Financial literacy - the ability to understand how money works in your life - is considered the secret to taking control of your financesMost of our decisions around money are emotional; no amount of nitty-gritty knowledge about interest rates will change that.

Spending Behaviours Are Driven by Emotions and Not Logic

We know we should spend less than we earn and save for the future, but many people find it really hard to do thatAn individual's relationship to money and the emotions it brings up starts when we're young.Exercise: Think about how money makes you feel.Document how you feel when you're shopping online,  sending digital cash to a friend for drinks, opening bills, or getting your paycheck.

The Way Money Makes Us Feel

<ul><li>Traditional wisdom in the world of personal finance dictates that no one should spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.</li><li>However, in high-cost-of-living areas, spending 30 percent or less on housing is laughable</li><li>Not only are these budgeting categories outdated and unrealistic, they also don't make room for the reality that people want to enjoy life.</li></ul>

No Money To Enjoy Life

<ul><li>Self-compassion is about extending grace to yourself using three elements: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness</li><li>Unlike personal finance advice that chides individuals for messing up, this helps folks be easier on themselves</li><li>To see how it works in practice, imagine you were late on a credit card bill. Take a deep breath and realize it's okay.</li></ul>

Practice Financial Self-Compassion

When we experience financial shame, it can make it hard to ask for help, learn about money, or take necessary steps to improve financial well-being.Four things that help alleviate shame: personal vulnerability, critical awareness, reaching out, and speaking shame.

Don’t Let Shame Stop You from Asking for Help

<ul><li>When you are working on creating a healthy relationship with money, don’t forget to pause and give yourself credit.</li><li>Research has found that the more frequently we experience a sense of progress, like a "small win," the more likely we are to continue that positive behaviour.</li><li>The more we celebrate those kinds of wins, the more it confirms that we can all be good with money.</li></ul>

Creating A Holistic Life Using Your Money

The emotional aspect of money is never discussed in financial planning.

A financial therapist on how emotion, not logic, drives most decision-making.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

Money is emotional — but personal finance advice rarely accounts for that

Dreading the future, or anticipatory fear, is quite common and can be quite debilitating in extreme cases. People struggle with anticipatory fear when they worry about the outcome of a future event they have never experienced before.It can also be linked to the intolerance of uncertainty which leads to indecisiveness and an increased likelihood of constant comparison. Thus, people tend to overthink the possible outcomes of their decisions.

Past negative experiences can make people feel worried that the same series of events will line up allowing the past to recreate itself.

Prior Painful Experiences

When the anticipatory fear is rooted in a past event or experience, it is often associated with dread, which can be physiologically intense and frequently associated with something ominous or traumatic in nature. Some form of trauma is often at the root of a dread response.

A study says that, if you're experiencing high levels of anticipatory fear, protective responses can lead to being unable to think clearly, being afraid to leave the house, or even being afraid of most social interactions.

Protective Responses

1. Practice Mindfulness Research has shown that mindfulness can improve emotion regulation, which is incredibly helpful in reducing stress.2. Repeat MantrasYou can repeat things like:<ul><li>I am safe</li><li>It's gonna be alright </li><li>All is well </li></ul>Saying things like this to yourself can be helpful as your search for a long-term solution.

Ways to Fight Anticipatory Fear

3. Exercise Exercising can help keep you in the present moment. This way you are forced to think about the task at hand rather than worry about the future.4. Keep a journal ﻿Keeping a journal can help you fight off hindsight bias, which is when you get caught up thinking that you had better control of past events.

Whether you have found yourself experiencing anticipatory fear as a result of past traumas or for another reason altogether, it is important to find a therapist who can help you. Specifically, it would be helpful to seek out a therapist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety, trauma, and PTSD.

5. Seeking a therapist 

It is completely normal to fear the future, but definitely take note if your fears are starting to take up a lot of your mental space. It's also important to notice if your actions are being impacted by your concerns. That said, hopefully, you can rest a little easier knowing that there are ways to get help and to move past these fears.

It happens to me..always! But it's normal, yeah. 🥲

If you the future and find yourself feeling fearful or anxious from those thoughts, you may have a fear of the future. Here are some tips to help you address your fears.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

health

Health

mentalhealth

Mental Health

communication

Communication

Future Fears 

It is not just a book but a manual for happy worry-free life. All the chapter deals with real world application of ideas to tackle the worry. The tools are so easy to understand and use that one may actually turn himself from worrier to a warrior.

