Susan Britton explains how hope physically changes your brain. Studies from China, Malaysia, the UK, and the US show hope reduces anxiety by activating the orbitofrontal cortex, the region behind your eyes. Hope shifts your brain from reactive panic to creative problem-solving mode.
Hey everyone, it's Susan. And as we close out 2020, I've heard a number of people be talking about, "I'm glad this year is over. Good riddance to it." And of course, that's understandable. It was kind of a tough year for most people. And yet at the same time, there's the message of Happy New Year, and I hope it's a better year, and I hope it's a great year. And yes, hope is in the air. And so being a coach and being a coach who's fascinated by the brain, it led me to think about hope and some of the studies that have been done on hope, and there are a number out there from China, Malaysia, the UK, the US, and all of them point to hope mediating anxiety. So I thought that was interesting, the connection correlation between hope and anxiety. So the more hope, the less anxiety or anxiousness that we have, and certainly a lot of people have had some anxiousness this past year. So we are actually wired for hope. Our brains want to see hope. It's not a Susie Sunshine sort of thing. It's really part of our DNA DNA, and it protects us, it makes us healthier, it gets us going, it puts us into creator mode versus reactor mode, that blue zone versus the red zone mode, and it puts our brains to work on how to overcome whatever obstacle or barrier happens to bump into us. And then that China study also is interesting because it referenced where in the brain hope lights up when hope is experienced. And it lights up right behind our eyes in the orbital frontal cortex of the brain. So right behind the eyes. And it's interesting that our eyes and this hope-seeking part of our brain are so close to one another. It's almost as if how we see things determines whether or not we experience hope. So if we only see roadblocks and difficulties, there's no hope. And if we see roadblocks and difficulties plus also see how we can navigate those obstacles, how we can predict a path through those obstacles, we have hope. So as 2021 rolls onto the calendar for all of us, here is to our collective humanity, our human wiring to create and navigate toward the things that are meaningful to each one of us. So here's to hope and our indomitable desire to see and do good. Hope you have a great 2021.
Susan’s ICF Educator Award | The Heart Behind the Impact Katy Montgomery, PCC
