Self Control (3)

Brain wiring

Resistance to impulse fulfillment can be attributed to specific areas of the human brain with alteration in neurochemical levels that promote (or when appropriate, protect from) rash decision-making. Broadly, the processing of thought and its systematization into rational evaluations is a knack known to few. Most act on gratifying impulses, failing to exercise any restraint on their needs and urges. It’s fun at times to make sudden plans and act on instinct in emotional situations if the outcomes are favorable. However normalcy is defined by the ability to be either impulsive or controlled depending on which is the most adaptive. Wise choices begin with an awareness of their existence.

Changing cues

Outcome focus

Nullification

Token economy

Remembrance

Overcooking

Loss identification

Music and the mind

“One good thing about music: when it hits you, you feel no pain.” 

Bob Marley

Music offers peace with the world as well as with oneself. It has the power to unshackle from anguish and distress. A tuneful soul gets contained with happiness. Music offers celebration as the dopamine rush in the brain contends serenity and gratification. Harmony in life and staying in tune with thoughts are all metaphorical interpretations of the significance of melody in existence. Pleasurable feelings associated with emotional music are the result of dopamine release in parts of the emotional brain: the same anatomical areas that underprop the pre-emptive and gratifying aspects of drug addiction. There is evidence of synchronous connects in the cardiac (heart) as well as cerebral (brain) functions that are influenced by sound waves of multiple wavelengths. Music affects us in ways we are reasonably unaware of…

Think about it…

We think over 1000 thoughts a minute. This is true for most people not just the highly intellectual ones who think even harder! Thinking is almost involuntary. The mind travels in the vaguest of directions; it is unchained, it is free. To soar to the heights it deems or delve to the depths it desires. A thought is a cognitive activity, something one is aware of in subjective consciousness. Thoughts can be channelized, focused and directed; or they may indeed be muddled and disorganized. They involve arrangements of ideas that may be real or imaginary. Thinking offers meaning to existence. A world without thinking would be relatively meaningless. Thoughts are the most important cognitive processes; wherefrom arise emotions, memory and behavior. There is little one can do in this world without thinking. We occasionally remark when we hear something we feel is bizarre: 

• What were you even thinking?
• What do you think of yourself?
• Do you think before you talk?
• What do you think about this?

We think about thinking more than we are even aware...

Characterological DepressionShefali Batra

When negativity and pessimism get deeply ingrained in one’s persona, there is a transformation in the outlook towards life. It seems like life was never worthy, things never happened right and relationships never worked. When there are no persevering memories of happiness or contentment, the mind cannot retain images of sanguinity. When asked to recall happy and positive moments, one usually denies their existence. There is thus no baseline to get back to.

Forgetfulness and Dementia

Memory

Memory is one of the most essential cognitive functions of the brain. Intellect, learning, communication, problem solving; all require an intact memory. For years together, our brain learns and retains new concepts and uses stored information to solve problems. And then one day, after many years, this ability declines and we begin to forget what we once knew. Dementia is a brain disorder in which one cannot remember what was learnt in the past and also, one is unable to retain new information. It is well understood as a deterioration of the memory, intellect, as well as personality; and manifests as a complete transformation of behavior, demeanor and thinking.