The Book

Live each day until bedtime. Don't carry tension from yesterday to tomorrow. Live in day-tight compartmentAsk yourself about the troubles you're facing<ul><li>What worst could happen if you can't solve it? </li><li>Prepare mentally for the worst case scenario</li><li>Calmly try to improve upon the worst</li></ul>Remind yourself what could happen to your health if you don't stop worrying.

Fundamental Facts You Should Know About Worry

<ol><li>Get the facts. Remember that half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision</li><li>After carefully weighing all facts, come to a decision</li><li>Once a decision is carefully reached, act! Get busy carrying out your decisions and dismiss all anxiety about the outcome</li><li>When you are tempted to worry about a problem, write out and answer the following questions:</li></ol><ul><li>What is the problem? </li><li>What is the cause of the problem? </li><li>What are all possible solutions? </li><li>What is the best solution? </li></ul>

Basic Technique In Analysing Worry

<ol><li>Crowd worry out of your mind by keeping busy. Plenty of action is one of the best therapies ever devised for curing "wibber gibbers"</li><li>Don't fuss about trifles. Don't permit little things-the mere termits of life- to ruin your happiness</li><li>Use the law of averages to outlaw your worries. Ask yourself: what are the odds against this thing's happening at all? </li></ol>

How To Break The Worry Habit Before It Breaks You

<ol><li>Co-operate with the inevitable. If you know a circumstance is beyond your power to change Or revise, say to yourself "It is so; it cannot be otherwise"</li><li>Put a stop-loss order on your worries. Decide just how much anxiety a thing may be worthand refuse to give it any more. </li><li>Let the past bury its dead. Don't saw sawdust. </li></ol>

Contd. 

<ol><li>Let's fill our minds with thoughts of peace, courage, health and hope, for 'our life is what our thoughts make it'</li><li>Let's never try to get even with our enemies, because if we do we will hurt ourselves far more than we hurt them. Let's do as General Eisenhower does: let's never waste a minute thinking about people we don't like. </li><li>Instead of worrying about ingratitude, let's expect it. Let's remember that Jesus healed ten lepers in one day and only one thanked Him. Why should we expect more gratitude than Jesus got? </li></ol>

Seven Ways To Cultivate A Mental Attitude That Will Bring You 

<ol><li>Let's remember that the only way to find happiness is not to expect gratitude but to give for the joy of giving</li><li>Let's remember that gratitude is a "cultivated" trait; so if we want our children to be grateful, we must train them to be grateful </li><li>Count your blessings, not your troubles</li><li>Let's not imitate others. Let's find ourselves and be ourselves, for envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide. </li><li>When fate hands us a lemon, let's try to make a lemonade</li><li>Let's forget our own happiness by trying to create a little happiness for others. When you are good to others, you are best to yourself. </li></ol>

<ol><li>Unjust criticism if often a disguised compliment. It often means that you have aroused jealousy and envy. Remember that no one ever kicks a dead dog. </li><li>Do the very best you can, and then put up your old umbrella and keep the rain of criticism from running down the back of your neck</li><li>Let's keep a record of the fool things we have done and criticise ourselves. Since we can't hope to be perfect, let's do what E. H. Little did: let's ask for unbiased, helpful, constructive criticism. </li></ol>

How To Keep From Worrying About Criticism

<ol><li>Rest before you get tired</li><li>Learn to relax at your work</li><li>If you are a housewife, protect your health and appearance by relaxing at home</li><li>Apply these four good working habits</li></ol><ul><li>Clear your desk of all papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand</li><li>Do things in the order of their importance</li><li>When you face a problem, solve it then and there if you have the facts necessary to make a decision</li><li>Learn to organize, deputize and supervise. </li></ul>5. To prevent worry and fatigue, put enthusiasm into your work6. Remember, no one was ever killed by lack of sleep. It is worrying about insomnia that does the damage

Six Ways To Prevent Fatigue And Worry And Keep Your Energy  

Here I add the summaries of the book found in "in a nutshell" pages.

