At the root of our challenging relationship with our own brains is the fact that it\u2019s a\u00a0device that was assembled, tested, and (mostly) completed hundreds of thousands\u00a0of years ago, in a vastly different environment with vastly different requirements.\u00a0Features that were once advantageous now drag on our capability for happiness.\u00a0Despite its immense processing power, the human brain is still spitting out solutions for equations that have little to do with our modern world\u2014and less to do\u00a0with happiness. Because of its evolutionary origins, the world your brain deals with\u00a0is ancient, murky, and terrifying. So are its strategies. If we are to use this device\u00a0properly, we need to adapt its programming to match its new operating envi-\u00a0ronment. But first let\u2019s see how it all began.<\/p>\n
On the Origin of Blind Spots\u00a0A branch on the bush a few steps behind the Cro-Magnon hunter shakes ever so\u00a0slightly. The sound catches the skilled hunter\u2019s attention. He waves his hand to his\u00a0gang, instructing them to lay low and stay quiet while he investigates the source of\u00a0the\u00a0sound.\u00a0He\u00a0squints\u00a0his\u00a0eyes,\u00a0sharpens\u00a0his\u00a0hearing,\u00a0and\u00a0filters\u00a0out\u00a0every\u00a0other\u00a0sensory stimulation. That bush gets his undivided attention. Everything else fades\u00a0into the background.\u00a0The wind is blowing from behind him in the direction of the bush. He reckons<\/p>\n
that this is why he couldn\u2019t smell the beast he fears. This is the game plan beasts\u00a0follow as they attack. Clearly this is a clever predator, a tiger perhaps, and from the\u00a0height\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0branch\u00a0that\u00a0moved\u00a0he\u00a0further\u00a0assumes\u00a0it\u00a0must\u00a0be\u00a0a\u00a0large\u00a0one\u00a0indeed.\u00a0In the dead quiet, the hunters hold their breath. The bush stops moving, an indi-\u00a0cation that the beast knows it\u2019s been noticed. In his mind, the Stone Age hunter\u00a0predicts\u00a0an\u00a0imminent\u00a0battle.\u00a0He\u00a0imagines\u00a0with\u00a0precision\u00a0the\u00a0angle\u00a0and\u00a0speed\u00a0of\u00a0at-\u00a0tack. The attack is just seconds away, he\u2019s certain, so he waves to his pals to take a\u00a0few steps back.\u00a0His caution is based on painful past experiences. Since he first ventured into\u00a0the jungle to hunt alongside his father, many fine hunters became prey to a wild\u00a0beast\u00a0in\u00a0careless\u00a0moments.\u00a0Though\u00a0many\u00a0moons\u00a0have\u00a0passed,\u00a0he\u00a0recalls\u00a0memories\u00a0of how the beasts pounced, threw their victims to the ground, and tore the muscles\u00a0from their bones. He lives that memory as if it were happening in front of his eyes,\u00a0and his heart starts to race.\u00a0There isn\u2019t a moment to waste. Trying to process the fine details to further ana-\u00a0lyze the situation would eliminate his chances to escape. The risk is too high. He\u00a0needs\u00a0to\u00a0make\u00a0a\u00a0snap\u00a0decision,\u00a0so\u00a0he\u00a0labels\u00a0the\u00a0situation\u00a0a\u00a0clear\u00a0and\u00a0present\u00a0dan-\u00a0ger. When his life depends on it, speed matters much more than accurate investigations.\u00a0He\u00a0feels\u00a0an\u00a0overwhelming\u00a0emotion\u00a0of\u00a0panic.\u00a0His\u00a0brain\u00a0imposes\u00a0this\u00a0state\u00a0by\u00a0flooding his body with adrenaline to prepare him for a fight-or-flight reaction.\u00a0As\u00a0the\u00a0panic\u00a0takes\u00a0over,\u00a0his\u00a0brain\u00a0exaggerates,\u00a0seeing\u00a0every\u00a0possible\u00a0scenario\u00a0as\u00a0far more dangerous than it actually is. This could be a pack of tigers, he thinks. We\u00a0could be surrounded. There\u2019s no point attempting to fight; we\u2019re all going to die.\u00a0More branches move violently. In a split second, he instinctively turns his back to\u00a0the bush and prepares to run\u2014just as a few birds fly off. A little sheepishly the\u00a0hunter looks up to the sky as he realizes his tiger is nothing more than a flock of\u00a0birds. Who cares if the past few minutes were a bit stressful, his brain thinks. At\u00a0least we\u2019re still alive.\u00a0For millennia, our brains have been equipped with the seven incredible features\u00a0I\u2019ve just highlighted: filters, assumptions, predictions, memories, labels, emotions,\u00a0and exaggeration. Yes, these tendencies may have ensured the survival of our\u00a0species long ago. And our ancestors didn\u2019t begrudge the discomfort those features\u00a0caused them because they navigated an extremely hostile environment. For them, it\u00a0made sense to assume the worst because the worst frequently happened.\u00a0As we developed civilization and drove the tigers away from our cities, swapped our hunting grounds for the jungles of the workplace, clubs, and malls, we have\u00a0continued to rely on these seven features. Yet we seldom stop to ask how effective\u00a0they\u2019ve become in this \u201calien\u201d environment. Just as a screwdriver can be used to\u00a0tighten a screw or to poke us in the eye, those survival features can be turned into\u00a0blind spots that work against us and make us unhappy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SOLVE FOR HAPPY<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n MO GAWDAT<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the root of our challenging relationship with our own brains is the fact that it\u2019s a\u00a0device that was assembled, tested, and (mostly) completed hundreds of thousands\u00a0of years ago, in a vastly different environment with vastly different requirements.\u00a0Features that were once advantageous now drag on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1","rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg",900,609,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg",900,609,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=300%2C203&ssl=1",300,203,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"portfolio-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=570%2C570&ssl=1",570,570,true],"portfolio-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=600%2C609&ssl=1",600,609,true],"portfolio-landscape":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1",800,600,true],"menu-featured-post":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=345%2C198&ssl=1",345,198,true],"qode-carousel_slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=400%2C260&ssl=1",400,260,true],"portfolio_slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=500%2C380&ssl=1",500,380,true],"portfolio_masonry_regular":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1",500,500,true],"portfolio_masonry_wide":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=900%2C500&ssl=1",900,500,true],"portfolio_masonry_tall":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=500%2C609&ssl=1",500,609,true],"portfolio_masonry_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"portfolio_masonry_with_space":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=700%2C474&ssl=1",700,474,true],"latest_post_boxes":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=539%2C303&ssl=1",539,303,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?fit=600%2C406&ssl=1",600,406,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/post-1804.jpg?resize=100%2C100&ssl=1",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/author\/admin\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philosophy<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"At the root of our challenging relationship with our own brains is the fact that it\u2019s a\u00a0device that was assembled, tested, and (mostly) completed hundreds of thousands\u00a0of years ago, in a vastly different environment with vastly different requirements.\u00a0Features that were once advantageous now drag on...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36176,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36175\/revisions\/36176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}