Across all domains, including the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, developing and enhancing nervous system balance is the secret sauce.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.
Regardless of the pursuit, when we are considering achieving our goals and objectives, it is often the case that we refer to the secret sauce. This concept relates to those principles and concepts which are at the core of our pursuit and most influential to be the best version of ourself. Furthermore, this alludes to the understanding that there are particular strategies which are essential to our overall pursuit.
Regardless of if we are considering the pursuit of health, wellbeing, or sustainable high performance, we can readily recognize that nervous system balance is the secret sauce. The necessary skills, strategies, and tactics which allow us the best opportunity to grow and develop to our fullest potential and achieve our goals and objectives are based upon and optimized by underlying nervous system balance. To review, this concept is comprised of two important components. The first is strengthening our anchored and grounded states such that we are able to spend much of our time within these states which allows their natural attributes to emerge. Typically these attributes are most supportive of and conducive towards health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. The second component is nervous system flexibility. This attribute provides us the capacity to identify when we have shifted into protective and defensive states and utilize appropriate skills, strategies, and tactics to return back to anchored and grounded states. This is a critical element as it is inevitable that we will experience shifts into protective and defensive states.
Growth and development are essential components of the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. In order to grow and develop any skills and attributes in life it is essential that we expose ourself to challenges and situations which are slightly beyond our current capability. Without doing so, we never experience the necessary degree of constructive stress that is essential for growth to occur. It is important, however, that when we are challenging our capacity and ability that we do so from a biological state which is stabilized by anchored and grounded states. This allows us to perform at our highest level, reduce the chance of shifting into protective and defensive states when faced with a challenge, and optimally learn from the situation we have experienced.
Whether or not situations in which we are challenged become overwhelming or lead to association with a stressful experience is strongly influenced by our biological state. If we are able to maintain an element of anchored and grounded state, it is substantially less likely that these situations will be experienced as overwhelming. On the other hand, if we shift into protective and defensive states, the attributes which naturally emerge from those states will provide a much higher chance that the same situation will be experienced as one which is stressful, overwhelming, or lead to feelings of shutdown.
The above understanding directly demonstrates how nervous system balance is an essential component to growth and development. In order to optimally grow and develop it is important that we do not experiences these challenging situations as overwhelming. In order to do so, nervous system balance is necessary in order to ideally maintain anchored and grounded states and to shift back towards these states in the event that we shift into protective and defensive states.
When we are considering ourselves and the internal pathway related to the experiences we encounter, nervous system balance is equally important as the secret sauce in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. From the perspective of health and wellbeing, it is necessary that we are able to shift into anchored and grounded states in order to repair, recover, and restore the metabolic resources that we have utilized in our day-to-day activities. This is particularly important in the pursuit of sustainable high performance in which a higher degree of resource usage and replenishment is necessary in order to achieve our objectives.
Within a group setting, including high performance groups and teams, as well as friend groups and families, social connection is an essential element. Across the relational pathway, an exceptionally strong cue towards anchored and grounded states is social connection. In addition, the lack of connection is a strong cue towards shifting into protective and defensive states. This demonstrates how social connection can be a very important contributor to the overall experience and performance of a group or team. It is important to note that when we are in protective in defensive states this will detrimentally impact our capacity towards social connection. As such, nervous system balance at both the individual level as well as when considered with the group as a whole is an essential element in order to provide the foundation for social connection.
When we are considering roles in which we are coaching or teaching others, nervous system balance is equally important. The above described scenario in experiencing challenges for individual growth applies equally when we are providing that challenge to another individual or group of individuals so that they can grow and develop. The concept of support and then challenge is critical in this capacity. For the same reasons as it is important when we are considering individual level growth, nervous system balance is equally essential when we are in the role of a coach or teacher and are challenging others in order to develop their skills and abilities.
When recovering from injury or illness, it is important to be able to shift into anchored and grounded states. This provides the optimal biological foundation for recovery and restoration. While this may appear simple in concept, it is more difficult in practice. This is on account of the reality that illness and injury is often associated with inherent shifts into protective and defensive states. The ability to exhibit nervous system balance, therefore, becomes an important attribute in the process of recovery from illness and injury.
While there are no doubt other important examples and everyday experiences beyond those described above which demonstrate the importance of nervous system balance as the secret sauce, these case examples readily demonstrate how the foundation lies with nervous system balance. This attribute becomes the common denominator in our pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. In order to optimally develop the capability to achieve nervous system balance it is important that we develop as robust a toolbox as possible of psychological skills and body-based practices to serve as the inputs towards achieving these desired outputs. As discussed in past articles within the framework of complementary healthcare, it is often the case that certain skills, strategies, and tactics will be effective in certain circumstances and less so in others. By developing as robust a toolbox of inputs as possible, we provide ourselves the optimal framework from which we can pursue nervous system balance across whatever situation we may encounter.
This becomes the secret sauce. Developing nervous system balance by training and developing as robust a toolbox of inputs as possible provides the capacity so that we are able to optimally leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. While the applications across these differing domains may vary to a degree, the underlying foundational concept is that of nervous system balance and developing as many inputs as possible so that we are best positioned to be the best version of ourselves in whatever pursuit is of importance to us.
The above discussion illustrates how the secret sauce is nervous system balance. This is an important attribute which can be pursued through a variety of inputs with optimal strategies and tactics varying on the basis of the specific domain and whether we are considering the individual or group level. Ultimately, however, it is the strength of our anchored and grounded states and the degree of nervous system flexibility which is most influential and the biggest determinant in our pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
To learn more, including about biologically complementary coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, please visit www.darindavidson.com.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.