Learn how to break the worry habit -- Now and forever! With Dale Carnegie's timeless advice in hand, more than six million people have learned how to eliminate debilitating fear and worry from their lives and to embrace a worry-free future. In this classic work, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Carnegie offers a set of practical formulas that you can put to work today. It is a book packed with lessons that will last a lifetime and make that lifetime happier! DISCOVER HOW TO: Eliminate fifty percent of business worries immediately Reduce financial worries Avoid fatigue -- and keep looking young Add one hour a day to your waking life Find yourself and be yourself -- remember there is no one else on earth like you! Fascinating to read and easy to apply, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living deals with fundamental emotions and life-changing ideas. There's no need to live with worry and anxiety that keep you from enjoying a full, active life!

philosophy

Philosophy

mindfulness

Mindfulness

books

Books

The book 'How to stop worrying &amp; start living' suggest many ways to conquer worry and lead a wonderful life.  The book mentions fundamental facts to know about worry and magic formula for solving worry-some situations.  Psychologists &amp; Doctors' view:  •	Worry can make even the most stolid person ill.  •	Worry may cause nervous breakdown.  •	Worry can even cause tooth decay  •	Worry is one of the factors for High Blood Pressure.  •	Worry makes you tense and nervous and affect the nerves of your stomach.  The book suggests basic techniques in analysing worry, step by step, in order to cope up with them.  A very interesting feature of the book is 'How to eliminate 50% of your business worries'.  The book offers 7 ways to cultivate a mental attitude that will bring you peace and happiness. Also, the golden rule for conquering worry, keeping your energy &amp; spirits high.  The book consists of some True Stories which will help the readers in conquering worry to lead you to success in life.  The book is full of similar incidences and narrations which will make our readers to understand the situation in an easy way and lead a happy life. A must read book for everyone.

Dale Carnegie was an American writer and lecturer, and the developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills.

Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

What we think we know is what we believe we know.

Psychologist, B.F. Skinner put a pigeon in a box and gave it food at regular intervals irrespective of what it was doing. He noticed that the pigeons believed that they were given food because of what they are doing; like hopping around etc.This behavior was called as 'superstitious belief' by Skinner.

Skinner box

Here, Michael made a room with checkerboard tiles on the floor and a button in the middle of the room kept at a table. He also made a money outlet (like the food outlet in original skinner box) from which 1 dollar bills would come out. The people (pigeons) were told that their aim is to collect as much bills as they can in 10 minutes. Michael sent them each bill after 30 seconds BUT people thought that they are causing the bills to come. For example, a woman thought that her opening and closing of the door led by pressing of the button was causing the bill to come.

Human Skinner Box

some people thought that dancing would urge the machine to give bills. A lady thought that pushing the button 4 times, then going out and coming in to the room was causing it, some made the producers laugh. But there was this one man who just stood there and didn't push the button at all, in fact, he resisted it. This thought of thinking that your actions are not affecting the money was called 'extinction' by Skinner. When he was asked about it in the interview, he said that he had thought that what would others not do. so he decided to do a different thing- do nothing.

Here they will be trying to feel the person that they have induced a spirit in them. That's why it's reverse exorcism.A clinic with dim lights with religious and scientific symbols here and there. People sat down on the bed, a doctor entered told that they will be facing reverse exorcism. A priest entered, holding Christ entered with his "ancient" book. They attached a brain-activity-checking machine to their head. The doctor, not the priest, started reading the things from the book like 'relax yourself, you may see a cut head or your mouth would start tweaking or fingers tinkling".

Reverse Exorcism

There was lady who said that she saw her deceased mother, she heard an angel say "Come, we can relieve you." She continued to watch wings. She could feel the winds and said that the dream was vivid.

