*Please note- this blog post was written during my time at Brain Fit Academy Inc. I have since continued this amazing work under my own company- Brain FUNdamentals LLC. I hope you enjoy!

"Can I give you a different perspective? A Brain Fit perspective?" I asked the mother of my 7 year old client.

It was the start of the session and we were discussing goals. This little girl was relatively new to Brain Fit (as was her mother) and I was working on helping her with goal setting. I was encouraging her to think about things she would like to work on- things she wanted to be "easier". She was resistant and started talking in a "baby" voice- something I had never seen her do before.

I knew what was happening.

She was going into her "Baby Brain". Her brain perceived this action- thinking about what was hard for her- as a "threat". Her brain diverted the information to the brain stem- AKA "Baby Brain" and what we were seeing was a "flight" reaction. The Flight of the Fight/Flight/Freeze Response.

I've talked many times before about this response and the reactions it can cause. But when you look at the situation- this little girl was reverting back to something that (perhaps) made her feel safe- baby talk. Quite possibly, it took her back to a time earlier in her life. Or maybe it was just a way to gain attention from her mother (also to help her feel safe).

Remember that fear can play tricks on us. It can trick us into thinking that we're in true danger. It can trick us into an urgent need to feel safe in order to protect us. It does this on a subconscious level and most times we don't even know that it's happening.

In fact, other people may have trouble recognizing it too. Which- brings me back to the first line of this post. Me wanting to offer a different perspective. You see- this mother seemed to be thinking that perhaps her daughter was doing it "on purpose". That perhaps she wasn't focusing and was just being silly. So- her mother responded in a way that many parents (including myself- before Brain Fit!) would have. She had a little chat with her daughter. Asked her to focus and to try to come up with a goal for our session.

And you know what? I totally get it. Like I said- I would have responded the same way before I learned all that I have from Brain Fit Academy.

So- I offered her a different perspective. A Brain Fit Perspective.

I explained what I thought was happening. I explained how I thought her brain was perceiving the situation as a threat. And that that was why we were seeing the baby talk and the resistance. And then I told the mother that perhaps she just wasn't ready for "real life" goals yet. And that it was ok!

After that, I pulled out a toy and we set a goal using that. You see- the "work" still works even with a goal around a toy. So it's ok if she's not ready to set real life goals- yet. We'll get there!

We look at things from a different perspective at Brain Fit. It's one of the the things I love about the company.

If you're interested in learning more about our perspective, read more of my blog posts. It's why I wrote them- to share our perspective and to tell our "story".

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. And- I hope you enjoy seeing things from a different perspective.

A Brain Fit perspective.