In our society, we say success equals happiness. Is this true?
What can brain research teach us about this?
1) Perception is everything. Some successful people don’t feel successful; perception varies. This is because the brain is a tool we shape every minute of our lives, and it defines how we perceive things.
2) True success is contentment with life and encompasses many dimensions: physical, emotional, mental and social. Truly successful people have learned to work on all of these levels
3)Perception is as individual as fingerprints and varies following the maturation of different aspects of the brain, the particular phase of life we are in, and the subconscious baggage we carry.
4) Therefore, success starts in the womb.
5)Proper maturation and development of different brain structures associated with these dimensions is essential to ensure success and happiness. Jumping over or ignoring a phase and its dimension in order to become “more competitive” is a mistake.
6) The brain is highly plastic. To aim solely at financial or sexual success– thinking that this in turn will lead to general success and happiness- generates imbalances as one aspect of the brain gets over-stimulated while others are left under developed or underused. As humans we possess an inner compass which points to a model indicating to us what it should feel like to be a complete, healthy human being. When this natural direction is ignored, problems can start to arise; imagine if you will a male cat that would go outside daily in search of a female. One day, he is neutered by his owners, as cats often are. Despite this, still stuck with his regular habits, he leaps outside only to be struck with the confusion as to what it is he is looking for. In the same way, goals should embrace all human dimensions; otherwise we regularly feel something is missing.
7) We can divide the brain under two main “polarities”. One works in a holistic, globally aware fashion; the other, in a modular, target based way. The brain we have now is the result of these working hand in hand. Ignore the holistic one and the brain does not function optimally, worst, it stagnates and regresses. It also affects how well men and women communicate, thus the quality of their sexual lives and even their health and appearance. Each stage in life will favor one of these polarities over the other one. However, for the last two thousand years or so, our civilization has favored the modular aspect, generating more wars, a lack of communication between men and women, mental illnesses, obesity and the like; although it has also allowed for great technological advances.
8) We are now hindering the actual movement of evolution which, at this stage of human evolution, should be leaning on the holistic polarity.
9) The brain has developed through human interactions with each other and the environment. The senses used in this process are the roots of the brain’s development and exist for this purpose. If we deprive our senses, as we are collectively doing now, we are essentially cutting the branch we are sitting on. Natural sights, smells, sounds, tastes, textures and love, as well as movement, are all necessary to the equilibrium of our brains and allow its evolution in the same way the environment will allow or hinder the development of a fallen acorn. In the mind frame, society, and cities we have built, our senses are deprived, affecting the development and efficiency of our brains.
10)`Illnesses of the brain” or “mental illnesses” are expressions of perturbed environments. For example, the epidemic of Alzheimer’s indicates that our environment is in a dire state, in all its dimensions. Only solutions embracing all of these will be successful. Mapping of the brain is great, but only a start!
Ariane Page is the author of the newly published book “Isis Code: Revelations from Brain Research and Systems Science on the Search for Human Perfection and Happiness” and a consultant in LIFE biosystem applications. You can reach her through her website www.IsisCode.com and follow her on her blog www.IsisCodeBlog.com or facebook page Isis Code/ facebook
Nature's Code - Le Code de la Nature 