval era, the knights took the “peacock vow” at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.
- At watchnight services, many Christians prepare for the year ahead by praying and making these resolutions.
This tradition has many other religious parallels. During Judaism’s New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through the High Holidays and culminating in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), one is to reflect upon one’s wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness. People can act similarly during the Christian liturgical season of Lent, although the motive behind this holiday is more of sacrifice than of responsibility. In fact, the practice of New Year’s resolutions came, in part, from the Lenten sacrifices. The concept, regardless of creed, is to reflect upon self-improvement annually. (Thank you wikipedia)
New Year Resolutions Ideas by IdeaDeco and Areti Vassou
Make your Resolution List
The first day of the new year is the perfect chance to sit down and prepare a list of important changes you want to make in your life.Here are some ideas for New Year’s resolutions with a piece of advice and some links to useful articles that can support your goals. If you are looking for ways to build a better life, then you gonna need a lot of suggestions and true support.
Popular Resolution-Goals
Improve physical well-being:
- Eat healthy food,
- Lose weight,
- Exercise more,
- Eat better,
- Learn to cook
- Drink less alcohol,
- Quit smoking,
- Stop biting nails,
- Get rid of old bad habits
- Regular checkup
Improve mental well-being:
- Think positive,
- Laugh more often,
- Enjoy life
- Stop procrastinating
- Be more self-reliant
- Control your emotions
- Face your fears
Improve finances:
- Get out of debt,
- Save money,
- Make small investments
Improve career:
- Perform better at current job,
- Get a better job,
- Establish own business
Improve education:
- Improve grades,
- Get a better education,
- Learn something new (such as a foreign language or music),
- Study often,
- Read more books,
- Improve talents
Improve self:
- Become more organized,
- Reduce stress,
- Be less grumpy,
- Manage time,
- Be more independent,
- Watch less television,
- Play fewer sitting-down video games
- Take a trip
- Volunteer to help others,
- Practice life skills,
- Give to charity,
- Volunteer to work part-time in a charity organization
- Get along better with people,
- Improve social skills,
- Enhance social intelligence
- Meet new people
- Spend quality time with family members
- Settle down, get engaged/get married, have kids
- Be more spiritual
- Be more involved in sports or different activities
- Spend less time on social media (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
- Spend more time with the people that matter
- Learn to be happier with your life
- Get more quality sleep
- Adopt a cute pet
- Be kind
Keep your new healthy habits !
Useful Articles by www.lifehack.org
18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick
