Book Club
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
by
John L. Ratey, M.D.
Chapter Three:
Stress: The greatest Challenge
Participate in the book club discussion of this chapter by doing the following:
1. Before reading the chapter, take a moment to write in your High Performance Journal.
– Based on the title of this chapter, what do you imagine you might learn?
– What thoughts or ideas come to mind?
– What kind of effect do you anticipate it will have on you to read this chapter?
2. Read the chapter.
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3. Write in your journal, reflecting on what you read.
– What 3-5 things stood out to you?
– What did you learn that was meaningful or important to you?
– Do you want to do anything different in your own life as a result?
4. Participate in the discussion below, sharing your thoughts or ideas about the chapter.
– Share anything you want from what you wrote in your journal.
– What related to or supported anything else within the dimension this book belongs to.
– What related to or supported anything in the dimension of achievement and the pursuit of your goals?
– Contribute to the discussion in a helpful, positive way.
I find clarifying the psychological state of stress and the physiological responses to it valuable. Perhaps one of the most instructive aspects of this chapter, for me at least, is the reminder that challenges facilitate our growth. When we have to strive, we learn. In the great rush to reduce or eliminate stress we forget that it really is a fundamental and essential element of growth. Moving our bodies provides a coping mechanism that helps us to cope with the current stress of “striving” so that we can withstand the difficulty and get the to growth.