Do you open your mind? Are you an open person? Are you open to new things? Are you well connect?

Of course you are … NOT. We are live in intellectual and emotional bubbles. Our brains are our bubbles - and how much we train, expand and use them.

The question is: even when our brains are limited how much do you use it? No, this is not about the old “we only use 10% of our brain”-myth. It is much more about training and education.

Our brain and the mind within needs to be constantly trained, challenged and cultivated. Brain scans have shown unused brain literally loose capacity and become dull. The mind needs to be sharpened by usage and challenges. Only running “on easy” will dumb you down.

So the questions is now: how much do you open your bubble to let in new, challenging, unknown, uncomfortable and complicated thoughts and tasks? Do you allow “nasty” paradoxes and even painful mind benders into your bubble that will keep your mind fighting and chewing on them - or do you limit your brain and yourself to “easy thinking”?

You have to understand that your mind is only a part of you - a part that needs training and something to challenge it. Regard as your inner dog: give him some yummy bones to chew on, some wild toys to chase around and keep him busy. He will like that!

Just because everybody has a brain does mean they are all using it.

I don’t mind being sick - usually I simply sleep my fever and any nasty bugs I have ‘away’. But the one thing I really hate is my brain being ’slimmed’ and made unusable. It just is terrible if you can’t read a book or simply relax - instead your brain runs in circles and can’t think strait.

Very annoying! Can I have please a backup brain for such moments?

Documentary / Channel 4 / 55+ minutes

It’s always good to check from time to time who you are and who we are. Some nice insights about humans, apes, brains and our heritage in this documentary.

He certainly is one of the real giants of the last century. He formulated and created a new way of looking at ourselves and exploring humanity. Many of his theories are now proven wrong - but Siegmund Freud wouldn’t mind that. He based his work on empirical evidence, not dogmas. He changed his several of his theories several times.

Too bad many people turned his theories and observations into dogmas - especially in contrast with the terrible events of world war II. Freud’s work gave many people the reason to believe that the human animal is bad, driven mostly by his deep sexual desires and needs. This is certainly a part of the human equation, but not the whole story.

Especially evolutionary biology has shown that the ‘selfish gene‘ in us is much more altrustic and pragmatic then Freud and many other prophets of doom want us to believe.

Angst is the main reasons why we fail many tasks. Simply being scared can reduce the smartest and most competent humans to a shaky nothing.

But why is fear itself so terrible? Because it ‘kills’ our capability to think straight.

Our brains have so called lower and higher brain functions - based on in which part of the brain they are situated. (Click here to read a very well done introduction to the brain).

Our Stem Brain is the most automatic and stupidest part of the brain. It controls the (survival) reflexes/instincts and acts first (instead of ‘thinking’). Fear is not only a mental reaction (meaning it’s not just firing up your neurons to work harder), but also a chemical reaction. Adrenaline is pumped into our system and all muscles get ready for some action. Your heart and lungs start working harder too - pumping more oxygen into your system for extra power. And your brain actually speeds up thinking in dangerous situation - that is why fearful and dangerous situations are often described with "and time stood still".

Fight or flight is fears dedicated motto - on a most primitive survival level. That is why the body and mind go into overdrive to get yourself out of the danger zone if fear kicks in. But modern life is mostly social or work related stress. We are no longer faced with lions hunting us down or surviving in nature.

All these physical preparations for Fight-or-Flight happen before your higher brain functions can kick in: take control and really THINK.

To deal with fear, calming yourself down and really work the problem is hard work for your brain and has to be trained. An untrained brain simply goes into survival mode and acts on reflexes (which can be sometimes good in physically dangerous situations).

It takes some effort and training to learn to deal with fear - so your higher brain functions get the upper hand and you can think before you act - thus controlling your natural instincts and reflexes.

Let’s train da brain …

Here are some pointer of training yourself to deal with fear and stress:

