My brain

I've been reading Your Brain At Work by David Rock. It's been recommended by my coach and while it's really interesting, I'm finding it difficult to make time for it. I think I am generally not used to reading non-fiction. And I have a terrible memory when it comes to remembering facts. Which really is a shame, as there is a lot of very interesting stuff in the book.

The book follows a couple in their daily work life and looks at how they could do things differently. Essentially, if you know how your brain works and are mindful of it in daily life, you can address certain shortcomings and/or use it more efficiently.

One of the chapters deals with how our emotions get in the way. David explains two methods on how to deal with this: 1) labelling: by actually labelling the emotion that comes up, it can help to address it. And 2) reappraisal: by re-interpreting a situation we can address the emotions that were caused by our initial interpretation of the situation.

I especially find the re-appraisal interesting. It's based on the fact that everything is our interpretation and to realize that it is our brain that makes sense of a situation, also means that we can choose to interpret a situation differently. Research apparently shows that people who see things through slightly rose-coloured glasses are happiest. Interesting, isn't it?

The example in the book is about giving a presentation and then being asked difficult questions. The character initially assumes that her new colleagues don't trust her and are being overly critical. Her interpretation makes her very nervous and worry about the outcome. Whereas, if she assumes that they are just doing their job and simply don't know her well enough at this stage, puts things into a different light.
Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?