{"id":30241,"date":"2015-02-11T10:23:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=30241"},"modified":"2015-02-11T10:23:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T18:23:00","slug":"3-brains-not-1-heres-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/3-brains-not-1-heres-work\/","title":{"rendered":"You Have 3 Brains, Not 1. Here’s How They All Work."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10,000 other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known Universe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

– Michio Kaku<\/p>\n

Up until this very moment, you\u2019ve probably gone your entire life thinking you have only one brain. That pink gobbldey-gook thingy the pathologist dumps on the scale in every episode of CSI, right? Well, hang on to your lunch, because you\u2019re about to have a \u2018the earth isn\u2019t actually flat\u2019 moment.<\/p>\n

Ready? Here goes\u2026<\/p>\n

We humans have 3 brains, not 1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yup, you read that right \u2013 we have three entirely unique and wholly independent organs in our moderately-sized skulls. And what\u2019s even more shocking is that these three brains do not act unison. They don\u2019t consult with one another. Heck, they don\u2019t even talk to each other! Instead they routinely battle for control of our very existence. It would make a really cool sci-fi movie, actually.<\/p>\n

I call our three brains the Monkey Brain, Vulcan Brain, and Robot Brain. Here\u2019s a brief explanation of all three:<\/p>\n

Monkey Brain<\/strong> \u2013 Your Monkey Brain is your emotional brain. It\u2019s the brain that falls in love (or lust) with that beautiful stranger you spot on your way to work. It\u2019s the brain that freaks out when you\u2019re about to give a speech in public. And it\u2019s the brain that gets super excited when Netflix announces a new season of \u2018House of Cards.\u2019<\/p>\n

Your Monkey Brain is the same brain you had tens of millions of years ago, back when you were just a pink-nosed, pink-bottomed chimpanzee living the cold, harsh world.<\/p>\n

Remember those days? The endless search for food, the constant fear of predators, the never-ending compulsion to assert dominance and maintain status amongst your peers. It\u2019s no wonder our Monkey Brains are so prone to violent outbursts and extreme overreactions. Being a monkey is like being a Kardashian \u2013 your life is just one big hot mess.<\/p>\n

Vulcan Brain<\/strong> \u2013 Your Vulcan Brain is all logic and reason (surprise, surprise). It\u2019s the brain that thinks cognitively, reads, plans ahead, and solves math equations (or, in my case, uses a calculator to solve math equations).<\/p>\n

Our Vulcan Brain is unique to our species. It\u2019s how our ancestors learned to use tools, which eventually led to our dominance over the entire animal kingdom. I could have just gone ahead and called it the \u2018Human Brain,\u2019 but that sounds like a slap in the face to all other animals, so I went with \u2018Vulcan\u2019 instead.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not into the Star Trek thing, feel free to substitute your own pop-culture reference. Possible examples include \u2018the Benedict Cumberbatch Brain,\u2019 \u2018the Big Bang Theory Brain,\u2019 or \u2018the Not-So-Paris Hilton Brain.\u2019<\/p>\n

Robot Brain<\/strong> \u2013 Your Robot Brain is your autopilot. Remember brushing your teeth this morning? No? That\u2019s because you were on autopilot.<\/p>\n

This may come as a shock, but of our three brains, the one we use most is our Robot Brain. In fact, we use our Robot Brain every second we\u2019re awake, except in rare and extreme circumstances when one of the other brains completely takes over.<\/p>\n

For example, it\u2019s possible to become so emotional that our autopilot actually shuts off, and our entire being is momentarily filtered through that one single emotion. Imagine winning the lottery, or walking in on your significant other with your best friend, or being a fourteen-year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert. Likewise, it\u2019s possible for our Vulcan Brain to dominate to such an extreme extent that our autopilot \u2013 or Robot Brain \u2013 actually shuts off. That moment when Jack Bauer disarms a nuclear weapon on \u201824\u2019 is a good example.<\/p>\n

What This All Means<\/strong><\/p>\n

By now you\u2019re probably thinking, \u2018hey, that\u2019s a neat little classification system you\u2019ve got there, but what the heck does it have to do with anything? I mean, how am I supposed to utilize this knowledge to better my everyday life?\u2019<\/p>\n

