Empowerment and Inspiration by Jaz Rasool


THE REPTILIAN V MAMMALIAN BRAIN FUNCTIONS


The part of our behaviour that is linked into the more ancient or reptilian part of our brains is associated with reactions, instincts, desires, wants, preferences and impulses.


The higher part of our brains functioning is associated with more conscious behaviours such as considered responses, conscious intentions, affinity for genuine empowering needs, attention to priorities and marshalling resources to address critical urgencies or imperatives necessary for empowerment.


The respective behaviours between Mammalian and Reptilian brain functions are highlighted below.


Mammalian Brain Response Intent Need


Priority Imperative


Reptilian Reaction Instinct Want


Preference Impulse


We are in an empowering flow when our higher, mammalian brain behaviours guide our faster reptilian brain behaviours.


We are in a disempowering flow when our faster reptilian brain behaviours guide our higher, mammalian brain behaviours.


When we are in a disempowering flow,


• Unconscious reactions become what we think are our considered responses


• Misguided instincts are mistaken as our conscious intentions


• Distorted and even corrupted desires or wants become delusions of genuine needs


• Preferences are given false importance as priorities


• Disabling impulses are given critical, urgent or an imperative status


When we are in an empowering flow, • Considered responses become our reactions • Conscious intentions become instinctive • Genuine empowering needs become our desires and wants • True priorities become what we prefer to address


• What actions are critical, urgent or imperative for growth become our default impulses


38 CHOICE POINT MAGAZINE www.choicepointmagazine.com


My writing on how mammals and reptiles relate triggered me writing a fictional story about snake charming.


Sometimes, as we change as human beings, what once protected us can come to be seen of as a danger to our growth with others. Either we continue to allow it to influence us wherever we go or we must influence it to change for the sake of its survival and our growth. The point is that our genuine needs for growth must always take priority over the historical conditioning of our impulses.


GRACE


Whether we have challenges in our lives or opportunities depends on how much we are attending to our needs over our wants or how gracefully we are living our lives.


Living gracefully involves fostering the things that must stay in our lives that can help us grow and weaning ourselves off what prevents us from growing and letting go of unnecessary impulses and desires.


Being gracious to yourself.


An aspect of being graceful with yourself is about attending to needs and imperatives that empower you over impulses and wants that lead to disempowering you.


Being gracious to others.


An aspect of being graceful towards others is about helping them to attend to their needs and imperatives that empower them over your impulses and wants or theirs.


Compassionate coaching is about being gracious in a way that is guided by compassion and which leads to empowerment.


When you are attending to your impulses in preference to your empowering needs you are effectively living life without grace. Similarly when you pursue your impulses, or encourage others impulses, over the possibility of empowering acts for those people, you are lacking in grace or not being gracious them.


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