mind & heart = spirit

  lately haven't been giving off the brightest energy  something toxic gets to the best of me  can't see anyone in a positive light  or care enough to distinguish wrong from right  luckily ive grown fond of my inner self  and patient enough to listen to her  give enough silence to calm the chaos  reflect on the angst, smooth it out  give it time and you shall see, underneath all the fog  re-center and gain clarity  breathe it all out, don't thrash about  face it all internally 

 i've learnt so much about empathy and kindness and love these past few months  i always expected another person to show love for me,  before i can give it to them.  and if they did show love from the start, i always thought there wasnt a reason to. that they were just desperate, or being crazy, irrational.  but if we all think like that, no one will ever take a step forward  (luckily not everyone is like this, and we can heal eachother) i ran away from people that showed me love but i also never gave people that love either  we should be kind to people, as they are  without expecting reward or praise or something back from them.  if they are willing to accept that, then good if not, then such energies should be attributed elsewhere (you can't pour tea into a close pot) if they return that love, we should accept it and not question it (when someone opens the door for us, do we question why they're doing it? no) no matter how bad his bad habits may have been, the exchange be

I’ve been through all these transformations I’ve changed in ways I never thought possible And sooner than I expected I’m truly grateful… but… I keep thinking back to the things that used to stop me Maybe its just my environment that’s shaping me Instead of my intrinsic qualities Maybe its because I feel so comfortable here That I can explore all that I want I hate to admit it I felt different there I looked different I spoke less freely As much as it seems like home I didn’t fully integrated with it I thought ethnicity was a construct But I feel its deeper than that Even going back to it now I can’t say that it doesn’t bother me The extended stares The “konnichiwa” at the airport What if I carry this insecurity with me Through countries that isn’t my mother country Will I be as free-thinking As I feel now? In another world I will feel different there I will look different I might not be as outspoken Could I be

There are three major theories on how the brain is organized, in terms of its structure and function. Phrenology was proposed by Gall in the late 18th century who thought it was possible to determine character traits by examining the external bumps on the head. All behavior/mental function was assigned a location in the brain, and using more or less of these regions determined these bumps. The aggregate field view was raised by Flourens (1920s) using experimental evidence that showed that all areas are important for each mental function. So any part can perform all functions and there was no localization. Cellular connectionism (supported by Hughlings Jackson, Wernicke, Sherrington, Ramon y Cajal) states that individual neurons are signalling units that are arranged in groups, each having a particular function. References  E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, T. Jessell, Principles of Neural Science (McGraw-Hill, New York, ed. 4, 2000).

Maybe its meant to be The passing of time Seems to let us free Makes us more carefree Farewell to a friend Hoping for the best That in some other world This journey won't end But long paved roads Take hours to walk down A dragging trip Complacence is found If we can refresh The origin of our motives Healthy company In each other, we'll notice.

5 stars Highly highly recommend this book! This book taught me so much about not only how emotions are made but how our environment and past experiences can affect the way that we perceive the world and, as a result, act on it. To be quite honest, I had a very essentialist view on perception and emotion before this. I had a habit of seeking specific brain regions that regulate certain emotions or concepts or behavior rather than viewing emotions as involving various regions and circuits within the complex system of the brain. I love how this book also links all of these findings and the theory of constructed emotion to areas that relate to ‘everyday life’ such as lifestyle, law and the way we view nonhuman animals. Understanding that we can shape the way that we predict our surroundings (and therefore the reactions we have) is a liberating thought. It reminds me to be mindful of the things that I am choosing to surround myself with and taking a step back and truly reflect on what

The limbic system has been commonly referred to in scientific literature as the emotional brain. But we know now with more information and advanced technologies that the limbic system is an ambiguous concept, it is what LeDoux says is just a “useful anatomical shorthand”. One evidence that challenges this theory is that areas that are considered unique to mammals (therefore termed the “mammalian brain”) is also present in ‘primitive’ creatures such as reptiles and amphibians. For example, a study conducted by Gilles Laurent and colleagues in 2018 using single cell RNA-sequencing technology showed that the neurons of the pallium of reptiles had similar genetic makeup to that of the hippocampus and amygdala of mouse and humans! These areas are what MacLean included in the limbic system theory, yet they are present in these ‘lower’ animals. Moreover, the same study showed that the anterior dorsal cortex of the pallium in reptiles was similar to the human neocortex, which is a layer

Is there an emotional brain? As much as we like simplicity in models of science, and the locationist view makes things easier for us to understand, research points to the answer that emotions are not localized to one specific brain region or circuit.  The limbic system hypothesis was put forth by Paul MacLean in the 1950s (although some theories led up to this prior such as the Papez circuit). It divides the more deeply fundamental structures with those that are thought to have developed further on in evolution, in ‘higher’ mammals. The limbic system is one component of the triune brain theory that divides the brain up into the neocortex, mammalian brain and reptilian brain. The reptilian brain is proposed to be in charge of responses for survival such as breathing and heart rate. The reptilian brain is called so due to its structures being found also in reptiles. The limbic system is thought to have developed later in evolution and is commonly thought to be the mammalian brain.

