People’s words and actions can actually shape your brain. . .what?!?

Lisa Feldman Barrett PhD is among the top 1% most cited scientists in the world for her research in psychology and neuroscience. She is a University Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University with appointments at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School AND the above statement is her claim!

She explains that our brain's surroundings or ‘ingredients’ are totally impacted by past experiences and we need to be empowered to understand this and control it. She goes on to say that because we are relational creatures made for connection, the worst thing AND the best thing for our nervous systems is other humans. 

So, what does this mean? Basic human dignity and kindness are our best efforts to thrive with each other. 

With the current state of the world in a polarizing dialogue about so much difference, we desperately need to be kind to one another. And, with quite a bit of talk about freedom in this dialogue, we have to remember that freedom comes with responsibility. 

In the country I live in, I am free to speak and act on my convictions, but I am not free from the consequences of what I say and do. Now, I might not care enough about those consequences to consider them unworthy of my actions but, they will cost me and create costs for others. Justice is like that. It comes at a cost.

“We pay the costs of ineffective government when politicians spew vitriol at one another and make personal attacks instead of having reasoned debate. We pay the costs of a citizenry that struggles to discuss politically charged topics with one another productively, a standoff that weakens our democracy.” - Lisa Feldman Barrett PhD

What is the cost of not finding productive, honouring ways to disagree? Hurt, anger, broken relationships and severed communities. The risk of violence due to taking a stand on ‘Us vs. Them’?

No, thank you. I’ve spent too much of my life believing in an ‘Us vs. Them’ world and it has gained me nothing but arrogance that isolates me and marginalizes others. It was an unbecoming part of my humanity to think that way and I am only just waking up to that realization. I believe we exist for the better of each other and it turns out, neuroscience is telling us the same. 

Thank you, Lisa Feldman Barrett PhD, for digging deeper into the knowledge of how humans work to corroborate what so many of us have been feeling deep down in our bones: Basic human dignity and kindness are our best efforts to thrive with each other. 

I wish you kindness today,