Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)
Neural Love – Part 2
Go to PART 1
I love science. Not on a study-to-get-a-degree level but more like an enthusiast level. I guess you could say I like exploring what the findings of science discoveries mean to you and me.
I love everything from Quantum Physics to Cosmology to Biology. I’d have to say that one of my favourite fields is Psychology and in particular Neuroscience.
One discovery of Neuroscience that you may’ve heard of is the pattern that happens in our thinking where particular habits are formed by neural pathways. A way to think of it is much like a track that gets worn deeper and wider from repetitive use. It’s much like roads that our thoughts travel along. And the more travel that happens along that road, the more infrastructure the brain builds around that route to make it quicker and easier next time. Neural pathways help our brain delegate a lot of mega-processing traffic to the subconscious and, therefore, improve the efficiency of our mental function. I guess it works just like a freeway designates the flow of lots of traffic to major regions and cities.
Here’s a good way to recognise how a neural pathway affects your everyday life. Remember the first time you visited a close friend or relative’s house? You know the one that seemed buried in a deep maze of streets and houses? The first time was really quite hard to find it. You probably relied on a map or some kind of guidance like GPS, or instructions someone gave you. The next time you got most of the way there without the instructions but had to double-check halfway. The third time it got slightly easier, depending on the time in-between your last visit. The more often and regularly you visited, the easier it got. Remember on one of those more recent visits where you entered deep into a conversation with someone you were travelling with? You got so involved and lost in the conversation that you didn’t even stop to think about how to get to that house. It just happened automatically.
That’s a neural pathway in action!
Actually, it’s neural pathways helping to establish a pattern in your subconscious thinking. But more on that later.
Scientists discovered something pretty cool by accident when working with monkeys. They were trying to isolate regions of the brain responsible for particular movements. The studies revealed that when they moved the monkey’s finger back and forth, a particular region would become obviously active within their brains. Move a different finger and a slightly different region would light up. “So,” they asked themselves, “would both regions light up if we strapped both fingers together and moved them?”
To their surprise, a whole new region would light up when both fingers were moved together and thus our understanding of neural pathways began its journey. It birthed a concept called neuroplasticity which changed the way scientists thought about our brains. Rather than being static and concrete, our brains have the ability to grow and develop. To change with the discovery of new information and patterns.
The more they moved those bound-up monkey digits, the more obvious the brain region became. That repetition caused intensity in the pathway.
So how the heck does this relate to practising love?
Well, if the practice or repetition of a thought or behaviour strengthens a neural pathway, then in turn that thought or behaviour gets easier to continue. It’s like how going to your friend’s house takes repetition to become more and more automatic.
Imagine if we practiced love (read: built a new neural pathway) so that over time, it became an automatic response.
It leads me to ask the question: What thought processes and actions have you been practicing?
I guess the answer will reveal itself through your responses… the ones that happen automatically that is.
Go to Part 3 – Mirror Love
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