Observation

<ul><li>We are belief-machines. We are patter seekers.</li><li>When confronted with uncertainty, people often behave superstitiously. Under the belief that they do have control.</li><li>To not form a superstition about the word around us makes us powerless.</li><li>Are we all fools?</li></ul>

Conclusions

How can a lie become true? In this episode, Dr. Aaron Blaisdell and I create a game show that is actually a giant “human Skinner Box” to observe the formation of superstitious beliefs. And Dr. Samuel Veissière helps me design and perform a placebo reverse exorcism, harnessing the power of belief in both science and religion to convince normal people that a spirit has possessed their bodies. Available with YouTube Premium - https://www.youtube.com/premium/originals. To see if Premium is available in your country, click here: https://goo.gl/A3HtfP

problemsolving

Problem Solving

How can a lie become true? In this episode, Dr. Aaron Blaisdell and I create a game show that is actually a giant “human Skinner Box” to observe the formation of superstitious beliefs. And Dr. Samuel Veissière helps me design and perform a placebo reverse exorcism, harnessing the power of belief in both science and religion to convince normal people that a spirit has possessed their bodies.

Available with YouTube Premium - https://www.youtube.com/premium/originals. To see if Premium is available in your country, click here: https://goo.gl/A3HtfP

Our World is Amazing. 

Questions? Ideas? Tweet me: http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce

Vsauce was created by Michael Stevens in the summer of 2010.

Vsauce is...

Michael Stevens: Producer/Host of Vsauce1
Kevin Lieber: Producer/Host of Vsauce2
Jake Roper: Producer/Host of Vsauce3
Eric Langlay: VFX for Vsauce1/2/3
You: Thanks for watching!!!

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Behavior and Belief

<ul><li>You do not have to push through or ignore your human emotions to be resilient as a business owner.</li><li>Pushing is a choice, not a requirement. If you want to continue building your empire and creating your dream life despite a major (or minor) setback, pushing through is not the only way.</li><li>You become resilient when you focus on trusting yourself.</li><li>Prioritize your relationship with yourself, and watch in awe as you move forward and navigate the tough chapters of life with less doubt.</li><li>You can always count on yourself.</li></ul>

Reject the Idea that Resilient Means "Pushing Through"

<ul><li>Don't give up on your dreams early.</li><li>Try to find comfort in the unknown.</li><li>Encourage people to find more joy and purpose in their journey so they can stop seeking external validation.</li><li>You become resilient when you detach from external outcomes and find new ways to love the process</li><li>Your job isn't to know exactly how your next chapter will unfold, but to trust that it will in perfect timing.</li><li>Get clear on how you want your life (and business) to look when you come out the other side.</li></ul>

Working Without External Validation

What's the difference between someone who thrives regardless of external circumstances vs. someone who gets stuck and struggles to put one foot in front of the other? It starts with resilience ... but not in the traditional sense.

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

It's Time to Redefine What It Means to Be Resilient as an Entrepreneur

The label ‘pathological liar’ gets thrown around a lot, especially in the direction of politicians or celebrities. Although it isn't a formal psychiatric diagnosis, it is a recognised concept that psychologists and psychiatrists have been interested in for a long time, at least since 1891 when the German psychiatrist Anton Delbrueck coined the label ‘Pseudologia fantastica’ to describe several of his patients who told an astonishing amount of fantastical lies (other similar psychological terms include ‘deception syndrome’ and ‘mythomania’). So why do people do it?

Snake In A Suit

Worth noting is that while psychopaths and people with antisocial personality disorder can be inclined to excessive lying, most pathological liars are not psychopaths, nor do they necessarily have a personality disorder. Indeed, while psychopaths and people with an antisocial personality are typically manipulative and self-serving, pathological liars often lie for no apparent purpose.Another key feature of pathological lying, as opposed to being a common-or-garden compulsive liar, is that the lies are often particularly bizarre or far-fetched.

Spot The Fox

When it comes to coping with a pathological liar, it's perhaps worth remembering the likely cause of the person's tendency to tell so many far-fetched stories. While their behaviour might be irritating and even cause serious harm (especially when it comes to false allegations), if it's driven by a deep-seated insecurity, then you might be wise to see it as a call for help, and to resist the urge to confront the person too forcefully or without sympathy.

Dealing With A Pathological Liar

If the pathological liar in your life is someone you care about, perhaps you could help them find more productive ways to address their low self-esteem and anxiety, or even to come to terms with a difficult past, if that's relevant. Although research into effective treatments is largely lacking (partly because ‘pathological liar’ has yet to be recognised as a formal diagnosis), a sensible step could be to gently encourage the pathological liar you know to seek professional mental health support.

