MIRRORING


Marco Iacoboni (2008). Mirroring people: 

                                       The new science of how we 

                                       connect with others.


Iacoboni is a neuroscientist at UCLA that conducts experiments in brain mapping, especially as they relate to mirror neurons. He narrates stories that pose a problem, introduce a hypothesis, test the hypothesis in one or more experiments, and present findings at the end of the each chapter...long on the story, short on the findings, and even shorter on practical implications for living. Much of the emphasis on protocols of research is technical and more than what i wanted to read, but for others that do this kind of research, these parts might be intriguing. 

The takeaway for me is that at the mirror neurons in our brain are specialized cells that enable us to empathize with others, to experience emotionally what they are experiencing and to know what their intentions are...this is a hardwired and also learned...mirror neurons are activated by sight and sound (e.g., a person's voice...theoretically, i suppose they could be activated by an of the senses?).


Know that these mirror neurons operate automatically, and that they have the potential to make our interactions with others deeply meaningful...Iacoboni calls this "existential neuroscience." The next time you feel a strong emotion, it may not be solely you that generated the feeling...it may be mirror neurons fired when you looked at someone or heard their voice (in person or digitally)...who we hang out with, and the media we consume, do have a profound impact on how we feel...so smile BIG the next time you see someone, and give them a mirror neuron dopamine hit.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS Wayne Dyer (2003). There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem. Dyer earned a Doctorate of Education in Guidance and Counseling, and is a prolific author. His first book that i read in the 1970's, Your Erroneous Zones, profoundly influenced my thinking as a teen.  The theme of this book is that there is a spiritual solution to every problem, that problems are illusions created in the mind by incorrect thinking, and that the solution to these mental problems is to change our thinking in light of the spirit (defined as an energy/intelligence that is the source of all life, i.e., God). Some might call this "spiritual bypassing," ignoring the body in favor of the mind and spirit. The first half of the book is lessons from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Dyer suggests that low frequency is associated with the "negative" and faster frequency with the "positive" [for me, at least musically, lower frequencies don't imply negative emo...
Read more
Image
TURN ON Timothy Leary (1965, 1999). Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out Leary was a University Professor at Harvard who is best know for his experiments with LSD. The book is part lectures, part interviews, and part essays. Given all the media hype about Leary, i was surprised at how much common sense i encountered, and how much he speaks to learning, hope, and love.  He begins with a chapter on how to start your own religion (to invoke the rights of the first amendment in US law) with family and friends, a tribe of people living together in community with their own laws...a place where sacrament is consumed (it need not be LSD, but anything that is spiritually meaningful to the community, something that binds the community together in ceremony)...a place preferably in nature where one feels protected and nurtured.  The BIG ADVICE is to drop out of society's robot world/mind, and turn on to God/Goddess (the Spirit), nature, and the body and mind, and tune in (dropping back into socie...
Read more
Image
BODY WISDOM  Therese Bertherat (1989).  The body has its reasons: Self-awareness                                                           through conscious movement.  Berherat takes us on a personal journey in learning body wisdom /awareness using Ehrenfred's method which is radically different than the medical model/method she learned at University. The story unfolds as "sessions" of practices, and the end of the book reveals several "preliminaries" on how to cultivate body wisdom. Among the many practical lessons are:      pause after exhaling to let the body use oxygen before inhaling again--this allows the              body to rest/relax with every breath.      because all parts of the body are integrated, working with one par...
Read more