Rock 10 -Kindness and Gratitude
Our Overwhelmed Brains
As we’ve seen we live in a brain designed by evolution to survive in our ancestral environment 300,000 years ago on the African Savannah. The 21st century is much more complex than that environment. Uncertainty for our brains equals anxiety in our minds.
The mortal threats in the modern world are small in comparison with Africa 300,000 years ago. But our brain is designed to register change, and particularly change where it can’t predict what’s going to happen next. This is why in the 21st century we can end up being more anxious simply because our brain is registering the uncertainty around us.
What’s the solution? Rock 10 – Being Grateful and Kind is part of a flexible Neuro-Ninja response. Being kind and grateful strengthens our compassion circuits in our pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and support the development of important pro-social skills like empathy and sensitivity. We are wired by evolution to be kind to people who aren't related to us, something very rare in the animal kingdom. Compassion for ourselves is the beginning of the journey of kindness towards others. The quality of the relationship and internal dialogue we have with ourselves with determine the depth and extent of the relationships we are able to build with other people. Be kind and grateful every day to live in a balanced brain.