Jun 30, 2014 13:56
9 yrs ago
5 viewers *
English term

experiential nurturance

English Social Sciences Psychology ambivalent attachment
Hi,
I was wondering about the meaning of “experiential nurturance” in the following passage...It doesn't seem to be a very common expression...
Might it mean: “experience of receiving adequate emotional care/loving care”?
Thanks for any hint!


Another part of this journey for you is to realize that parental presence may seem in short supply in avoidant attachment, that the surface of behaviors is the focus of attention, and that attuning to the internal world of the mind, of the child or even of the self, is simply not often engaged. In this setting, you may have developed with a minimal sense of your own mind, too. The effective strategy to begin with is for you to get in touch with the side of your brain that lets you focus on the internal world—of yourself and of others. That is the right side of the brain.
Since emotions and our bodily sensations fill us with the vitality that makes life rich and meaningful, this avoidant pattern of relating from the left side may have created a disconnected sense of self that is short on the internal joie de vivre, that spirit of being alive, that gives life its zest. This lack of * experiential nurturance * leads, I believe, to an underdevelopment of the right side of the brain.
(..) If you’ve had a hefty dose of avoidance, the left hemisphere may be in charge because it allowed you to develop in the face of an emotional desert. That was a great adaptation for your past. But what about now? What does that mean for your mental life?

Responses

+2
38 mins
Selected

Experience of love care and attention given by a carer/adult/another person

..

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Note added at 1 hr (2014-06-30 15:14:34 GMT)
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http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/01/31/early-nurturing-aids...

A mother’s affection during the early stages of a child’s life appears to help the development of an area of the brain involved in learning, memory and stress response.

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis determined school-age children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus. The hippocampus is a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress.
Note from asker:
Thank you so much, Liz, for your references! The gist was clear, but "experiential nurturance" sounds so unusual to me that I was afraid it could have a more specific meaning... Now it's clear...
Peer comment(s):

agree JaneTranslates : This is how I understood it.
1 day 1 hr
agree acetran
1 day 23 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much, Liz, for your precious help! Thanks also to Helena, JaneTranslates and acetran for their contribution! Have a nice weekend!"
51 mins

existential nourishment

'experiential' means 'relating to or based on experience'.

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus/british/experie...

'nuturance' is a noun and the verb is 'to nurture':

VERB

[WITH OBJECT]
1Care for and protect (someone or something) while they are growing:
Jarrett was nurtured by his parents in a close-knit family
MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

1.1Help or encourage the development of:
my father nurtured my love of art

1.2Cherish (a hope, belief, or ambition):
for a long time she had nurtured the dream of buying a shop

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nurture

In my opinion another way of wording 'This lack of experiential nurturance...' is 'This failure to nuture experience/ encourage experience to develop'.

The writer of you text is saying that people need to nourish the left side of their brains (feed the left side of their brains with experiences).

Or that's how I understand it!

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Note added at 55 mins (2014-06-30 14:51:59 GMT)
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Or maybe it's the right side, not the left, that needs to be nourished...

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Note added at 57 mins (2014-06-30 14:54:36 GMT)
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Sorry, 'nuRturance' (it's not a word I often use).
Note from asker:
Thanks, Helena, for your hints! Actually I believe the author is referring to childhood experiences with caregivers... If those experiences were "emotionally cold", the right side of the brain probably didn't develop completely...
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

38 mins
Reference:

I believe your interpretation is right

Meaning
Experience of love care and attention given by a carer/adult/another person

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/issue_briefs/brain_develop...
How the Brain Develops
What we have learned about the process of brain development has helped us understand more about the roles both ****genetics and the environment play in our development***. ***It appears that genetics predisposes us to develop in certain ways. But our experiences, including our interactions with other people****, have a significant impact on how our predispositions are expressed. In fact, research now shows that many capacities thought to be fixed at birth are actually dependent on a sequence of experiences combined with heredity. Both factors are essential for optimum development of the human brain (Shonkoff and Phillips, 2000).
1. Nurturance - Merriam-Webster Online
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nurturance
o
o
the love, care, and attention that you give to someone or something. Full Definition ofNURTURANCE. : affectionate care and attention. — nur•tur•ant
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/experie...
experiential

ADJECTIVE
Involving or based on experience and observation:
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