A Divine Engineering Marvel

The human brain is remarkable, a miracle, a divine engineering marvel.

I have been fascinated by the workings of the brain since I was a child. What makes people think, and thus behave, the way they do? Can we change the way we think? Or are we just a product of our genetics and life experiences?

Without going too much into the neuroscience of it all, because I’m really working on just embracing the mysteries of life, each person’s brain anatomy is as individual as their fingerprints – no two are alike. What’s more, we are a product of our life experiences, our genetic makeup and our choices.

We can choose to change our thoughts, it’s all a matter of becoming aware. When you become aware of your beliefs, aware of your inner dialogue, you can recognize that your thoughts come from earlier life experiences. You can follow that thought to it’s source, and re-write the script, so to speak.

The negative thought habit can be hard to break, especially if they have been a part of you for many years. With time, and an awareness practice, you can break the bonds that those thoughts have on you.

This week I had an experience that brought this topic to the forefront. I had the most lovely Forest Bathing experience with a beautiful couple from Florida. This was a surprise birthday celebration for him. His wife hadn’t told him they were going on a Forest Bathing experience. He called it his “rebirth” as he had been in a motorcycle accident the year before and almost died. He had suffered traumatic brain injury from the accident and it was a long road to recovery.

When you hear of personality changes from TBI, generally you hear about depression, anger, poor impulse control, problems focusing and communicating, and problems processing thoughts. I did not see that in him. He was articulate, joyful, introspective, a delight to be around. His description of the feel of chocolate in your mouth was the best I ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot: “It feels like the water flowing over the rocks in the creek.” Sigh…

He described to me how he had changed since his accident, from moody, impatient, and stressed to the man I met that day. I asked his wife if she could see the difference. “One hundred percent,” she said. And she said he had a much deeper, more creative way of describing things, as he did with the chocolate.

It turns out that damage to specific regions of the brain can sometimes have positive effects, mostly injuries to the front regions that are responsible for decision making and seeing things from different perspectives. Interestingly, he kept saying that it’s all about perspective. This all makes sense, and yet still there is so much they don’t know about the brain. Why do some people experience a positive effect, while others don’t, even with similar brain injuries?

After our experience together, they both now have new tools to cultivate their mindfulness. It is my hope that they continue on their mindfulness journey and his recovery from TBI.

As for the brain, yes it is remarkable, a miracle, a divine engineering marvel. And a mystery.