The Bottom Line

Rather than telling the occasional white lie, pathological liars habitually and regularly tell fibs, often painting themselves as a hero or a victim. Why?

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

Reality Check: What drives pathological liars and how should you deal with them? | BBC Science Focus Magazine

One of the most easily recognised features of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/ocd">OCD</a> is the seemingly illogical actions people initiate while suffering from the condition. However, even though these rituals may seem illogical to the casual observer, our work has demonstrated that these rituals have an intelligible underlying logic of their own. It is also important to point out that successful treatment of OCD is based on being able to identify the underlying logic and use interventions based on the exact same logic.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder(OCD)

We can distinguish obsessive compulsions based on <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/fear">fear</a> (such as hand washing enacted to prevent contamination) from those based on pleasure (such as <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/compulsive-behaviors">compulsive shopping</a>, vomiting syndrome or pathological gambling).  Many such rituals are done in a specific sequence and others can be done to feel a certain way or to achieve a specific sensation. The logic underlying these rituals is important, because if the clinician doesn’t recognise the logic supporting the compulsion, they won’t be in a position to know what kind of intervention will be necessary to treat the problems effectively.

Rituals Based On Fear Or Pleasure

Rational and preventive rituals: These rituals are specific actions that arise from the patient’s belief that doing so can prevent a certain feared situation from happening.  Reparative rituals: The performance of these ritualised actions or thoughts hold the illusion of protection for the person from something that could have happened already. Propitiatory rituals: The performance of these rituals or thoughts (seemingly magical) appear to make something positive happen, or have the illusion of helping the patient avoid something negative.

A Strategic Description of Rituals

<ul><li>Avoidance of any anxiety provoking places, people or objects. This is essentially an attempted solution which feeds the problem.</li><li>A continual search for reassurance or help from family members, friends or partners, who can eventually become entangled in the pathological mechanisms.</li></ul>

Failed Attempts at a Solution

Family members are very often involved in these dysfunctional rituals or control. Patients who suffer from OCD can become more anxious and aggressive over time towards friends and family if they refuse to cooperate and this must be managed effectively so as to avoid worsening the situation. It is very important that others participate in the treatment to increase its effectiveness. It is important that family members step aside from this pathological and vicious circle and allow for the restoration of the patient’s responsibility for their problem.

Family and Friends

Rituals in OCD may seem irrational, but they have a unique logic of their own.

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

The Logic of Compulsions and Ritualized Behaviors

<ul><li>The is a new race of males called Nice Guys.</li><li>Nice guys finish last</li><li>Seeks approval of others</li><li>Only cares about others by compromising themselves.</li></ul>Myth: Nice guys always try to make others happy, then they will be happy and problem-free.But when this strategy doesn't work they become frustrated and disappointed.

The Nice Guy Syndrome

Nice guys are anything but nice.

Nice guys track all the help they did.Psychologically they subconsciously expect the same effort in return as they did.High-value people don't expect in return.

Stop Tracking Your Good Deeds

If you always behave nicely with everyone then people start taking unfair advantage of you.They think however they behave, no matter what, you'll behave nicely.Have a higher standard for how people treat you.Don't let others disrespect you.

Have Higher Standards

Prioritizing yourself in the first position doesn't mean you are selfish.

Nice guys speak indirectly to put their points or decision because they are feared of rejection.Speak what you want to speak, not everybody needs to agree with you. And that's fine.

Speak With Conviction

Nice guys think if they agree with everyone's viewpoint it will make them more likable.Talk about how you think about something no matter if it is not according to the others. You must have your own opinions.

Stop Agreeing So Much

These are a few traits that make you miserable because after a certain point people will start taking advantage of you and at that moment you'll have to draw a line and prioritize yourself over everyone else.

Debunks the "nice guy syndrome," the need to please others at one's own expense with the hope of receiving happiness, love, and fulfillment, and offers advice for how to rediscover oneself, revive one's sex life, and build better relationships with others.

