YOUR BRAIN IS WIRED FOR STORY

You have to read ‘Wired For Story‘ by Lisa Cron.

It’s the writer’s guide to using brain science to hook readers from the very first sentence. Download it, or go right out and buy it at a brick & mortar place. It’s just that good. Even if you aren’t a writer – as a reader it’ll make you appreciate what a story is.

And, as Lisa tells us, we’re all wired for story.

We’re humans. Story is crucial to our evolution – more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs lets us hang on; story tells us what to hang on to. Story is what enables us to imagine what might happen and prepare for it. Story is what makes us human.

Brain science and story. Right brain. Left brain. Common sense.

No matter how you cut it, we’re hardwired for story. We need story to make sense of things. We need story to tell us things. We need story so we don’t have to find out things by ourselves.

TV. Facebook. Twitter. Emails.

They’re all story.

Just like letters, and print books, and smoke signals used to be.

Technology changes, but the human attraction to story doesn’t. That’s because we’re hardwired by our creator to tell and listen to stories.

We get a dopamine rush from wanting to know what happens next… and that dopamine rush lets us learn. It keeps us up late at night… turning the page. It’s the rush of intoxication. Being captivated by a good read. Meeting our hardwired expectations that the story will tell us something about life that we don’t have to risk learning on our own.

Hey Lisa, I’m gonna quote you without permission…

‘Evolution dictates that the first job of any good story is to completely anesthetize the part of our brain that questions how it is creating such a compelling illusion of reality. After all, a good story doesn’t feel like an illusion. What it feels like is life. Literally. A recent brain-imaging study reported in Psychology Science reveals that the regions of the brain that process the sights, sounds, tastes, and movement of real life are activated when we’re engrossed in a compelling narrative. That’s what accounts for the vivid mental images and the visceral reactions we feel when we can’t stop reading, even though it’s past midnight and we have to be up at dawn. When a story enthralls us, we are inside of it, feeling what the protagonist feels, experiencing it as it were indeed happening to us, and the last thing we’re focussing on is the mechanics of the thing.”

A good story engrosses us so much that we forget it’s a story at all.

Check out wiredforstory.com

It’s what we’re hardwired to hear.

5 LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH

You’re going to die one day.

You just don’t know when.

But there’s a lot you can do to delay it.

**The vast majority of deaths are preventable; or should I say – delayable.**

What’s interesting is how the causes and contributors in death are intertwined, which puts delaying your death pretty much in your own hands.

Here’s how they rank:

5. Accidents

This includes motor vehicle, occupational, and residential mishaps. Dying in a plane crash is so, so, far down there – so don’t sweat your next flight. Motor vehicle incident (MVI) deaths are much more likely to claim younger people, as they’re much more likely to push the limits. And alcohol is the leading contributor to all fatal MVI’s.

4. COPD – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

COPD is an all-encompassing term for your lungs being plugged. The usual suspect lifestyle contributors come into play – alcohol, diet, lack of exercise, obesity, and smoking.

3. Cancer

What can you say about the C-word? Nasty. You don’t want to go there. Funny how all-of-the-above contribute to cancer.

2. Cardiovascular Disease

Heart Attack. The Big One. A Jammer. There’s two main types. A Myocardial Infarction (MI), where the heart muscle dies. Or an Arrhythmia, where the electrical system shuts down. You don’t want to try these out, either. Ah, guess what causes heart attacks?

1. Senescence

Biological aging. Really? Yep. Old age is the leading cause of death. Eventually that’ll do you in and that’s the one you should strive for. Provided you still have quality of life till it claims you. And, if you manage the 5 leading contributors…

5. Alcohol

4. Diet

3. Lack Of Exercise

2. Obesity

1. Smoking

…you’ll get the satisfaction of dying from old age.

THE DALI LAMA IS A SHAMAN

The Dalai Lama posted this on his Facebook site:

All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can, and do, promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate.

This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether.

My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief, that as in science as in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is perused by critical investigation: if scientific analysis were to conclusively demonstrate that certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims of Buddhism.

It takes a huge set of balls for a major religious figure like the Dalai Lama to publicly say this.

He’s not saying that his belief in Buddism is wrong. He’s just saying he’s got an open mind and is willing to look and listen to science.

As in scientific control.

A controlled way of thinking about spirituality, and ethics, and other forms of consciousness.

It’s unfortunate that so many of the world’s religions are closed to scientific discussion.

Over the years, I’ve critically investigated the science around religion.

That led me to a belief in Shamanism.

No, not to some witch doctor dancing around a fire with a bone and a chicken.

The science of Shamanism has been around 40,000 years, in all cultures, and on all continents. It’s appeared in identical forms to all peoples; despite language, customs, technology, and total remoteness from each other.

Shamanism is about scientific mind control.

It’s about a controlled mind, scientifically entering into altered states of consciousness. It’s mandate is to achieve wisdom, just like the Dalai Lama does in meditating in his Buddhist faith. Controlled, altered, scientific states of consciousness gives us wisdom to promote inner values of love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness; which are the Dalai Lama’s values.

A Shaman goes about Shamaning; helping others – just as a minister goes about ministering. Or the Dalai goes about Lamaning.

Shamanism is a blend of science and spirituality. Shamans use outer knowledge to offer inner values.

Pretty much like the Dalai Lama has been doing.

He connects with infinite consciousness and brings us wisdom.

So the Dalai Lama is a Shaman.

Dying Words

Provoking Thoughts on Life, Death, and Writing