Nobody told me how the brain works. I guess we just assume we all have one so there is little value in understanding how it works, and it is more profitable to just put it to work. (For them, but not for you). But understanding how the brain works and what it needs is imperative to everything we hope to accomplish.
Maybe nobody told us how the brain works because it is complicated. Very complicated indeed, but I’m no dummy and want to struggle with that knowledge. Why? Because not only have I taken my brain for granted all those years, treating it like a hammer in a rusted old red tool box, instead of seeing it for the key that it is and the doors it an open to amazing opportunities.
I’m not going to give you a scientific explanation of how and what each of the part does, except to tell you in my own words that our brains do what it has to in order to give us the best of every situation.
The brain regulates itself. Like the heart is takes on stress and information all day long, and does a marvellous job not to buckle. But sometimes, we crack. Life gets to us and when that happens the brain helps us come.
I should really say brains because there are several of them that make up one solitary entity. We have a brain that became active the moment we were born. It is responsible for all our bodily functions. You are able to hear, walk, and swallow, and all without dying. That is what that brain does for us each and every day, and it has grown more efficient over the years.
But we also have a little, walnut shaped brain that has no memory and is responsible for scaring the shit out of us. Ok. Maybe it doesn’t do the scaring, but it’s responsible to warn us of impending danger. It has no active memory and so it get spooked and gets as nervous and and every time the same stimulus perks up.
This little brain has no memory but that doesn’t mean that over time, it can’t be held in check. That’s where the big brain, or the two halves of the big brain come in. Our wonderful brain is smart enough to keep our nerves calm, when they need to be held and soothed because it knows more and has access to a lifetime of memories.
But nobody told me. Nobody told me any of this and I only discovered this in my middle forties. Maybe I wouldn’t have listened if I was younger, or maybe it was right there right in front of me, but I chose to chase something else.
You might be asking yourself why I am writing about the brain this morning, and I will tell you. The most exciting part about our brain is its ability to learn right up to the very moment when we take our last breath. This means that it is never over for us. That means that we have an opportunity to be someone we want and to accomplish something. This is freakin’ exciting.
You and I are able to shape and feed our brain and live a life we never dreamt possible of living before.
Nobody told me, that’s for sure, but I am telling you. I am telling you so that you can join me. Join me in being and discovering the very best of us.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Daniel Hjalmarsson.
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