Brain Rules... Spirit Controls

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

In Brain Rules, author John Medina, molecular biologist, tells us how our brain works. He has twelve rules for making the brain work better. His bonus DVD gives you specific directives on how to put the rules to work.

The twelve rules for Brain Power:

Rule #1: Exercise to boost brain power.
Exercise twice a day ... 20-30 min. aerobic in the morning and strength sessions in the afternoon is all it takes. Even if you're getting older and get away from exercise, it will come back if you start now. Walking 12 miles a day will do it too.

Rule # 2. The human brain has evolved too.
Our brains have developed over time with symbolic reasoning. From experiences, we learn to figure things out. We actually have three brains. One runs our body functions. The second brain allows us to feel emotions... rage, fear, pleasure. It creates and remembers emotions from experiences. The third brain, the cortex, is highly specialized for speech, vision, memory. Our brains are getting bigger from generation to generation. This one figures out others, motivation, the ability to create relationships. With symbolic reasoning, we can understand others' intentions and motivations, allowing us to coordinate within a group.

Rule #3: Every brain runs circuits in its own unique way.
Every brain, in terms of function, is wired differently. We each store things in different areas. The brain does not pay attention to age as some things by some are learned in different ways, at different times than all the others. For example he found most brains aren't ready to learn reading when, at the age, it is taught in most schools.

Since all brains function differently, at different time lines, smaller group education is better, customized approaches are the best. So we have many ways to be intelligent which don't show up on the IQ Test. And remember, no two people store info the same way, and every brain develops at different rates in different people.

Rule # 4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
What we pay attention to is influenced by memory... of the past experiences and how we felt about them then. Our cultures influence us too. Emotionally arousing events, at least for a certain person, gets attention. The emotion is remembered more than details. Knowledge is organized around these core commotions of the mind. Then details are formed around these notions.

The brain doesn't multi task. It does things sequentially... one after another. We can't process attention-rich inputs simultaneously. The brain shifts to an "alert" to something (task, idea), then it activates task functions. It then disengages; and again, it recognizes another "alert" to the next task, then to task activation. It disengages again, signals an "alert" and continues the process again and again.

This keeps reoccurring about every ten minutes. After ten minutes it wants to shift. This is important in that it affects attention, learning, listening, task function effectiveness. So if speaking to someone you must grab attention back by saying it in another way, or doing something different... constantly changing the mode or style of communication. In a task, we should change the nature of the task at these intervals even if just going back and forth from one form to another.

Emotional arousal helps the brain to learn... fear or great joy at peak levels affects our ability to remember. The brain remembers the dramatic, shocking, intense, deeply heart felt...and ties information to it then.

Rule # 5: Short-term memory.
Repeat to remember. In 30 days we forget 90% of what we learned in a class. Actually, we forget most of what we learn in class a few hours after the class. But when applying space in learning, repeating information in timed-intervals, we increase memory.

Memory has 4 stages: encoding, storing, retrieving, and forgetting. How we encode the first few seconds of exposure to information has the greatest affect on how we remember and can retrieve it. The more elaborately we encode in these initial moments, the stronger the memory. You can increase chances of remembering by re-producing the same environment when it was first exposed, put into your brain. If sad when you first were exposed to the information, you recall it faster, again when in a sad state. You will notice when in certain moods, you remember or just happen to think of certain things. This how the brain works... it creates associations with emotion.

Rule # 6: Long-term memory remembers to repeat.
Information needs repeated shortly ( a few hours) after it is presented. This should be repeated again in a few hours. Repetition and review must go on at constant time-spaced intervals.

Rule # 7: Sleep well, think well.
Sleep loss means mind loss. It hurts attention, execution function, immediate memory, working memory, mood, quantitative skills... Sleep is rather intimately involved with learning. We down shift in certain parts of the day. Take naps when you are downshifting (25-45 minutes is a good length for a nap) and see 34% productivity improvement.

Rule # 8: Stress.
Stressed brains don't learn the same way. Stress comes from feeling helpless and loss of control in our lives. It happens when you have a problem and have no control over the problem. Stress releases adrenaline which scars your blood vessels. This then can cause a heart attack or stroke. To relieve stress, find ways to relieve or change the situation you feel you have no control over, or it puts you in a sense of feeling helpless in doing anything about it.

Rule # 9: Sensory integration.
Stimulate more of the senses at the same time. Students learn better when multi-media is used with words and pictures together, presented simultaneously, than successively; near each other, with extraneous information excluded and with animation and narration instead of text. We rely on past experience, when deciding how to combine signals. Vision influences learning.

Rule # 10: Vision
Vision trumps all the other senses. Visual processing doesn't just assist in the perception of our world, it dominates our perception of the world. The brain actively reconstructs what it is sent through the eyes. It de-constructs the information, then pushes it through a variety of filters, and reconstructs it again to what it sees or thinks it sees. So we literally can see things that are not there. Previous experience plays a vital role in what the brain allows you to see.

