You Are Not Your Brain
Proposed in 1960 by neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean proposed the Triune brain model as an explanation of how the physical structure of the brain relates to human behaviour.
It proposed a linear evolutionary process:
- The reptilian brain: the oldest part that controls our basic drives
- The limbic brain (limbic meaning boundary): grew around the reptilian brain and is responsible for our emotions and community behaviours
- The cortical brain: the most modern part that grew around the limbic brain and is the source of dreams and abstract thinking
It’s been a helpful model to learn about.
And it isn’t strictly true.
By writing these posts and doing some research (thanks Vix Anderton, FRSA for the prompt) I’ve learned how these part don’t work separately.
They’re interdependent (for another post).
But the model is still helpful.
- There is a part of us that is instinctively fearful and survivalist
- There is a part of us that can sense into other people’s emotions and triggers physical emotions in our own bodies
- And there is a part of us that asks deeper and more abstract questions about life
Understanding how these parts compete and collaborate can help use lead a more effective and effortless life.
What I’ve come to understand…
- The brain is a complex machine with magical emergent properties
- It’s connected to our bodies in ways we don’t fully understand
- Things happen within ourselves that we can’t control.
If we’re able to observe what happens within ourselves without getting caught up in the processes then we can cultivate more capacity to choose and change.
Emotions, feelings and thoughts are processes that we can’t control.
But we can ride them and redirect them.
This is why I’m fascinated by neuroscience and mindfulness.
Learning about how my brain and my mind works has helped me understand of myself better.
From my experience the most significant blocker in our quest for leading happy lives is not knowing ourselves well enough.
That’s why I believe that entrepreneurship is such an amazing journey.
Not because of the money you can earn.
But more about stuff about yourself that you can learn.
By building a business I’ve learned about my brain.
My brain is a complex byproduct of random evolutionary processes going back hundreds of millions of years.
It’s a miracle.
It’s a mystery.
But one thing is very simple.
I am aware.
I am grateful for this awareness.
And I marvel at how this brain has (and will) mold the world.