Originally published as an e-book that became a controversial media phenomenon, No More Mr. Nice Guy! landed its author, a certified marriage and family therapist, on The O'Reilly Factor and the Rush Limbaugh radio show. Dr. Robert Glover has dubbed the "Nice Guy Syndrome" trying too hard to please others while neglecting one's own needs, thus causing unhappiness and resentfulness. It's no wonder that unfulfilled Nice Guys lash out in frustration at their loved ones, claims Dr. Glover. He explains how they can stop seeking approval and start getting what they want in life, by presenting the information and tools to help them ensure their needs are met, to express their emotions, to have a satisfying sex life, to embrace their masculinity and form meaningful relationships with other men, and to live up to their creative potential.

Dr. Robert Glover is the author of No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Proven Plan For Getting What You Want in Love, Sex and Life (Running Press, 2003) and Dating Essentials for Men: The Only Dating Guide You Will Ever Need. Dr. Glover is the creator of Dating Essentials for Men and the director of TPI University.

Robert A. Glover

No More Mr Nice Guy

No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Loneliness is an unpleasant experience in which one perceives a relationship deficit —the sense that the quality or the number of one’s relationships are unsatisfactory, the awareness that there is a mismatch between one’s desired and one’s achieved quality or quantity of relationships.

Loneliness, The Relationship Deficit

It has been suggested that loneliness has multiple dimensions, including social and emotional ones.People who experience social loneliness feel like they are not part of a group that shares their interests, that they do not belong.Those who experience emotional loneliness feel they lack intimacy. For instance, though many singles tend to be happy and satisfied with life, “involuntary singles” tend to be unhappy because of high emotional loneliness (i.e., they desire but lack intimate attachments).

To Desire And To Lack

Social loneliness: An unpleasant feeling resulting from the perception of not belonging, a lack of social integration, or experiencing one’s social network as deficient. Those more likely to experience social loneliness include people who have moved to a new school or job or migrated to a new country.Emotional loneliness: An unpleasant feeling resulting from the perception that one is missing an “intimate attachment relationship” or that the existing relationship is inadequate. Emotional loneliness is a very common experience in people who have recently divorced or become widowed.

Definitions And Examples

A new study, published in the July issue of Psychiatry Research, discusses the differences between these two types of loneliness, including their risk factors. The measure for both types of loneliness was De Jong Gierveld’s 11-item loneliness scale. <a href="https://mvda.info/sites/default/files/field/resources/De%20Jong%20Gierveld%20Lonliness%20Scale.pdf">https://mvda.info/sites/default/files/field/resources/De%20Jong%20Gierveld%20Lonliness%20Scale.pdf</a>

The De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale

Risk factors associated with both types of loneliness (equal effect sizes) included being an immigrant and having a low income. Drinking and being physically active, in contrast, were linked with lower loneliness.

Factors Common To Both Types Of Loneliness

In some cases, effect sizes were not similar. For instance, living alone, being unmarried, psychological distress, and suicidal thoughts were more strongly correlated with emotional loneliness, whereas poor health and having multiple chronic diseases were more strongly correlated with social loneliness.

Factors Special To One Type Of Loneliness

An analysis of the data showed that being female, of younger age, being a current smoker, and medium or higher educational level were linked with lower social loneliness. Having a paid job and a low body mass index were associated with lower emotional loneliness.

Factors Common To The Less Lonely

Why is it that people who exercise but also those who drink and smoke were less likely to feel lonely? Perhaps the association with smoking and drinking was due to participation in social events.Social loneliness has two dimensions: it refers to a lack of connection with others and difficulties with integration into social networks. The reviewed research found that older men and those with lower education are more likely to experience social loneliness.

Wait But Why

New research shows social loneliness and emotional loneliness have shared and unique risk factors.

New research examines the risk factors for emotional and social loneliness.

The Key Differences Between Social and Emotional Loneliness

Jill Bolte Taylor's story is fascinating. At age 37 in 1996, she suffered a left hemisphere stroke which caused her right hemisphere to become temporarily dominant. It took her 8 years to recover.She could no longer experience the linearity of time or a sense of urgency; speak or understand language; identify the physical boundaries of where the body began and where it ended; perceive individuality/personality; understand the concepts of self-loathing, feeling guilty, or feeling lonely; experience past regrets, present fears, or future expectations.