You were thinking that, right?<\/p>\n

Good. Because I\u2019ve got you covered. The reason it\u2019s so important to recognize that we have three brains in our skulls and not one, is because doing so helps us understand why we act the way we do.<\/p>\n

For example, ever decide to change your morning routine? \u2018Tonight I\u2019m going to set my alarm half an hour early, meditate for 10 minutes as soon as I get up, then exercise for 20.\u2019 Of course the next morning you hit the snooze 3 times and still end up late to work.<\/p>\n

Or how about this example: Think of the last time you were rejected by someone you cared about. Would you say your reaction was more emblematic of Spock or King Kong?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever lived through the above examples (and who hasn\u2019t?), you\u2019ve probably kicked yourself for being lazy or hypersensitive. Well I\u2019ve got some great news for you: You\u2019re neither lazy nor hypersensitive (I know this, because it\u2019s impossible for a person to be an adjective. Anyway, that\u2019s a different post for a different time\u2026). What actually happened was, your Robot Brain and your Monkey Brain dominated your thinking during those critical moments, which is why you were unable to make logical\/rational Vulcan Brain decisions.<\/p>\n

When you woke up at 6:30 am instead of your normal 7:00 am wake-up time, your Robot Brain was the one behind the wheel, not your Vulcan Brain. And your Robot Brain did the same thing it does every time you\u2019re tired and you know deep down that you don\u2019t really have to get up at this very moment \u2013 it hit the snooze. Likewise, when you got rejected by that person you cared about, your Monkey Brain took over and went full-on angry ape, never giving your Vulcan Brain a chance to assess the situation and reflect on the best course of action.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our Vulcan Brains that usually make the better long-term decisions (not always, but usually). Our Vulcan Brain would have risen at 6:30 and meditated just like we planned. Our Vulcan Brain would have reminded us that one person\u2019s rejection does not define us in any way, and therefore shouldn\u2019t affect our thoughts, beliefs, or actions.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, our Vulcan Brains are the least powerful of the three (which, incidentally, is because they\u2019re the newest; they\u2019ve only been around for 2.3 million years. That was when chimps evolved into Homo Habilis, the first of our ancestors to attain anything similar to what we now call a Frontal Cortex). The Robot Brain and Monkey Brain have been around for much, much longer, thus they are far more powerful.<\/p>\n

The 3-brain paradigm is important because it clarifies why we act certain ways in certain circumstances. It isn\u2019t us, it\u2019s our brains. Maybe that revelation seems like splitting hairs, but it should actually have a profound impact on how we judge ourselves. To understand that YOU are not lazy or hypersensitive, instead your Robot Brain or Monkey Brain make you act lazy or appear hypersensitive, is the first step to reevaluating how you feel about yourself and your past failures. It\u2019s rational to beat yourself up over things when you assume that YOU are the one who did those things; much less rational when you realize that it wasn\u2019t you after all, it was merely one of your three brains \u2013 and not the one that makes the best decisions.<\/p>\n

So the moral of this whole story is: Quit beating yourself up over past actions! YOU aren\u2019t the one making the decisions which led to those actions. That\u2019s because THERE IS NO SINGLE YOU. There are three You\u2019s \u2013 each with the power and ability to control your actions at any given time.<\/p>\n

The inevitable next step is to ask ourselves how we can control \u2013 or at least influence \u2013 which brain does the thinking for us. That is a process that takes much time and deliberate practice. But once you get the hang of it, you\u2019ll begin to see rapid changes in your productivity and personal development. I\u2019ll cover all of that in my next post.<\/p>\n

For now, I\u2019d love to hear some of your Monkey, Vulcan, or Robot Brain stories. Feel free to leave one in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John Freund is an author and improv comedian. His first e-book, \u2018Fake it with Confidence: How to use Improv Comedy to be More Confident in Social Situations\u2019 is available on Amazon at http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/johnfreundebook1<\/em>
\n You can also visit John at his blog: selfimprovementin60seconds.wordpress.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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