The more visual the input, the more likely it will be remembered and recalled. In 72 hours, people remember 10% of what they hear, while retaining 65% of pictures they see. With words we read, we create many pictures in the mind to decide which picture to use. Text and Microsoft is not natural for the brain. Trees and leaves are. We try to visualize in our brains the words we read... creating many versions based on past experiences. Power point has too many words to be effective.

Our visual system creates movies, generates hallucinations, consults with previous information before allowing us to see outside. The retina creates streams of movies, some parts of the brain registers motion, the other color. We then combine all of these... this is what we see. We learn best through pictures. Text requires many simultaneous processes for us to grasp meaning.

Rule #11: Gender
Male and female brains are different. We all have known this but some cultural issues have caused us to deny it. Medina presents a case for dealing with the realities of it.

If you get two X chromosomes, you are a girl. If you get an X and Y you are a guy. The egg never carries the Y, only the sperm. So the male determines the sex. The X does most of the developmental lifting. So girls' early development passes up the boys. The X chromosomes creates more proteins involved in brain manufacturing of highly cognitive functions in verbal skills, social behavior and intelligence.

Men synthesize serotonin faster than females, so they usually get over emotional things faster than females. Females get depressed more. Males are more antisocial, while females have more anxiety. Most alcoholics and drug addicts are males, most anorexics are female. In emotional situations, females remember more detail and males walk away with the gist of the thing. Under stress women tend to focus on nurturing offspring, men tend to withdraw. Girls advance verbal skills sooner then boys in school, whereas boys advance mathematically faster. Doing things together is the glue for male relationships, while girls talk.

Boys are more directive, girls invite the group in on things. Girls who are directive are considered bossy.

Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.
We actively test situations through observation, hypothesis, experiment and conclusion. We recognize and imitate behavior because of "mirror neurons" scattered across the brain. That's why culture and our experiences have such a big effect on how we think. What each person sees, that brain records that as its reality.

The good news is our brains stay malleable like as when we were babies, so we create neurons and learn new things throughout our lives. There is hope as we age: old dogs can learn new tricks. For more on brain tricks to stir up yours, note John Medina's website:
http://www.brainrules.net/

The lyrics of an old popular worship song keep going through my mind,
"We are One in the Spirit, We are One in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
And they will know we are Christians by our love."

Paul the Apostle said in Ephesians that we are One body and One Spirit. We are all united by One Spirit.

In Spirit we become one with the Father, through the Holy Spirit that rides in us. We are the vehicle it rides in and where we go; where we take it, it goes with us.

When we walk in that Spirit, and others walk in the Spirit, the Spirit unites us. Then we become one in Spirit. As the Apostle Paul said...

"Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16, NLT)
"Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." (Ephesians 4:2-6, NLT)
"Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose." (Philippians 2:1-2, NLT)

We have one mind, one purpose and walk as a mass as Christ. We have literally become, when this authentically exists, the incarnate presence of Christ on earth... through a love-bond united Group as One.

The power we have is walking in this One Love, this One Spirit. When we all go to the same Spirit, and work in maintaining the unity of our faith, we are powerful.The secret to Spirit Power is in these principles which Paul so emphatically explains, exhorts us to adhere to. That's why this process in the Spirit Powered business is powerful...

Each of the inner core, need to hold close relationship with the Holy Spirit, spending personal time in the Inner Chamber of God. This is essential and cannot be bypassed. The depth of this is then reflected in the power when we come together.

To hear the voice of God, each part must be shared with each other... the spark of God's voice is ignited then. As a group of combined voices, we hear all of God's voice and not just a part of it as may come from just one person. We need the combined voice of God, from all the parts of everyone, to hear all of God's voice. It's here we fall short in living in God's Power in business. The inner relationship core strength is not established and each person falls short in their own responsibility and diligence in entering the Holy Chamber of God.

Joint worship does this. When the core group enters into group worship, worship that exalts God will then hear from God. It is important to provide time and place to hear the Voice of God... this happens when the group comes together in Spirit. The Inner Chamber surrounds the group, the Most Holy Place of His Presence is entered. Not practiced by very many, although, this is the core, the nuclei of power.

We are controlled by the Spirit, when we allow Spirit to have full reign of our minds. Brain rules become slaves to the Spirit in doing what is pure of the Spirit. "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you." (Romans 8:9, NLT)

When others witness the love this manifests as a group, your efforts in any business, organization or group will have a drawing effect on everyone around you. The Spirit hovering in and over you is like a magnet, that will draw all men to the presence of Jesus among you. This brings the image of Jesus visible so all see, and you have the power of Jesus on you when this is perfected in your group.

In all you do, make this the pattern as Paul suggests and you will See His Power among you.