If the brain is to stay healthy, it must remain active, wondering, playing, exploring, and experimenting right to the end. Such activities or dispositions may not show up on functional brain imaging or, for that matter, on neuropsychological tests, but they are of the essence in defining the health of the brain and in allowing its development throughout life.
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As base, MacLean shows that creative ability lives not only in the right hemisphere of the neocortex but also in the lower parts of the brain. Other evidence indicates that we are maximally creative when there is an integration between right and left brain, the neocortex, as well as the two lower centers. Imagine the inner creative resource housed in this ancient remnant of this prehistoric lower brain: the feeling, motivation, and ancestral lore of the species.
Brain imaging studies show that when we picture ourselves doing something, the same parts of our brain are engaged as if we were actually doing that activity. Why does this matter? Because we can trick ourselves into getting some of the benefits of an activity simply by closing our eyes and imagining it in our heads.
It is the nature of living a real life that experience is not uniform, but ever changing and ever challenging and requiring more and more comprehensive integration. It is not enough for the brain/mind simply to tick over, maintaining uniform function (like the heart); it must adventure and advance throughout life. The very concept of health or wellness requires a special definition in relation to the brain.
It does, though. Obviously, our brains are in our bodies, and thus depend on body chemistry in order to work. Too much sugar, sluggish brain. Too much wheat, compliant brain. Too much artificial stuff, fearful brain. Too much alcohol and drug stuff, collapsed brain. But the impact of our bodies on thinking goes beyond this chemistry question. When we try to think inside a body we disrespect, it can hear only, ‘You don’t matter.’ And that assumption practically anaesthetizes the cortex.
The body, then, is the place where we think, not only because it contains our brains, but also because it tells us whether we matter.
What to do?
Consider these questions.
About the room:
What are three things you can do before your next meeting so that when people arrive they feel, just from the room, that they matter?
About the listener:
How can you communicate to your listener the importance of their keeping their eyes on your eyes so that their eyes and their face respond accurately to the micro signals of change in your thinking?
About your body:
What one thing do you know you need to do so that your body can say to you, ‘You matter’?
These impressions point to areas of our lives that are important to us, and they can be turned into something helpful using a simple but powerful exercise we developed for our Lifespan Research Foundation (www.lifespanresearch.org). This involves a bit of personal research, but if you’re game, come play along.