THE HUMAN INFUSION PROJECT
®
Personal Growth and Relational Development
"When Doing becomes infused with the timeless quality of Being, that is success" - E. Tolle
My Story
I've been interested in how humans interact, from both a scientific and psychological perspective, for most of my life. Thanks to my mother, I grew up with a love of people, and a growing interest in science and nature. I was raised on Christian principles but grew distant in my practice as dogma became polarizing and non-inclusive. I also grew up in a household of alcohol addiction and codependency. So at the age of twenty-two, I began my initial deep dive into self-discovery. Over the next thirty years, I simultaneously continued to pursue my love of science.
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I initially gravitated towards physical science and healthcare. And so completed my advanced degree in Physical Therapy and spent the next twenty years specializing in neuromuscular physiology - studying and applying knowledge of how the brain operates the physical body, to clients suffering from stroke, spinal cord or back injury. So pivoting to the field of neurophysiology - or how our brains function emotionally to influence of our behavior - made a lot of sense to me.
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I also value servant leadership and so enjoyed my practice for many years, guiding clients towards self-empowerment by gaining physical control over their bodies and lives. And over time, I became an expert in my field. But becoming a healthcare expert wasn't fulfilling to me. I found myself losing motivation, chronically tired and not having much left for my personal life or marriage. ​So, after twenty-two years of practice, I stepped away from the medical field - a result of slowly accumulating burnout, and the adrenal fatigue that comes with unexamined emotional patterns that were still lurking in the corners of my mind.
WHY THE FUSION of SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY and SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY?
I spent the next five years, doing intensive personal growth work, learning the brain science and physiology behind burnout and emotional resilience, recovering and reshaping myself from the inside, out. And I have worked with some excellent therapists along the way. But I wanted to accelerate my growth, do more and go beyond what I gained in my one-hour, bi-weekly sessions. Fortunately, due to rapid technical advances, the field of neuroscience had also been seeing rapid growth.
Scientists now have the ability to see and monitor how the brain operates thought, emotions and their effect on human behavior. The language of 'Possibility' had now become 'Science'. I was fascinated and began to systematically study everything I could in modern brain science, applied psychology, 12-step work, the physiology of emotional trauma, modern leadership, emotional intelligence and even Buddhism. ​ I was surprised to find parallels between seemingly unrelated topics. And once I understood how my brain-body actually worked, I immediately started putting together a plan to make some comprehensive and integrative changes. I wasn't looking for a complete overhaul - I've got some good stuff up there in the ole' bean. I simply wanted to feel calmer more often, improve the quality of my marriage and reconnect to who I was at heart. I started with the human body because that's what we humans know the most about right now, and what I had the most experience with. But as I began sifting through all the scientific research and psychological theory associated with personal development, I found much of its description to be overly academic, often too technical, impractical and hard to understand. I also found that although there were many approaches to personal development in the separate fields of applied psychology, practical neuroscience and spiritual philosophy, there was nothing that synthesized the strengths and commonalities that all three of these areas contribute to the human experience. So I returned to self-discovery work, isolated out what was no longer serving my current life and went to work refining and differentiating my emotional response and strengthening relational brain areas that had weakened through my coping strategies. But this time, I used combined, comprehensive strategies that I learned from the study of science, psychology AND spiritual philosophy.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WITH A 'KICK'
Throughout my work, I've also discovered that the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is often deeply misunderstood. EQ is often described as the ability to identify, understand and manage emotions. But that's where I feel that many educators, coaches and mindset practitioners fall short. Emotions are essential to whole-brain use and to living an integrated and comprehensive human life.
In order to do that, not only do we need to identify, develop and refine our emotional experience, but we need to learn to integrate it WITH our intellect, in order to come up with comprehensive, whole-brain solutions that make the most sustainable impact. None of us are robots or emotionless Vulcans (for you 'Trekkies' out there). Emotions are not a negative human feature that we need to 'break', tame or 'wrestle with' to control. Emotions need to be skillfully developed and artfully infused into our intellectual doings and goals. Yes, our baseline emotional response needs to be managed, or developed by way of moderation, differentiation and refinement. But developed or managed in a way that our brains don't just turn out technical and financially-profitable solutions, but instead operate more as a whole, producing more comprehensive and socially-impactful solutions - solutions that not only technically advance our species, but are humane and promote social harmony along the way. This is whole-brain integrated living. And it can be a very powerful experience.