1. Mental Awareness: Unless you realize that you are in a state or fear or extreme stress you can’t act upon it. Some people literally go blank when they are in stress or fear. You have to learn to stay aware and realize that you are full of fear.
2. Physical Awareness: Once you get hold of your brain you should check how your body is doing. There is a huge difference between a little faster heart beat or totally shaking with fear. Or even pissing yourself because of fear. Some people even can’t see straight. So check your breathing, heart rate, sight, shakiness, stomach for fear syndromes. Realize how excited and stressed you already are to determine the effects of adrenaline and stress on yourself.
3. Threat Assessment: In a physically threatening situation your body might have already acted (like pulling your hand out of fire), but in many modern fearful and stressful situations this is useless. You don’t kill your boss  (fight) or run away (flight), just because he gives you an evaluation. And there is no reason to shot your Laptop, because your Windows update fucked up. So wrap your head around the problem and see beyond the fear.
4. Calming Down: You should instantly start to cool down your system. Take control of your breathing - stop any hyperventilating if you are not planning to Fight or Flight. Also get a grip on your posture, don’t crouch like a ‘frightened coward’, but get upright for self esteem and and better control. Really tell yourself to calm down, realize that you are still alive and able to deal with the problem. It is important to understand that the Adrenaline in your blood will take some time to go away. So don’t expect total control in a few seconds.
5. Switching to higher Thinking: Our brains are magnificent, but they also need some time to get working. It’s no use to stress yourself into thinking straight - more stress doesn’t help. Try to give yourself a mental break before engaging into problem solving - if the situation allows it. So step back or take yourself OUT of the stressful situation, before confronting it. If you can’t ‘escape’ physically, than give yourself a short mental vacation: thinking of something nice, a great moment in your life or someone who loves you can calm you down and give you that positive ‘breather’ you might need. Sidenote: many people like to stress themselves, because they think they can think better under stress (no pun intended). This is not true: you brain is simply more active and you experience yourself ‘on fire’. It’s like hitting your thumb with a hammer to feel it better.
6. Concentrate on the Problem: Our minds need input to be creative and come up with a solution (see also this article about problem solving on Wikipedia). So learn to analyze problems - don’t focus on the fear or what scares you. Also don’t get into an anger mode if something just shocked or scared you. Anger is as much a ‘mind killer’ as fear. The easiest way to deal with problems is cutting them down to ‘acceptable chunks’. One step at a time. Later when your mind is working again you can assemble the ‘full horror’ in it’s complexity - but for starters CUT IT DOWN. Dealing with smaller chunks will yield faster results and give you back some calm and self esteem for actually solving something.

Why are there no fitness centers to train your psyche and mind to have more endurance and dexterity?

Those are a few simple pointers to understand yourself and what kind of effects fear has on your mind.

Don’t be afraid of fear - the mind killer - you mind can be trained to deal with it and solve the real problem afterwards.  

Prozac Penis Nation - we are still to much ruled by our chemicals. When will be learn to influence our psyche by ourselves through mental exercises and proper food instead of external chemicals, medication and party drugs?

How about an enlightenment pill?

A highly interesting article over at the Scientific American Mind. Neurosciene is still very young, we hardly know how our brains and minds work.

Whatever you see here depends on your attitude!

You swine …

We are told, our brains have so much potential. I just wonder why we hardly use it. Are our brains holding our brains back? Who else?

I love you.
I love YOU.
I love you.

Please repeat forever in random order.

It’s amazing how the most sophisticated brain on this planet gets pretty limited by the right cocktail or hormones and mental stimulation. Some brain scientists have compared brains in love to serious conditions of mental illness, because it’s often over stimulated and highly stressed. Happiness overkill. But the ‘good’ news is, that no body can keep up that high outpouring of internal chemicals - so the stress will go away and your subject of desire will turn into a normal human and so will you.

BBC News:  Pedophiles’ brains ‘different’

We have just begun to understand ourselves, how our brains and our minds work. Psychology and neuro sciences are pretty young.

Chemical imbalance, a small injury or a tumor can totally change your personality - your desires and moral judgement.

I think neither our justice system or society care about these insights. We often consider terrible things like Pedophilia a choice. In some cases it might be - but we are all slaves to our brains. Even ‘normal’ people can totally run amok when their brains get whacked.

We need more science on this, better laws and understanding of ourselves. In this area there are no simple answers.

Meditation is still trendy and cool - and gets even more acceptance in the western world. But why do people meditate? Often they join groups and classes without a religious context or spiritual goals. Do they meditate to get their minds off things or stress? Or simply to switch off? But what is the best reason to meditate? To find god? To find yourself? To find tranquillity? Or to find nothing at all?

Finally some serious videos about spirituality and on how to meditate. Let’s hope more teachers embrace modern technology and spread the good work over the intranets. Enjoy!

Well, finally science has something to say about the conservative mindset or brains. They are really limited according to a new study of the New York University and UCLA:

Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.

…

Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.

So why are these people allowed to vote - if they have such a hard time to adopt to change and new situations? In an ever changing world we need leaders (and voters) that can cope with change!

Another great link from Ed. Check out if your brain is more arty-farty or logical. (I am actually not sure if that rotation test is enough, but try it for yourself.)

Or maybe try the longer and more serious BBC Brain Sex Profile test?