Is There Proof Of 'Use-It-or-Lose-It?

Some statistics create a movie on our mental-screen. Remember the expression - 'Feelings follow imagery'? Grasping the meaning of a chart can be liberating, and change the way we feel, think, and ultimately 'behave' in our reality.

Here goes: Our planet is 4 billion years old, human life is only 100,000 years old, civilization is just 10,000 years, and the Industrialization of our civilized society is but 200 years old.

So what?

Don't expect great strides from our tribes - we're new at the game. We aint that far from 'survival and self-preservation' because kill and be killed is still a 'core-premise' in our Reptilian-Complex brain.

Sure, the Muslims go nuts when a cartoon criticizes their Prophet, but Christians had the Inquisition in Europe, and in Salem, Mass. smoked women after calling them - Witches. It wasn't that long ago in our ten thousand years of civilization.

Ever hear of Dr. Paul MacLean? You cannot be called an educated, civilized person without studying his theory. No scientist has provided a better picture of our three-part brain than Dr. Paul MacLean's Triune model.

Our ancient 'original' brain is filled with instincts, not thinking, and is called the Reptilian Complex; later came our emotional brain, the Limbic System, and feelings, and recently - our civilized brain called the Neocortex - new-brain.

Here's the kicker: all three 'still' operate as a partnership, meaning we are not all logic and reason, and never will be. We react instinctively to many stimuli, and emotionally (cartoons of the Prophet), to other stimuli, and consciously use our newest brain, the neocortex, just some of the time.

Be cool and Google Paul MacLean and the Triune Model of the brain.

Raining Dogs and Cats

If the authorities did not put strays to 'sleep' - euphemism for the cold, cruel hand of death, we would be walking on dogs and cats. They are prolific and don't use Prophylactics, so society must create order. A statistic permits us to erase the picture from our imagination of soft, cuddly puppies and kittens. We knock off millions annually, and that's how it is to live civilized.

Now let's talk about people, folks, human-beans.

Worldwide there are 153,000 deaths per day; 56 million people cash in their chips annually. But wait; there are 250 births per minute, and 129 million 'births' per year - worldwide. Picture 250 births for every 100 deaths - we're way ahead of the game, right. In the U.S. there are 12 births for every 8 deaths, and we just hit 300 million population.

Is There a Point to This?

We cannot think of our lives or anybody else's life, as a statistic. Meaning and purpose come from our consciousness, not the outside. Learning gives us the skill to discover what others are thinking about stuff that makes us human. The more we read, the greater workout our prefrontal neurons get, the more civilized we become, and the greater value an individual life has.

Here's what neuroscience posits: our brain is either in a 'growth' mode or it is shrinking. Learning produces neuroplasticity - structural and functional modifications in our brain. Snailing produces less, and non-learning has a direct result in 'shrinking' our brains and eliminating neurogenesis - nerve cell production.

We suggest you become a lifelong learner and stay in a growth mode for the sake of society and your poor old coconut.

Aging And Learning

A new study, published February, 2006 in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, proves we are either 'in-sync' with concentration, memory and learning, or 'daydreaming', and 'at-rest'.

Consider this: when we are in a learning mode our brain's Prefrontal Cortex (dorsolateral side), produces attention, focus and concentration. The older we get, the less we use this area of our brain unless we make a determined effort. By itself our brain will slow down and send us into a 'dumbness' stage.

When we are thinking about ourselves, or monitoring the environment, (thinking about 'nuthin'), we deactivate our 'medial-frontal and parietal' regions. It's known as light-snoozing, chilling or daydreaming, and produces brain shrinkage.

This research was produced in Toronto by Dr. Cheryl Grady, using fMRIs (functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery), and is at the forefront of neuroscience.

Coda

Learners are constantly activating their prefrontal cortex to keep their brain young and active through concentration and discovery. It doesn't matter what you are discovering as long as it becomes a challenge for your brain, and you can explain it to someone else in three sentences or less. Learning must be practical and offers you the competitive edge to control unnecessary mental aging. Use it or lose it, and you snooze - you lose.

Two-Minute BIS (Behavioral Intelligence Strategies)

Buddhists call it 'mudras', (hand gestures), that create emotional and physical changes in our mind and body. Here's why it is important to learners:

Mudras also set the stage for 'behavioral' changes in our choices. Let's simplify mudras as a protocol for relaxing mind and body which we can control quickly - without sitting on the top of a mountain in our underwear.

Specific Fingertips Gestures Are Acupressure

Can you touch the tips of your thumb and index fingers? How about touching the tips, then opening them, making little circles against each other, and opening them again?

Step 1: Sit down, hands on the top of each leg of your lap. Eyes opened, feet flat.

Step 2: Take a deep diaphragmatic inhalation; hold it for a count of five, while simultaneously fiddling around with your thumbs and index fingers on each hand.

Step 3: Slowly exhale and continue to touch these two-power areas, rub them together in a circular fashion, open them apart, touch, and mush them around again. Don't become mechanical about it, pay attention to how it feels to activate your sense of touch and pay attention to it.

Step 4: Close your eyes and repeat the thumb and forefinger wedding as before. This time mentally visualize your fingers touching, circling and opening as you are physically running this mudra. Both visualize it, and do it.

Step 5: Opened eyed and finger tipping takes about one-minute for ten repetitions. Close your eyes and do another ten for the second minute of your BIS. To double the deep relaxation and release of stress, place a Duchenne (eyes and mouth) smile on your face during the entire two-minute exercise. It releases endorphins of pleasure and a positive state of mind that lasts up to four hours.

Step 6: Immediately prior to opening your eyes and getting back to work, mentally say, hear and feel the expression, "And it is so!' Be enthusiastic and it doubles your pleasure.

Endwords

To many ears this fingertip exercise may appear to be irrelevant and impractical. Learners internationally rave about their personal positive results. You choose - you got free will.

See Ya,

copyright 2006 www.speedlearning.org hbw@speedlearning.org