Day 28: Free Range Humans

RECONNECT (WEEK 4)

DAY 28: SELF REFLECTION

On Day 28 of your workbook, identify some of your “activating events” and see what your beliefs have to say about them.

WEEK 1

Redesign

WEEK 2

Rebuild

WEEK 3

Reclaim

DAY 28 MICRO-SCIENCE

Mirror Neurons

In a lab in Italy, mirror neurons were accidentally discovered when a scientist was studying primates motor functioning. With electrodes protruding from the poor monkey’s head the researcher was marking what areas of the primates brain lit up when the monkeys ate a grape. Then serendipitously the researcher got hungry himself and ate a grape. Surprisingly the same areas of the brain that lit up when the monkey ate a grape lit up when the researcher ate a grape. Turns out that just watching an action in others causes your brain to respond as if you were doing that same action. This is one of the reasons thats humans love watching sports. Our brains feel like we’re actually completing the three pointer or scoring a goal. This is due to the brain’s mirror neurons activating and helping us to learn movements from others or to feel the emotions that they are feeling in order to create quick responses to threats. This evolutionary advantage helped others move away from danger quickly. For instance, if caveman #1 saw caveman #2 freaking out, he would freak out himself and run away. This process makes sure that the human doesn’t get curious and go check out what is happening but instead feels the fear in themselves and high tails it out of there, ten feet in front of the others. This increased chances of survival. This evolutionary trait can he helpful in today’s world or also harmful. For instance, it helps us to feel empathy towards others and encourages group cooperation. However, mirror neurons also work to our disadvantage by making emotions contagious and when one person is struggling we tend to struggle right along with them.

FACT: Human brains have something called spindle cells inside of them that are unique to only a few other animal species, such as dolphins and elephants. These spindle cells are unique in that they allow emotions to be transmitted across the brain at lightening speed
TAKEAWAY: Emotions are super helpful in making quick decisions but can also overtake a person’s decision making process and cloud effective action. The spindle cells make sure we respond quickly to a threat but also set us up to have past experiences “shade” future experiences incorrectly.

DAY 28 MEDITATION

Predictability/Counting

The world as we know it is a pretty unpredictable place. This is one of the main reasons we get so much anxiety just going about our daily lives. The brain loves consistency, and is always making guesses about what is going to happen next in order to help you survive. However, in today’s ever changing atmosphere it’s getting harder and harder to predict, so the brain responds the way it always does to the unpredictable; it freaks out and tries to make order out of chaos. Take for instance, the brain’s prediction that when you get home from work the door will be closed and all windows will be unbroken. If you return home with that prediction and the door is ajar and a window is smashed. The brain will undoubtedly throw a hissy fit and make you anxious. This is a dramatic example but happens everyday in very minor ways. Imagine your driving to work and someone cuts you off or you get an unexpected phone message from your boss. All of these little instances of “unpredictability” add up and cause us to overload our brains. Therefore, in order to counteract this tendency we need to implement “predictability” into our day which will convince the brain to calm down. Some ways to do this are to practice measured breathing, rub our hands together, or count items in the world around us. These will all bring order to our brain.

FACT: The human brain takes in about 24gb of information per day. If a computer took in that much information on a daily basis it would crash in under two weeks.

TAKEAWAY: The human brain has a tremendous capacity for taking in information but even the human brain can only take so much in at once. It therefore becomes very important to cool your “internal computer” down from time to time in order to get the best results.

DAY 28 MEDITATION

For today’s meditation, the main goal is to try and practice a coping skill that can be used in any situation. It’s similar to when someone recommends counting sheep to help you fall asleep. In this case you’re using it as a resource to help you calm down when anxiety hits. The key is to practice it now when you’re not anxious so when you are anxious your brain just does it automatically. The meditation is to count objects in the room you’re currently in. Set the timer for five minutes and devise a way to count what is around you. You could just simply count furniture or pick a picture in the room and count the different color combinations or edges of what’s around you. The point is to create predictability in your brain so the “unpredictability” of the world gets pushed to the background.

DAY 28 MOVEMENT

Helping Others

One of the main issues in today’s world is that our culture promotes individualism and the “what about me” mentality. For the majority of humans’ time on earth, however, we were based in a tribal culture that focused on “we.” Humans have a selfish tendency built into thier programming to look out for themselves at all costs, but that is always balanced with helping others in order to help ourselves. That has somehow been lost in the past few decades or centuries even. Researchers and doctors, however, are starting to pick up on this fact and noticing that depression and substance abuse are really “diseases of disconnection.” Therefore it stands to reason that the cure may lie in “connecting” with others. That is hard in the synthetic environment of today’s world, however, with everyone hiding behind their smartphones and laptops. So a little extra effort may be needed to step out of your comfort zone and help the person next to you. I think the chances of you regretting that action, however, are very slim. It feels good to help others and it feels good to be helped in return; it’s the human way.

FACT: Doctors in England are now “social prescribing” volunteering as one of the best ways to help fight depression. No longer are they looking to medication first, but instead looking to connection with others as a main ingredient to getting back on track.

TAKEAWAY: Depression is an internal signal from your brain that something isn’t going right. For 99% of human’s evolution we never figured out anything on our own, we always looked to the “tribe” to get us back on own feet. So it stands to reason that what worked then will work now. It’s unreasonable to expect a person to “do the work” themselves as that just puts more guilt and pressure to accomplish a task that seems so daunting.

DAY 28 MOVEMENT

The task for today is to help someone else. This could mean formally volunteering or it could mean helping a neighbor with a yard project, donating money to a non-profit organization, or simply calling up a friend who might need a listening ear.

DAY 28

Bonus Material

Ted Talk: Tribal Leadership

Check out this Ted Talk by David Logan looking at the roots of leadership and how it can be used in the modern day world. His insights into what it takes to be at the head of the pack will be enlightening.

Ted Talk: Tribes We Lead

Check out this Ted Talk by Seth Godin examining how our outdated brains can be used to our benefit. This short video is a great intro into the evolutionary psychology of human groups.

< DAY 27: SILENCE THAT ISN’T EMPTY

DAY 29: HAPPINESS IS REALITY MINUS EXPECTATIONS >

WEEK 1

Redesign

WEEK 2

Rebuild

WEEK 3

Reclaim

Mental Health & Recovery Services of Jackson Hole

640 East Broadway / PO Box 1868
Jackson, WY 83001

Open 8am-5pm M-F

Mountain House Drop In Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 9-4pm
Wednesday, 1-4pm

Appointments & Information
(307) 733-2046

Mountain House
(307) 732-1161

Substance Use Program
610 W. Broadway
(307) 733-3908

24 Hour Crisis Line
(307) 733-2046 or Dial 988

Patient Portal

CredibleMind

Mental Wellbeing Resources You Can Trust
Learn more: teton.crediblemind.com

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES >

Mental Health & Recovery Services of Jackson Hole is a private, non-profit community mental health center, organized under the 501(c) (3) IRS code. Mental Health & Recovery Services of Jackson Hole is certified by the State of Wyoming and the Commission on Accreditation Facilities (CARF) to provide a full range of outpatient behavioral health services to people in Teton County.