From the Mountain Standard Time Zone…

Greetings from Boulder Colorado. I am Ellie Jacques and I’m a contributing board member and course developer for HIP. Like many of you, I’ve been learning and working with HIP for a decade, so this origin story may feel familiar.

I was introduced to Dr. Zimbardo at the second annual Hero Round Table conference in Flint, Michigan in 2014. At 23, I was trying to build a sense of self in a sea of imposter syndrome (I told you this would sound familiar). I was living a double life, teaching recovering addicts how to “reframe and rewrite” their personal stories by day and berating myself for my own “shortcomings” by night.

When I got exposed to the HIP lessons, two realizations changed me forever:

1) Zimbardo’s switch from studying evil to studying heroism in the 70’s decreased the opportunities for evil that the Stanford Prison Experiment created and increased the opportunities for heroic action through HIP. That saying “what you think about you bring about” applies here.

Ten years ago my brain was a self-doubt thought factory, but when I changed the inputs to that factory (turn “I am incompetent” into “I am capable enough”), the output thoughts of the brain factory were neutral, productive, or even positive. “The Four Agreements” offers an American Indigenous perspective, describing thoughts as “magic spells” that control our sense of our reality. Martin Seligman, often referred to as the “father” of modern positive psychology in the West, has a readable academic perspective on this subject in “Learned Optimism”. His more recent book “Flourish” also encompasses other exciting wellbeing topics.

2) Yes, the brain is a literal self-doubt factory. It’s not just you, or me, it’s true of all of us. You may know that human culture evolved much more rapidly than our physiology. 10,000 years ago, our “cave ancestors” encountered urgent threats to life and limb. The cave brain alarm systems flooded the body with hormones and electricity that helped us dodge spears and fangs. As soon as the threat was over, the amygdala relaxed and went back to surveillance.

Nowadays, our bodies are still equipped with that ancient alarm system, but modern threats are ambiguous, have a longer time-horizon, and are more often threats to our emotions, not to our physical bodies. Receive an ambiguous email from your boss asking to meet before the end of the day? Your amygdala will seize your stomach, increase your perspiration, and drain blood from the heart to the extremities, thinking your boss is planning on killing and eating you for dinner. Like lighting a candle with a flamethrower, the amygdala is likely to overthink and overdo it.

HIP changed my life by changing my “explanatory style”, which means I now attribute causes of my “psychological arousal” to impermanent, situational aspects and not to my own character shortcomings (“I messed this up because I didn’t know the directions” instead of “I messed this up because I’m stupid”). HIP also illustrated to me “your brain isn’t broken, everyone’s software is out of date!”

These realizations instilled me with hope that changed everything about how I lived. Like many of you, being so positively impacted by HIP is why I stuck - and continue to stick! - around today.

How has HIP or heroes impacted your life and made you who you are today? Send 400 words or less and an optional image in .jpg form to [email protected] and we might include your hero origins story in our next newsletter.

Thank you for your time, trust, and the efforts you make in your own corner of the world to make it a better place for everyone.

Ellie

Thoughts on Heroes:

• American Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik has been lauded as “heroic” after an incredible pommel horse routine this week. But is he a “hero”? What aspects of Nedoroscik’s behavior can be deemed as heroic? How is he different from other heroes? How should we talk to young people about athletes as heroes?

• A Level One Participant reminded us this week of Father Greg Boyle, a social hero whose potent acts of kindness and advocacy amidst threats of terrible violence on the streets of Los Angeles from the 1980’s to the present day have changed the lives of thousands of former gang members for the better.

• Julian Assange is back in the news. The controversial views on Assange show us how divisive “heroic” acts can be, especially in such a highly politicized space as the context in which Assange acted. Assange’s legacy is also colored by his personal life, having been accused of rape in 2010 - an allegation that was later dropped. Some say he should have never been prosecuted for his actions in the Wikileaks event, while others say his actions endangered the safety of countless people. Assange’s story cautions us about putting heroes on pedestals and reminds us to consider and integrate all character traits of our heroes and role models into our perceptions of them - both the good and the bad.

HIP Happenings

• We will complete our current six-week Level Two Hero Training Course on August 6. (Ask questions or sign up for Level 2 here) Some compelling questions that came up:

  • Can concepts from “heroism education” be used successfully in “social emotional learning”? What does this look like?

  • What “protective factors” should heroes in training be learning and developing?

  • How do “personal boundaries” fall in the heroic behavior landscape?

  • How do we create “space” (opportunities, safety valves, audits, checklists) in institutions for accountability and prevention so that heroic “reaction” might be rendered unnecessary

  • How can differentiating “heroic acts” from “heroic behavior” decrease the complexity of “teaching heroism”?

• Matt and Ari travel to Rome on Sept 16 and 17 to present at SIPIS (Societa' Italiana di Psicoterapia Integrata e Strategica) with longtime HIP affiliates Giovanna Celia and Mauro Cozzolino.

• Want to talk about teaching, research projects, developing abstracts, curriculum development, or program evaluation on heroes? Email [email protected] to request to be invited to our monthly HIP World Chat Zoom calls. Our next one is on August 28.

• HIP is delivering a talk on the Hero’s Journey to the Portland Humanists group on September 29th. We will share the recording of this lecture in a subsequent newsletter

Making effective action around water easier: Dr. Tom’s Lifeguard Vision

Many people around the water, including lifeguards, fall victim to the Bystander Effect and do not react to drowning in a timely manner. Dr. Tom's Lifeguard Vision is a revolutionary app designed to bring awareness of how drownings can happen to the public, enhancing drowning detection through realistic simulations of real drowning behaviors. Our mission is to save lives around the water by providing heightened water safety awareness, empowering everyone to become a hero in critical moments.

Dr. Tom Griffiths and Dr. Rachel Griffiths, water safety experts with Aquatic Safety Research Group, are dedicated to preventing drowning worldwide, through research and education. Dr. Tom Griffiths developed the app to address the most difficult challenge of drowning prevention for lifeguards, parents, caregivers, and others, which is recognition and detection of drowning which is quick, quiet, and subtle.

Dr. Tom's Lifeguard Vision empowers users to perform heroic actions by providing realistic training that prepares them for emergency situations. By equipping everyone with the skills to detect and respond swiftly to drowning incidents, the app enables ordinary people to become heroes in critical moments. Talk to your local aquatics center about downloading today in theGoogle Play Store or the Apple App Store. Contact us with Promo Code HIP50 for 50% off - https://drtomslifeguardvision.com/contact/

Get involved:

• Sign up for Level 1 or Level 2

• Educators, students, apply to access the HIP Hero Club Curriculum for high schoolers for FREE

• Donate to our cause, which pays for scholarships for folks around the world without access to take our courses.