Flat Brain Syndrome Chapter Summary

According to the dictionary the word communication came from the French word “comunicacion” around the 14th century which means “to make common” “to share, divide out, inform” (Webster). The book tells us that the word derived from “commune” suggesting that a higher level of people connect healthier with other people, God and nature. (Petersen, 2007). This shows how vital it is that we can communicate efficiently because the way we speak affects how we deal with relationships.

The book by Petersen gives us two levels of communication, Level I, “gives and receives information and discusses points of view”, Level II, is more than words, sharing information becomes easier and clearer, this is where we “develop trust, intimacy, and personal sharing”

The stomach holds our emotions and feelings, this is the personal part of us. The heart is the “yin-yang” part that gives and receive concerns, suggestions and support we have, while staying open to other views. The head is our non-personal logical part and manages what we think, hear, feel also what we remember and imagine. (Petersen, 2007). The “result: The Flat-Brain Theory of Emotions” (Petersen, 2007, p. 20). There is also, The Flat-Brain Syndrome which is when our emotional part, the stomach overloads our logical part, the brain (Peterson 2007). During this time our emotions can become explosive and the mouth begins to work overtime. This is when it seems we can’t think or listen, causing trouble with any type of meaningful conversation with others. We can correct this by changing from the inside out by using four basic listening skills, they are “reduce emotional disturbance, clarify thinking, increase self-confidence and build supportive friendships” (Petersen 2007, pp.

I need to be sure I’m staying focused on the person who is talking to me, be engaged in what they are saying and not what’s going on around room. I also need to keep my emotions in check. I need to listen, with God as my guide and listen as well as respond with love and compassion. There will be times that feelings are going to be hurt and to remember that “discomfort goes with the territory of being a listener" (Petersen, 2007, p 108). Because each family member feels misunderstood by the other, as the matriarch of the family it would help if I introduced some of the basic listening skills in Petersen's book. One would be to have everyone acknowledge what the talker is telling them. Para-feeling and Para-thinking would help by putting other feelings and thoughts into words and start to understand how they feel and what they are saying to one another. I need to make sure there is a safe environment, so all the family feels they have the opportunity to open up and be honest without being in attack mode or feeling