The Global Stress Summit, Day 2
Srini Pillay
Part-time professor of psychiatry at Harvard and a gazillion other things, including being on John Assaraf’s Neurogym team. Srini is a bit of a superstar in the world of neuroscience, and possibly the best dressed – worth tuning into this talk just to see how he gets away with that suit and tie, and lime green waistcoat 🙂
Stated Objectives for this Talk:
- A remedy for “type 2” worry
- Difference between stress, worry and anxiety
- Combating unconscious impacts of stress
My Takeaways:
Are you Jazzed or Freaked Out?
That is the bottom line for Srini, he goes neatly into the actual differences between stress, worry, and anxiety, and shows how the researchers may even go deeper into the physiological origins of each, but he likes to take it down to whether something is having a positive or negative effect on you. If something is serving you, then keep it; if not, then let’s solve it.
Medicating the Potential for Transcendence
‘By giving someone a pill you medicate away their potential for transcendence. So if you take their anxiety away with a pill, you take away the potential for change.’
Hidden Types of Anxiety
He did go into the different types of anxiety, how sometimes we can have it and not realize, and how our brain can register it unconsciously even just from certain images. He also mentioned ‘existential anxiety’ that from the moment we are born our destination is death – I’d like if he went more into that, because a lot of people when they get to 70 tend to be filled with that anxiety and don’t live in the moment and can miss out 10-20 years of their life because they are so worried and anxious and stressed out about ‘pending death’ and ‘running out of time’ when really anyone of any age can die at any time, and one day can last a very long time if lived happily…
Strategies
Srini gave a bunch of strategies, practical things people can do to help them in the daily lives, one that stood out is for couples – one person comes home grumpy, they’ve had a bad day, if you go there it can escalate so think about ‘counter-mirroring’ and do something positive together that you know you both like – a walk, prepare a meal, whatever.
*Srini’s is the sort of talk I’d have to listen to a few times to get my head around, so I’ll update my takeaways on him next time round. UPDATE: FULL TRANSCRIPT OF SRINI’S TALK FREE, it’s in the free gifts for just signing up to view the summit [should be still able to sign up after it has aired]
Rick Hanson
Rick apparently is another legend, and his website has a whole bunch of free resources [I like that!]. This is my first time to hear him talk and I have not yet checked out those free resources.
Stated Objectives for this Talk
- Redefining stress as an opportunity
- The role YOU play in stress
- Discovering your personal “Vitamin C”
My Takeaways
Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together
Rick Hanson has given the clearest explanation that I’ve ever heard of what that actually means:
- The longer you keep those neurons firing, the more they rewire, so basically the longer you stay with it – doing whatever it is that uplifts you – the more those neurons will form those new or happy neural pathways.
- Uplifting activities include music, nice images/pictures, breathing, self-care.
Build Up Your Inner Muscle to Deal with Stress
- Treat yourself like you matter – do things that make you happy several times a day.
- Build inner strengths like patience, hope, self-compassion.
- Be more present and centered.
- Perspective – ask yourself do you really have to learn the hard way?
Gratitude
When you make your daily list of what you are grateful for today, savor those things – take time to feel them and tune into them – it’s not just about writing it down and not connecting – connect with those good things.
Evian Gordon
Stated Objectives for this Talk
- Laws that govern brain function
- Non-conscious triggers your brain senses
- Creating new neural pathways
JJ Virgin
Stated Objectives for this Talk
- Top urban myths about fat loss
- How to choose your stress response
- Secrets for building your business
Judy Carter
Stated Objectives for this Talk
- How to go from a mess to a success!
- Communicate with power and meaning
- Strategies for overcoming stressful situations
Own The Summit
Remember, this is just a taste of the summit, for the full summit and all the speakers, you can buy the talks and transcripts for The Global Stress Summit and see everything they had to say for yourself. And maybe let me know YOUR opinion 🙂