Sometimes I think to myself whether all of what we are searching for, will be frowned upon in the future, will be laughed at for all of our efforts As this may be some kind of crazy movement created by delusional people. But this shouldn't stunt us from the curiosities and the explorations within the world we are in now. Some beliefs in the past may seem crazy to us now... but this is just humans trying to explain the world from what they see, from the information that we have. And that is the hesitance that comes from scientists making a statement definitive. Because all of this 'truth' may not be so when future explorers look back at our work, But knowing that the reason they stand in their 'developed' position is because we did exploring for   them, into uncertain waters that are clear as ever to them in their present moment.

in this space I truly feel like my body is moving before my mind is aware of it as if i am some sort of automatic organism unable to freely control my actions the illusion of free will frightens us more than anything the possibility that all of our actions are not truly ours but of something greater our organisms pushing us towards eachother the law of gravitational attraction being drawn towards eachother a common identity a moving unity of people places and organisms and animals and beings and things its a strong placebo

too busy planning tomorrow can't see straight ahead can't see what I'm doing now time, not something you borrow engagement is key absorption of surrounding presence in the process not jumping from place to place

I read in Cognitive Neuroscience  textbook today that emotion consists of three things: A physiological reaction A behavioral response and a feeling The second one had me a little confused. Sometimes I had experienced emotion and not acted on it. It had not changed my behavior. Recently before going to bed, I have fears of death and feel intense emotion associated with that. But I never acted on it in the moment. I had no reason to act. But in the long run it does change my overall behavior. Though this may be just a subjective experience. When intense negative emotion reflects on to behavior, that is when the problem arises. We will always have these negative experiences. That is reality. But how we deal with them is the control aspect of it.

I'm just so sick of arguing with people It's not a good feeling when you are both yelling at each other to prove a point And to be quite honest, its not worth it I used to gain so much joy from these things Thinking it was discussion and evolving or something Maybe intellectually we were getting somewhere But spiritually, emotionally, it was all degrading Speaking over each other Making the other person feel uncomfortable Experiencing that first hand and realizing that you never ever Want to make the other person feel the way that you did. When things come from the intention of empathy and mutual love, This is when things actually grow Not when you’re creating walls of opinions But when you connect through shared differences And acknowledgement of this diversity This is where true evolution happens

This is the unconscious moving before anywhere else Frontal lobe activity is delayed more than ever Blurry. Delayed awareness. We move how we want to. Why do I feel this fear? Fear of being abandoned Fear of being left alone: unsupported From the tribe To have to prove myself to others WHAT IS THIS FEELING instability all the time Is this where all humanity lies? On a tight rope Between loopy and strict Too much of anything can be bad Trust is need He'd never ask that question Although he officially disapproves Cold but burning tears Something in this human world, that represents the spirit and mind But to leave an artifact, we need access, a door. Meditation, Real life, Mind Challenging Things these allow us to see all sides of ourselves To feel connected with death and feeling

I look up to the people that are able to carry out things lightly Not that these things don't take hard work and effort But their trust in themselves that what they are doing matters The way they are able to gravitate in a certain direction without any initial hesitation And this is what I lack, I let so much of my judgment in my brain run the course of my life Instead of letting things be, letting nature run its course How many days am I filled with thoughts that stunt my motivation In some ways, it is better to follow your heart, that instinct. And these messages keep coming back to me through literature and experience The art of archery requires complete interaction with the subconscious being, letting go of the idea of yourself and trusting your natural instinct. To be a master of the movement that's required for this art, you need to stop thinking about the target and let your motions dictate the course of the arrow. Even in neuroscience, there's researc

i only ever feel like i belong when i am talking about or listening to real things real things that matter like why we are on this earth what we can do as a collective to prevent hurt encourage understanding embrace our pains and how no one can really understand you how we only get fragments of eachothers to resonate how we express the parts of us that we hold most valuable in our hearts i guess thats what makes community so isolating and worthwhile at the same time we share bits and pieces but never fully ourselves but theres a paradox in my way of thinking helping people starts from your neighbor but i turn my back on them saying i need to focus on my career to help others whats the point of this hostility a never ending question circling my brain

I tend to fail to live by this  quote. So many thoughts rushing through me at million miles an hour, i feel like i have to catch it all the time. To the point that I don't ever execute an action based on these thoughts. Planning repeatedly, inside my head and outside of it. Planning a course of action, thinking of all possible scenarios.  But this isn't authentic living, I feel like. As discussed in this quote and the book I'm reading (The Consciousness Instinct by Michael Gazzaniga), it is not  thoughts that bring food to the table or that get that task done. It is the physical movement of muscles. It is not thoughts that allow the exploration of art, music and the likes. It is the movements of picking up that pen, that paintbrush, that guitar and physical making something out of it. Of course I find a lot of value in manifestation and visualization. It's important to set straight what it is you want to do... But a task for myself, just forget  that vision o

so much resistance in everything I do blaming fatigue when ive too much sleep cleaned the table twice but not clean enough for me so much possibility and expansion ahead the only way is to propel myself forward but what will happen to it all once i'm long gone and dead the common crisis amongst nihilists yet its so hard for us to deny that we still all crave the same things belonging and affection, appreciation no one has a single clue what this is what it is we are doing here what this will all mean in the end or whether an end exists learning to be okay with that to float through this unknown without fighting against chaos is the biggest strength of all

i used to think of holidays as this getaway period of time when the world would let me take a break from everything. But really, its never like that. We never really get away from it.  This can’t be taken purely negatively or positively. It’s just the reality.  We can take our breaks and let our bodies rest, but the things in life never really stop.  Perhaps creating a daily ritual and habit, a consistency in activity, that doesn’t require escape is the most ideal option.  Life does not purely consist of the programs that external influences put on us. They’re merely there to keep us on track.  So even on ‘holiday times’, its important to keep a steady pace and rhythmicity to what you are doing, every day aligning with your goals. Do not let the world command when your break is. You decide that for yourself.  Ofcourse you can have vacations, and days off when you reset and rethink about the core of what it is that you are doing. But these moments of reflection should al

everything feels so all-consuming everything a whirlwind of confusion contradiction after contradiction an inescapable moment years flash before my eyes what have i done here? what have i seen? im still young they say but where have i been? every moment awake is a second lived every step a shift in direction what separates right from wrong what makes the correct path it all means nothing i am aware but i feel that time is swallowing me whole