the body budget

We have a Body Budget. The body budget refers to the system through which our brains allocate resources (like energy, nutrients, and oxygen) to meet the demands of our physical and emotional needs. It is essentially an internal accounting system that helps maintain homeostasis—the stable condition of the body's internal environment.

Our body budget works to keep our internal state balanced. When we're hungry, tired, or stressed, our brain draws from or contributes to this budget to adapt to internal and external changes.

The most basic way to master our emotions is to keep our body budget in good shape. If we want to feel good, then our brain's predictions about our heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature, hormones, metabolism, and so on, must be calibrated to our body's actual needs. If they aren't, our body budget gets out of whack, then we are going to feel crappy no matter what self-help tips we follow.

Reading Dr. Barrett's book has me thinking about how we go about wellness, personally and in the workplace. Are we working with ourselves and others to see our body budgets, and know when something is not calibrated? Is the workload too high, or not stimulating enough? Do we feel a sense of purpose and connection to others? Are we rested or operating on a time scarcity mentality? Do we tend to see danger around every corner?

I'm also thinking about how this impacts those who are more introverted. Are we honoring our body budgets and giving ourselves enough down time, deep work time, or are we stretching too far and "extroverting" to meet an external expectation, thus pulling ourselves out of calibration?

I have the tendency to get uncalibrated, and when out of whack, pull myself back into a body budget balance. I think the secret is to try to live within the body's budget- which requires a different way of thinking, and acting, and feeling.

Source: How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett.

PS Nature is definitely part of my body budget plan. Getting outdoors, all year round, produces a "body sigh" for me.