The Stroke That Turned Off The Left Brain

The author had a unique experience after the stroke:Peaceful euphoria and bliss of the eternal timelessness of the present moment; oneness with the universe; a gigantic ball of energy that blended fluidly with the rest of the energy in the universe; could only perceive the pixelated atoms that make up space and exist at the level of the cosmic flow; perceived us all collectively and energetically as a part of the same being; we were all woven together into a fabric of tiny molecules that were in motion; spirit soared free and boundless; both free-flowing and as big as the universe.

The 'Nirvana' Experience Of Living With Only The Right Brain

Before the stroke, I was willing to compromise my relationships by moving away from both my home and those I loved for the status and monetary gain of a career as a neuroanatomist at Harvard. Although I was truly grateful to recover the vast and important abilities of my left brain, post-stroke I was no longer willing to choose the treadmill of work, work, work. Pre-stroke, my left brain had defined success through the achievement of external rewards. Post-stroke, my right-brain characters found meaning through the internal standards of loving, being loved, and being in service to others.

Before And After The Stroke

It is a relief for me to experience my emotions again, as they not only add depth to life, but they stretch my boundaries for personal growth.I regained the emotional circuits of resentment, guilt, and embarrassment, as well as all of the other more subtle feelings and emotions that make life alluring. Our emotions, even the negative ones, truly enrich our perception of experience and make life nuanced and more remarkable

Getting Back The Emotions

By having both of these hemispheres working together inside of one head, we experience a natural duality. It is normal for us to endure an ongoing internal conflict, based completely on the two uniquely autonomous perspectives of our left and right brains.Our right and left brains would forever evolve on separate yet parallel tracks of consciousness and exist in duality. Our right brain would evolve to be the home of our feminine, yin, and grace of the cosmic right here, right now, while our left brain would develop masculine, yang, and ego-centred traits based on our individuality.

Duality

When my left thinking network went off-line, a specific part of my personality, a character that I had known for decades as my ego-self, also disappeared. It was not as though I was missing a memory that I simply could not put my finger on; it was more like that memory (and I myself) had never existed at all. It’s a bit disconcerting to think that who we are is completely manufactured by a small group of cells in our left brain, and that we can lose ourselves at any moment, but that is exactly how fragile our ego identities are.

With that internal dialogue circuitry shut off, I sat in the center of a completely silent brain for five full weeks. I even lost that little voice of my left-brain ego-self that could say, ‘I am an individual, separate from the whole. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.’In the absence of my own left-brain character, which had anchored me in the external world at an emotional level, my ego-self disappeared and with it all of the personal content of my identity. Consequently, I no longer existed as an individual who was separate from the flow of the universe, and I knew nothing about my life.

The Monkey Mind Goes Silent

Because we have become the center of our own universe, our left-brain ego-cells come online and begin organizing everything in the external world around our individuality. With this shift of focus toward our relationship with the external world as separate from ourselves, the consciousness of the eternal flow remains, but shifts into the background.

Our Ego Makes Us The Center Of Our Own World

Before the hero’s left-brain ego-cells developed his perception of himself as an individual, he possessed the collective knowledge of his right brain’s unconscious mind. With time, as the individuation of his left brain developed, it grew to dominate and inhibit the knowledge of his right-brain mind.In the language of the brain, the hero must step out of his own ego-based left-brain consciousness into the realm of his right brain’s unconsciousness. At this point, the hero feels connected to all that is and is enveloped by a sense of deep inner peace.

The Hero’s Journey

There is an electromagnetic field of atoms and molecules that surrounds us, and we exist within it and it exists within us. Our left brain is unaware of this sea of energy because a small group of cells in our parietal region defines the boundaries of our body, surmising the separation. How different would our world be if we understood that we have the power to influence this field of energy through our thoughts and emotions? Perhaps gaining this insight into whole-brain living is humanity’s collective Hero’s Journey and how we will evolve as a species to live our lives with purpose.

A Collective Voyage

The Hero leaves behind the rational, ego-based consciousness that processes the reality of the external world (left brain); shed the rational, ego-based individuality; must be willing to let go of possessions and worldly knowledge; lays down the justice-demanding judgment of the dominating left brain.

The Hero's Journey Call

The Hero enters into the realm of the unconscious (right brain) and embodies the merciful characteristics of the compassionate right brain; battles the fear of death and all the other left-brain monsters; gains the insights of his heroic quest while enveloped in the wisdom of his euphoric right brain.The hero must either return home or share hard-won whole-brain knowledge; returning home, the hero is different now, aware of both conscious and unconscious characters and their conflicting values.

