Join our upcoming events:

Aromatherapy Certification Online Course: January 28th

The Perceptual Field Online Course: March 18th

Beyond the Eyes, Vision, Perception and the Nervous System–an -in-person retreat: September 10th

Link: https://www.drsamberne.com/workshop/

Sam Berne (00:00.078)
Hey everyone, welcome to the program today. So I want to talk about slowing down is not what you think it is and I’m referring to your pace, your nervous system, your stress and your perceptual fields.

talking to people over the years, people think slowing down is collapsing at night watching TV scrolling on your Instagram or maybe taking some high-powered aerobic class at a fitness center, which could blow off some temporary stress or even doing some cathartic therapies, which in the moment you have a release, but it becomes very addictive.

And there isn’t really a long-term nervous system reset or regulation. And what I’m talking about is long-term self-regulation of the nervous system. It’s not about effort. It’s about pace. You know, technology is so much part of our culture and we’re always going to the speed of our email of social media.

And when we do this, we disconnect from our biological rhythms.

Our nervous system has evolved from cycles, pauses and variations. And even though we’re rewarded for speed efficiency and productivity, it’s having a major toll in all walks of life, whether it’s health business or relationships. True self-regulation is not about collapsing withdrawing. It’s not passive.

Sam Berne (01:48.32)
It’s an intentional shift in our orientation.

When pace exceeds our biological rhythms, our perception narrows. When we narrow our perceptual fields, our decision-making becomes more difficult. Our relationships become unmanageable and our health tends to spiral down. Technology increases our speed and we lose context timing.

and we see less alternative options. In my work, what I observe is that when our peripheral vision and our perception opens,

patterns become visible and our decisions become better. Our vision isn’t just about our eyes, but it’s driven by our whole body, which influences our nervous system. When we slow down, there’s better communication in the eye brain body chain. Slowing down isn’t doing less. It’s connecting more to your rhythms. When you release the imposed have tos,

Perception changes and everything else follows. If this way of working with perception and the nervous system resonates with you, consider joining my online cohort in March or coming to my retreat in California in September. These aren’t about fixing or pushing change. These are about creating conditions. So clarity emerges.

Sam Berne (03:36.994)
So that’s my podcast for today. Thank you so much for tuning in until next time. Take care.

Sam Berne (00:00.162)
Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. So the title of this episode is why smart people misread situations when they’re under stress. We’re going to focus on perceptual narrowing urgency versus clarity. Why intelligence fails under pressure. One of the most common misconceptions that I see especially among intelligent and capable people is the idea that clarity improves.

When we’re under more pressure, if you’re smart enough, experienced enough, trained enough, you’ll make better decisions under stress. In reality, the opposite is true. Stress doesn’t just affect how you feel. It also affects how you see. In fact, stress alters how you see and when perception changes, interpretation changes. When interpretation changes.

Decisions change and that’s where the misread happens quietly confidently and often with serious consequences. Here’s the core observation. I’ve spent decades watching people make decisions in clinical settings and leadership roles in moments where something really matters. What I’ve learned is this intelligence does not protect you from perceptual distortion. In fact, it can make it worse.

When the nervous system is under stress, perception narrows, vision narrows, context collapses. The brain shifts from sensing to protecting. This isn’t a failure of character. It’s your biology. Perceptual narrowing explained under stress. The system prioritizes speed over accuracy, certainty over curiosity.

action over awareness. That’s efficient. If you’re avoiding threat, it’s disastrous. If you’re navigating complexity, this is why smart people can become rigid when they’re under pressure. Leaders double down instead of stepping back. Urgency gets mistaken for clarity. The system isn’t asking what’s true. It’s asking what’s the fastest way to get rid of discomfort and the answers to those two questions are rarely the same.

Sam Berne (02:24.876)
Why intelligence fails under pressure? Here’s the uncomfortable part. High intelligence increases confidence, but it also increases distortion. When someone is used to being right, they’re less likely to question what they’re seeing. Even when their nervous system is compromised, the mind becomes a justification machine. It explains the feeling instead of examining the field.

That’s how misreads become entrenched not because someone is incapable, but because they’re too inside their perception to notice it is shifted. Here’s a reframe. Clarity is not a function of effort. It’s a function of regulation. When the nervous system is settled, the perception widens more information becomes available. Settle cues reenter your awareness. This is why slowing down.

Often refills what urgency obscures not because you’re thinking harder, but because you’re seeing more if there’s one thing I want to leave you with today. It’s this most leadership errors aren’t strategic. They’re perceptual perception is not a fixed trait. It’s a state dependent experience. We understand that we stop asking people to perform better when they’re under pressure.

and start creating conditions where clarity can actually emerge. That’s the work not more speed, not more certainty, better seeing in future episodes. I’ll continue naming patterns like this not to fix them, but to make them visible because once something is seen clearly it no longer controls us in the same way.