The Balanced Life
You Can Change!
Topsy Turvy Living
“There is more to
life than
increasing its
speed.”
Ghandi
Building a Better Brain
“Experiences,
thoughts, actions,
and emotions
actually change
the structure of
our brains.”
User’s Guide to the Brain, p. 17.
It’s About Freedom
“By viewing the brain as a
muscle that can be weakened
or strengthened, we can
exercise our ability to
determine who we become.”
User’s Guide to the Brain, p. 17.
You Can Change!
“Attention is a mental
state that allows us,
moment by moment to
choose and sculpt how
our ever-changing minds
will work…
You Can Change!
“To choose who we will be
the next moment in a very
real sense. These
choices are left embossed
in physical form on our
material selves.”
William James
You Can Change!
“Genes and environment
interact to continually
change the brain, from the
time we are conceived until
the moment we die…
You Can Change!
“And we, the owners—to the
extent that our genes allow
it—can actively shape the
way our brains develop
throughout the course of our
lives.”
Ratey, p. 17
You Can Change!
“With the ability to shape our
brains comes the ability to
shape our destiny.”
Jeffrey Schwartz,
Mind and Brain
You Can Change!
“We used to think you were
born with all the brain cells
you were ever going to have,
and all you could do was
lose them…
You Can Change!
“Well, that is wrong. You do
make new nerve cells.”
Guy McKann, MD.
Mind/Brain Institute,
Johns Hopkins
You Can Change!
“Emotions, moods, and
states such as compassion
are trainable mental states.”
Richard Davidson, U.
of Wisconsin, Dept. of
Neuroscience
It’s About Freedom
“The possibilities for change are
bounded only by our imagination,
our willingness to assess our
brains accurately through selfreflection, and our commitment to
do some hard work…
“One necessary
precursor to
change, though,
is often a change
in attitude.”
User’s Guide to the
Brain, p. 356
It’s About Choice
The Ben Hooper Story…
Your Internal Environment
The “Fixed”
versus “Growth”
mindset
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Your Internal Environment
“Fixed” Mind Sets:
 Believe
that traits such as
intelligence, ability, personality,
and competence are inborn and
basically unchangeable.
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Your Internal Environment
“Fixed” Mind Sets:
Believe that if you have to
“work” at improving it means you
are lacking in basic intelligence or
innate ability.
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Mind Set Matters
“Fixed” mind sets view themselves as:
 Smart
or dumb
 Strong or weak
 Competent or incompetent
 Winners or losers
 Good or bad
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Mind Set Matters
“Fixed” results:
Challenges:
 Avoid them
Obstacles:
 Give up easily
Effort:
 Fruitless
Criticism:
 Ignore
Others success:
 Threatening
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Mind Set Matters
“Fixed” mindset traits:
Negative
Self-pity
Anxious
Depressed
Unforgiving
Mind Set Matters
“I don’t divide the world into the
weak and the strong, or the
successes and failures…I divide
the world into the learners and
non-learners.”
Benjamin Barber, sociologist;
quoted in Mindset, p. 16
Your Internal Environment
“Growth” Mind Sets:
Believe that although people
may differ in basic aptitudes,
interests, and temperament,
everyone can change, grow, and
improve.
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Your Internal Environment
“Growth” Mind Sets:
 Have
a passion for stretching
and growing, even when they are
making mistakes and facing
challenges.
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Mind Set Matters
“Growth” results:
Challenges:
 Embrace them
Obstacles:
 Persist
Effort:
 Path to mastery
Criticism:
 Learn from it
Others success:
 Inspiring
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Mind Set Matters
“Growth” mindset traits:
Positive
Self-forgetful
Trusting
Resilient
Forgiving
The “Learning” Mind Set
“What we learn to do, we learn
by doing. Excellence, then, is
not an act—but a habit.”
Aristotle
Finding New Freedom
“Our own free will may be
the strongest force
directing the development
of our brains, and
therefore our lives.”
A User’s Guide to the Brain, p. 17
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