The Hero’s Journey To The Unconscious Realm

Reptilian Brain (Brain Stem): Instinctual survival; fundamental activities (breathing, heartbeat); regulating body temperature; managing our balance; processes pain, aggression, pleasure, and our drive to mateMammalian Brain (Emotional Limbic System Tissue): Modify and refine well-organized data from the brain stem by streaming it through the filter of emotion; make an automatic threat assessment based on how something feels.Human Brain: Directly modifies and refines the underlying emotional limbic tissue of our left-brain and right-brain.

How the Brain Works

We each have four distinctive groups of cells, divided between our two brain hemispheres, that generate four consistent and predictable personalities.Character 1: Left-Brain Thinking (Serial Processor)Verbal, thinks in language, thinks linearly, past/future based, analytical, focused on details, seeks differences, judgmental, punctual, individual, concise/precise, fixed, focus on the individual(ego), busy, conscious and biased towards structure and order.Competitive: compete when challenged and fight for what it believes in.Respects Authority: obeys rules.

The Four Characters

Constricted, rigid, cautious, fear-based, stern, loves conditionally, doubts, bullies, righteous, manipulates, deceives, tried and true.<ul><li>Compares present vs past memories.</li><li>Deepest emotions.</li><li>Emotional volatility and reactivity.</li><li>Happiness: the natural underlying circuitry of happiness (or lack thereof).</li><li>Stress: part of our stress circuitry; pessimistically sees the glass as half empty.</li></ul>

Character 2: Left-Brain Emotional

Expansive, open, experiential, risk-taking, fearless, friendly, kind, empathic, loves unconditionally, forgiving, trusts, supports, grateful, playful, joyful, goes with the flow, awe-inspired, curious, creative/innovative, collective, sharing, equality, contextual, style, hopeful.<ul><li>Focuses on the present moment.</li><li>Interconnected with the universal flow.</li><li>Always exists at the level of the flow of the universe.</li><li>Big picture, present moment threats.</li><li>Experiential.</li></ul>

Character 3: Right-Brain Emotional

Nonverbal, thinks in pictures, thinks experientially, present moment-based, kinesthetic/body, looks holistically at the big picture, seeks similarities, compassionate, lost in the flow of time, collective, flexible/resilient, open to possibilities, focus on WE, available, unconscious, fluid/flow, aware, expansive, connection, accepting, embraces chance, authentic, generous of spirit, clarity, intention, vulnerabilityAwareness: aware; awareness that we are safe regardless of our physical circumstanceOpenness: open; expansive; as big as the universe.

Character 4: Right-Brain Thinking (Parallel Processor)

The New York Times best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight blends neuroanatomy with psychology to show how we can short-circuit emotional reactivity and find our way to peace. For half a century we have been trained to believe that our right brain hemisphere is our emotional brain, while our left brain houses our rational thinking. Now neuroscience shows that it's not that simple: in fact, our emotional limbic tissue is evenly divided between our two hemispheres. Consequently, each hemisphere has both an emotional brain and a thinking brain. In this groundbreaking new book, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor presents these four distinct modules of cells as four characters that make up who we are: Character 1, Left Thinking; Character 2, Left Emotion; Character 3, Right Emotion; and Character 4, Right Thinking. Everything we think, feel, or do is dependent upon brain cells to perform that function. Since each of the Four Characters stems from specific groups of cells that feel unique inside of our body, they each display particular skills, feel specific emotions, or think distinctive thoughts. In Whole Brain Living, Dr. Taylor shows us how to get acquainted with our own Four Characters, observe how they show up in our daily life, and learn to identify and relate to them in others as well. And she introduces a practice called the Brain Huddle--a tool for bringing our Four Characters into conversation with one another so we can tap their respective strengths and choose which one to embody in any situation. The more we become familiar with each of the characters in ourselves and others, the more power we gain over our thoughts, our feelings, our relationships, and our lives. Indeed, we discover that we have the power to choose who and how we want to be in every moment. And when our Four Characters work together and balance one another as a whole brain, we gain a radical new road map to deep inner peace.

Whole Brain Living

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