These were the questions we asked ourselves in our weekly discussion, our responses - as you can see - were rich and varied, reflecting our diverse personalities and interests.
In introducing the discussion, Naz told us about the important role played by the amygdala, one of the oldest parts of our brains, evolutionary speaking, which she said has a huge role to play in how and if we pay attention to negative and positive things, as well as the way we interpret things.
Naz explained that the impact of positive activity and interests, even if little and everyday things, can be huge on the brain. The brain learns to feel rewarded with the things that ‘lift’ us, the things that make us feel good about ourselves. This might be the effect of a walk in the park, riding our horse, laughing with our children, a hot bubble bath, a candle we light, a nice cup of tea or coffee, or buying ourselves a ‘lipstick’. These are the things that make us squeeze ourselves with immense levels of joy. Naz told us that as there is no hierarchy for pleasure centres in the brain, it is what we make of and how we interpret things, and how we squeeze out the goodness in the things that matter.
Taking this further, we can build, we can gain insights we can gain, and the resilience. The activity of the amygdala in such re-thinking strategies can be phenomenal and the impact on the brain is huge. When the brain feels rewarded, it communicates rewardingly to the body which can regulate our hormonal and motor systems.
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