How’s your summer going? In early August, I experienced a painful stretch – sitting almost 20  hours over three days in a generic mid-size hotel meeting room for a traditional educational conference.

Traditional in that all of the speakers talked at us – two even read to us! – from the front of the room with minimal questions and answers. The rest of the room was set up in classroom style with tables and chairs. Heavy drapes blocked the windows to allow for better viewing of the PowerPoint slides that had a circa 1995 flair.

Even though I was bored out of my mind, I appreciated collecting and reviewing hard data about the effect the experience had on me physiologically. Thanks to my wearable device paired with the relatively new specialized app, SIX, I was able to observe in real time my second-by-second neurophysiological responses to what was happening to me in the room.  And according to the data SIX gleaned, my brain was not emotionally connected with this conference.

Duh! I hardly needed SIX to tell me that I would have bolted if it weren’t for the December 31 CPE (continuing professional education) deadline that kept me in my chair. I almost regretted my decision to attend a local event rather than fly to an even hotter Phoenix to attend a conference with similar programming.

Even so, throughout the three days of the conference, my brain still experienced “key moments” – feelings it pays attention to, what resonates emotionally, what it values, and what inspires action.

My key moments were simple pleasures outside of the conference, including:

• Eating dinners with my husband.
• Walking with my dog Marcel in the mornings. (On the second morning, Marcel picked up my scent from the prior day and followed it to the hotel as I held onto his leash. Once there, he looked at me with a puzzled gaze as if to say, “Why would you want to come here on your own when we often walk here together?” He had a valid point….)
• Walking home in the evenings to start enjoying a respite from the conference.

Dr. Paul Zak, the eminent researcher and best-selling author behind the science of SIX, refers to these key moments as “immersion.” According to Paul, you feel immersion when you have least three consecutive minutes of  heightened levels of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that plays a key role in focus, motivation, and pleasure. Paul’s extensive research has also shown that people who experience six key moments per day (each lasting at least three minutes) enjoy happier mood and higher energy levels over time. (That’s why the app is called SIX, which sets a daily goal of six meaningful emotional moments.)

What each person’s brain values is highly individualized. And it may not be apparent to the person what their brain most likes. For example, several of us Neuroplasticians who participated in the recent Immersion Neuroscience Coaching pilot program through the npn.hub were surprised about our key moments. We experienced very few while working – even though we all say we love what we do. Instead, most of our key moments occur when we’re doing mundane activities such as walking our dogs, exercising, and for some, washing dishes. However, our brain is valuing us taking time to relax and recover from strenuous cognitive activity.

SIX computes two scores: value, the emotional resonance that leads to key moments, and safety that shows your level of calm versus stress. The neurotransmitter oxytocin is linked to emotional bonding and calm. By measuring both oxytocin and dopamine, which is associated with value as explained earlier, you’re able to monitor your emotional fitness more objectively as well as accurately.

Furthermore, when you analyze the rich data you collect on your own or more than likely with a trained coach, you can gain deep insights into your emotional fitness. That helps you consider wide-ranging actions to take to support neuroplasticity and habit-building, including sustainable behavior change.

For example, one of my fellow coaches in this pilot, Beatrix Pickard-Cambridge, explained that she unpacks the “key moments” she and her coachees experience to find patterns. The insights they have help them determine how to replicate more key moments, especially in similar situations, if they desire.

Beatrix said she asks herself and her coachees a series of questions about what they were doing when they experienced their key moments. And then she digs deeper to ask about how your body felt, what you were thinking, and what did you feel.

To learn more, Beatrix said she then asks herself and her coachees to analyze their answers from multiple perspectives, such as their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual states. The data that SIX gathers allows them to do much deeper self-reflection.

And if you want to go deeper into the neuroscience of immersion behind SIX, check out https://www.getimmersion.com/

As a result, I’m better able to set myself up for success, experience key moments, and improve my emotional fitness as well help my clients who also want to use SIX do the same. However, it’s a different story when CPE is involved….