Coaching with the Brain in Mind

Conclusion: What Are We Doing Here?

Ishi, the last “wild Indian” and last member of his tribe, faced enormous challenges when he left his northeastern California wilderness homeland and moved to San Francisco in 1911. He had to think and relate to others very differently, and neuroscience tells us that these adjustments were surely reflected in the very structures of his brain. The challenges to our minds, relationships, and brains are no less for us today than those Ishi faced. For the first time ever, we have seen our home planet from space or the moon. Not only are we facing possible extinction from natural disasters, as happened to the dinosaurs, but we are aware of these threats. Added to that are threats we humans have created or exacerbated, such as annihilation by nuclear weapons, climate change, or pandemics. Overcoming these threats will take all the creativity our young species can muster. Yet dangers such as these activate our limbic system, including the ever-on-guard amygdala, thus reducing brain functions that support creative thinking, problem solving, and big-picture planning.

Thus, we come to recognize the depth of what it means to be a social species. Now, as in the past, our survival depends on our ability to work together—to link our different skills and experiences into a complex system that consciously and deliberately moves toward a fuller expression of the highest values of humanity. This is the call to potentiate our species.

POTENTIATING

In this book, ...