Listening is like playing guitar. I don’t mean playing “Puff the Magic Dragon.” (Which, if you don’t know it, is easy to play.) I mean playing “Eruption.” (Again, if you don’t know this song — incredible as that seems to me — it is not easy to play.) My last post ended with me eagerly…
I talk a lot about developing tolerance. (As a good thing.) Hand-in-hand with developing tolerance is another word: acceptance. I began to write a post about the mental health benefits of acceptance right after my last post. However, I experienced a wee bit of a crisis while writing it, so I changed my vanilla post…
Yay! I’m going back! After a long COVID isolation, I can finally return to the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. Yay! Let me back-up, to explain the use of not just one, but two “Yay!”s. I grew up in Sarnia, Ontario. For those who don’t know, Sarnia neighbours three First Nation communities: Aamjiwnaang First…
First, let me recap. Over the last three posts, I described 3 different layers of our brain and nervous system. We can nickname these layers the Dinosaur, the Cow, and Einstein; names which summarize their nature and function. The three layers do not always play nicely together. Today, I want to talk about improving cooperation…
Einstein; such a smart man. So many great memes floating around, with quotes he supposedly said. Betcha he even said a couple of them. Today, I’ll talk about the cerebral cortex, aka Einstein. This is the third, and most sophisticated layer of our brain and nervous system. Now, I’m not terribly refined. Sometimes I refer…
Here we are in the second post of a series on “a dinosaur, a cow, and Einstein.” Today, it’s all about social engagement, aka. the cow. Well, maybe not a cow. To be honest, my memory of this illustration is only clear about the dinosaur and Einstein. In between them was… some kind of furry…
During some training I attended a few years ago, the audience (or at least me) was delighted when one of the teachers pulled out three cute, stuffed toys: a dinosaur, a cow and Einstein. Jan Yordy works with kids, and uses these three stuffies to teach children about the brain and nervous system. I loved…
Ah, 1970’s TV. So weird. So wonderful. In the opening sequence for Kung Fu, Kwai Chang Caine brands himself with the dragon and tiger by lifting an iron pot full of red-hot coals with his bare arms. Ouch. There’s a reason shaolin masters are not found on every street corner. Like Caine (but thankfully without…
When last we met I introduced you to Dr. Michel Dugas. One of Dr. Dugas’ claims to fame involves a clever metaphor: anxiety (specifically GAD or Generalized Anxiety Disorder) as an allergy to uncertainty. To Sneeze or Not To Sneeze Think about an allergy to dust or pollen. If anyone on earth gets a pile…
Worry Worry Worry In my last post I promised to get into more detail about dealing with the anxiety and worries connected to uncertainty. Now, worry is no fun. So then, why don’t we stop worrying? It seems pretty straightforward, on the surface of it. If you are tired of worrying about uncertainty — which…