Domains of Grief: Physical
The body has a role in grief! It may seem like an obvious statement, and yet, it seems like it can easily be missed in some contexts. Grief does naturally result in our body responding to the stress of the loss.
Domains of Grief: Social
The social domain of grief is looking at a mourner's experience engaging with the world. As was introduced in a post a few weeks ago introducing the domains of grief, there are potentially two different perspectives to consider when looking at this domain. As a reminder, the first facet is if friends and/or family withdraw due their own need to not be around grief, lack of knowledge of how to be present for someone, etc. and the result is isolation. The second facet is on the part of the person experiencing the grief and their potential reactions to socially isolate, detach, avoid reminders of the loss, or refrain from asking for support.
Domains of Grief: Cognitive
So when a loved one dies, you can no longer find the person in time and space and the brain struggles to understand that based on previous learning. The neural architecture of a bond with another enables a belief that the loved one still exists even though there is substantial evidence saying the opposite (O'Connor & Seeley, 2022).
Domains of Grief: Emotions
Emotions serve a purpose in our lives. Some people have learned to embrace their feelings while others have been taught to stuff them away. There is also a continuum within embracing and stuffing emotions away. These lessons are learned via our culture, family culture, and from individuals, consciously or unconsciously.
Domains of Grief: An Introduction
With some of the basics of grief covered, it is time to do a little bit more of an exploration so that we can learn more about grief. Readers be warned! Learning about grief can remind you of your own grief. That is okay. Grief is not something we get over. Rather it is something we integrate into our lives. The below quote drives this point home.
Grief and Bereavement Basics: Part 3
Disenfranchised grief is what people experience when the loss is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, socially sanctioned, or publicly mourned. Another way to say this is that a person may experience a loss, but it is not recognized by others or society nor is the grief associated with the loss.
Grief and Bereavement Basics: Part 2
When you think about loss in the context of grief and mourning, where does your mind go? Does it go first to death? For many people it does. However, loss includes so much more.
Grief and Bereavement Basics: Part 1
Grief, mourning, and bereavement are topics that people generally do not like to talk about as they bring up all sorts of different feelings, thoughts, and memories. While we will not dive into this topic in-depth, please do take care of yourself as we cover the basic terminology so that we have a common language and an opportunity to understand some of the terms that are often used interchangeable, but that are different concepts. Hopefully, we all walk away from reading this post remembering to hold our grief and that of others with tender care.
Emotions: Mind and/or Body
Have no fear, we are not going to talk about neuroscience today regarding emotions. Instead, we are going to investigate something about emotions. Do emotions begin in the mind or the body? Before you keep reading, take a guess about the answer. Most importantly, keep track of your train of thought about how you arrived at this answer.
Inviting Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is totally different from being self-centered or self-indulgent. These terms are often conflated and a detriment to self-compassion, and to us and our mental health. While the blog on this website has brought self-compassion before, this post really makes self-compassion the focus for inclusion in everyday life.
Mindfulness and the Mind-Body Connection
The body gets lost in the mix. So, what do you think happens? The body loses trust in you that it will be heard or listened to in times of challenge and in times of peace. So the lesson becomes about building that trust back.
Summer Celebrations! The Importance of Traditions
June 20th was the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere! What is a solstice? Coming from the Latin words sol meaning Sun and sistere meaning to stand still, the solstice is when the angle between the light of the Sun and the plane of Earth’s equator looks as if it stands still (Farmers’ Almanac, n.d.). We can see this most directly at the Arctic Circle where we may have heard the term “Land of the Midnight Sun.”
Porges Polyvagal Theory: The Six States of the Autonomic Nervous System
Polyvagal Theory was introduced by Stephen Porges, PhD focuses on the role of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve, as it relates to the physiological/psychological states related to our daily behavior. There are three defining principles (Polyvagal Institute, n.d.):
Hierarchy of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) per Polyvagal Theory (PVT)
Neuroception
Co-regulation
Intrinsic Motivation and Excessive Procrastination
Motivation is a popular topic, not just in sport psychology. Previous posts have talked about sport motivation, so today we are going to take a wider view of motivation and incorporate some neuroscience. Then we will take a quick look at procrastination.
Sleep and the Brain
Sleep is essential in our lives! I believe that science has sufficiently proved that and, frankly, many of us could speak it from our own experiences. Caregivers raising children and missing sleep have trouble focusing the next day. Students who stay up all night finishing a big paper struggling to stay awake and learn the next day. What about the athlete who stays up all night before a big game and sees a dip in their performance? Chances are we can all agree that sleep is a need that we all have. It is also suicide prevention. This week’s post will have some neuroscience in it, which you can skip, but will also talk about how the brain controls sleep, reasons people need sleep and dreams.
Perceptual Learning
Perceptual learning is a learning process that happens via experience and practice leading to long term improvements in one’s ability to perceive and interpret sensory information. Here are two examples. The first is a musician learning to distinguish between the subtle differences between musical pitches. The second is a soccer player learning to pay attention to an opponent's hip articulation in their movements, which represents experience-dependent enhancement of sensory perception.
Neurons and Synapses
Neurons and synapses. Oh my! Yes, I did go there. Hopefully, you smiled for a quick second. Over the past few weeks, we have spent some time talking about neuroscience, brain structures, etc., but we haven’t gotten to the cellular level to talk about how the brain sends information. Today we are going to rectify this and talk about the cells of the brain and cover a brief introduction about how they communicate.
What is Consciousness?
The answer to what is consciousness is beyond what can be written in this blog post. Scientists, philosophers, and many individuals have attempted to answer this question and still continue. There is so much that we could talk about and many questions that have yet to be answered. While we cannot come to a definitive answer, we can begin the conversation in hopes of inspiring you to learn more on your own time. Ask questions! Explore! Get curious!
Diving Into The Brain Part 3: Explanation of How Language and Emotion May Interact Behaviorally and Neurologically and Cultural Considerations
In daily life emotions, language, behavior, and how they interact, show up for all of us. When I think about how a bully and their words can impact a young child who may then feel sad, upset, or angry. The bullying victim then takes steps based on what they are feeling. How a person talks to themselves and the language that they pick can impact and motions and thereby behavior. The examples could continue. There is power in the language that we use!
Diving Into The Brain Part 2: Emotions
In last week’s post we explored the brain in relation to language. This week we will do something similar and look at the brain and emotions! Before we dive into this post, it is important to remember that, while we are talking about the brain in relation to emotions, emotions are also very much felt in the body as well. This will be a post for the future where we look at the role of the body in emotions because of how important it is to look at that perspective. Believe me when I say it is very important to consider the body’s role as much research has been done and many fields of psychology utilize the body’s role in healing.