The Applied Neuroscience Institute

Katherine wrote on Sat Aug 4th, 12:11pm:

I have been working with the tools and techniques for staying in the UpSpiral since January this year.  One of the most inspiring aspects of what I have discovered is what my 10 top strengths are.  According to Dr. Larkin (GTPM pg. 61), “Our weaknesses change very little over a lifetime.  Our strengths, which when identified and validated, are infinitely malleable”, which turns out to be the second most important concept I have learned.  For the majority of my strengths I was able to immediately see them in myself and come up with ways in which I have been successful by using them.  However, I also discovered my strengths overlap and complement each other.  For instance, my Learner, Input and Strategic strengths all work together. 

An example of achieving excellence for me is in an area I am responsible at work.  One of my responsibilities is to manage a team for the purpose of retaining our customers.  I enjoyed the process of learning more about the program, processes and procedures when I first took it on (Learner). I used my strength of Input drives me to learn more and dig deeper.  Finally, my Strategic strength supports my ability to identify what can be done to make a positive impact on the status quo.  The end result has been an increase in our retention rates that exceed any other time in our company’s history. Now that is “excellence.”

My strengths work as a foundation in which I can become better, better and best.

neuromind wrote on Sun Aug 5th, 4:57pm:

What has inspired me includes learning my top 10 strengths (from VIA and Gallop) and the research from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Flow) and Barbara Fredrickson (Positivity). I am using this knowledge on a daily basis. For example I printed out the elements of Flow experiences, and use it in my coaching sessions as an educational tool, and I will use research from Positivity to create an upcoming training.

In Growing the Positive Mind, p. 64, Dr Larkin writes “We are a culture driven to believe that we have to work on our weaknesses and become a balanced, well-rounded person. At the cost of giving the attention to what is good in us and growing our real potential, we spend countless hours and lots of dollars on trying to fix what is wrong.”

I started with ANI in January of this year and I see that I’m actively engaged in the pursuit of personal excellence. As I direct my mind (SOMM) and focus on what I want, and let go of being driven, I find that I am more creative… I have more energy. Work is more joy-full and I am in Flow more often. Shifting my focus from be DRIVEN, to inspired and flowing… has opened me up to new possibilities. For example this month I was able to create more trainings in less time, and continued to receive the highest scores from my clients. It’s interesting to see that I am accomplishing more, in less time, and enjoying the process more. Using my strength of Strategic, I’m noticing patterns, identifying client needs, and creating programs that support my clients upspiral living.

Watching the Olympics I’ve been inspired to create an additional training for my clients that will address their interest in successful career transition as well as weave together lessons from Olympians and the research that supports neuropositivity. I feel alive, engaged, and am enjoying the creative process in the pursuit of excellence.

Licensure Student

Jeannine wrote on Mon Aug 6th, 8:41am:

I was asked to be the lecture committee chairperson for an organization I belong to. The second year I did this, I felt that is was important that everyone on the committee was included in the planning process. My husband and I love the outdoors, so we decided to have the lecture in a cabin at a lovely park. The lecturer decided that he would talk as we hiked to a beautiful waterfall.  Though I had a vision, everyone involved felt included in the planning. It turned into this wonderful event where many of the people on the committee and in the organization expressed how they were inspired and moved and it seemed to spark commitment to the goals of the organization. I felt that my attention to detail, openness and receptivity to new ideas, and my love for others really helped to make this a memorable and meaningful event. Now I know that I was using my strengths “Fairness, equity, and justice” “Capacity to love and be loved” “Achiever” and “Adaptability” to make this a special occasion for all involved. I felt that I strove for excellence and all my efforts produced something beyond what I or others involved imagined.

RebeccaE wrote on Mon Aug 6th, 6:19pm:

The time in my life that I feel was my strongest personal best was when I had to go through a recovery program. It a powerful time in my life where everything fell into place and I achieved everything that was asked of me and had recovered things in my life that I had lost for many years. Week after week, month after month was filled with success and soon I became a very strong person that felt like I could do anything and I did.

Mary Garvey Horst wrote on Tue Aug 7th, 10:06am:

I would have to start with the “post-it” note exercise as the ANI training technique that began to wake me up to “better, better, best”.  The invitation “to want, to desire, to have” as offered in the “post-it” note exercise opened up a place inside of me for MORE.  The previously unexamined MORE presented itself as the possibility for greater opportunities, unexplored dreams, new horizons, and adventures of self-expansion.  All of a sudden, the bar had been raised to allow for MORE.  Whatever former beliefs that had been operating within myself to set a limit for what I could invite into my life was called into question.  I was being invited to let go of those self-imposed limits.  How amazing!  What was equally amazing was that I chose to do so. 

I would have to say that the “post-it” note invitation represented for me the ESSENCE of the ANI training for me to be able to ask for more of myself, of others, of happiness, of life.  Everything that I have learned in the ANI training has propelled me to the practice of “better, better, and best.”  I have come to embrace this invitation as coming not from ANI, but as my divine “birth right”.  It is coming directly from the ESSENCE of who I am.  I will be forever grateful to Drs. Larkin and Johnson for mirroring this Truth to me.

gabenza wrote on Wed Aug 15th, 1:15pm:

This February I was at a dance weekend. I had made it to the finals in the Newcomer Division in a West Coast Swing dance contest. That night after competing I asked someone to dance. The music was so fast I said I would take a rain check if he wanted too. He wanted to dance, and boy did we dance! This was possibly the best dance of my life! I did not know I could dance that good! We were in tune with the music and with each other. We were in the flow.

With those two experiences that night I came to believe that I am a better dancer than I thought I was. I realized that if I continued to practice and learn I could do even better next time. I now see that I was utilizing my natural talents and had been for years. Many people tell me you have to have a dance partner to practice with, to get really good at dancing. I have not had a dance partner, except for brief periods of time. I used my positivism and practiced by myself. I have been doing that for the last seven years.  No wonder I could do so well competing against women much younger than myself! I can see that when I use my strengths that things come easier. I feel really lucky to have the the strengths that I have. It is so much fun to use them as they come together for such a fun thing like dancing. That is how dancing became a talent for me.

I felt thrilled and elated to know I had made it to the finals, and thrilled and joyful to have such a wonderful experience after wards. It was definitely the best dance of the evening! I don’t need something external such as a contest to have these wonderful feelings and experiences! I feel gratitude, joy, and inspired when I think of that night.