“Be you. Everyone else is already taken. ”
Day 28 Morning Scorecard and Beliefs Self-Reflection:
Mirror Neurons
The accidental discovery of mirror neurons gave the world a better understanding of why humans feel empathy. While studying primates, our closest relative, researchers realized that the area of the brain that lights up when we complete an action is the same area of the brain that lights up when we watch someone else do the action. This is one of the reasons that humans love watching sports, as our brains feel like we’re actually completing the three-pointer or scoring a goal. This is due to the brain's mirror neurons helping us to learn movements more quickly. In addition, because we "feel" as if we're completing an action, we also "feel" the emotions associated with the action, such as feeling hungry when we watch someone eat or flinching when we watch a horror flick. This unique feature literally allows us to feel what others are feeling. This evolutionary trait has allowed us to identify and respond to threats at a quicker pace. For instance, if one caveman saw his friend in a frightened state, he would feel fear in himself and run away, thereby increasing his chances of survival. In summary, mirror neurons make emotions contagious. In today's world, that can be a good thing by helping us feel empathy towards others or it could be a bad thing where our emotional states are hijacked when we come in contact with overly anxious individuals.
FACT: Human brains have spindle cells that are unique to only a few other animal species, such as dolphins and elephants. These spindle cells are unique in that they allow emotions to be transmitted across the brain at lightning speed.
TAKEAWAY: Emotions are super helpful in making quick decisions, but can also overtake a person’s decision-making process and cloud effective action. The spindle cells make sure we respond quickly to a threat but can also set us to act in a rash manner.
Balancing Opposites
Our brains always desire a coherent worldview over a conflicted mindset. Therefore, when incoming information conflicts with our previously held beliefs the brain wants resolution quickly. Say, for instance, a person views themselves a dedicated member of the community but one unfortunate night they are arrested for driving under the influence. This conflict between how they view themselves and their actual behavior is bound to cause anxiety because the brain won't know what category they fit into. Are they a "good" person or a "bad" person? The brain loves to see the world in black and white, but most likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. The brain may like a clear cut answer, but couldn't the person be "both" a good member of the community "and" have done something that they weren't proud of. The brain loves to think in "buts", "should haves", and "either-or's." However, when you learn to live life in "the gray area" you start to realize that two seemingly contradictory perspectives can both have credibility. This radical acceptance of events and situations as having no fundamental truth helps us all to let go of previous biases and see the world for how it truly is, confusing.
FACT: The human brain takes in about 24gb of information per day. If a computer took in that much information daily it would crash in under two weeks.
TAKEAWAY: The human brain has a tremendous capacity for taking in information, but even the human brain can only take so much. Therer becomes very important to cool your “internal computer” down from time to time to get the best results.
“Lifes’ most persistent and urgent question is “what are you doing for others.””