Since all our brain modules are plastic to some degree, we have the ability to create signature cultural activities and to respond to changing conditions. This cognitive fluidity is the human equivalent to Artificial Intelligence. The human cortex has 30bn neurons and is capable of making 1 million billion synaptic connections, at least 10 followed by a million zeros. Knowing that the universe consists of 10 followed by 79 zeros particles, it becomes clear why mindfulness beats AI. We call the shots to fully capitalize on our inherent capabilities.

Tenuous Civilization

Civilization is a combination of higher and lower brain functions and the plastic brain can always allow these functions that it has brought together earlier to separate. That said, a regression to barbarism, a civilization breakdown in civil wars and brutal instincts, such as theft, rape, murder, and destruction, is possible anytime. Civilization will always be a fragile affair that has to be taught in each generation anew. Many of today’s societal challenges can be ascribed to a necessary, but strenuous neuronal rewiring process in human beings‘ brains.

Cultural Change Triggers Neuroplasticity In Human Brains

For the adult brain, immigration is a brutal workout, requiring a massive rewiring of cortical real estate. When a new culture plastically competes with legacy neural networks of home country origin, successful assimilation requires at least a generation. Most immigrants experience disorientation and traumas. In the same way, people living in the country that welcomes immigrants, have to cope with different cultures, often associated with significantly lower living standards followed by respective ways of life that immigrants have been accustomed to.

Within one generation, it proves to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to completely rewire in order to fully understand another culture. Faced with a massive migration challenge, it‘s our duty to enrich our educational curricula at (pre-)schools and universities with as much information about different cultures as we can. Since cultural rewiring takes time, we must educate our children and enable them to develop culture-rich neural networks at a time they are most susceptible to learning. This could become a relevant factor for the coexistence of future societies.

The post Cultural Change Triggers Neuroplasticity In Human Brains appeared first on MICHAEL REUTER.

Language is the crystallization of thought. But the words we choose do more than just reflect our thought patterns—they shape them. What we say—and how we say it—can deeply affect a company’s culture.

We find many different versions of this “Thoughts-Become-Words-Become-Actions” theory. Some you might label ‘esoteric’, others appear somewhat cheesy: especially those self-help guides which recommend to only think about success in order to realize it. Everybody might find her individual approach to that theory — the common denominator of all those varieties is to change your own behavior, your language, to the positive.
I’ve been changing my own more negative speech patterns into positive ones for about a year now and the implications are clearly visible: my conversational partners react more friendly or just less stressed and discusssions become more fruitful. I’m seeing this effect in my professional environment, but also in private — my kids have begun mimicking this style (Just try this experiment: swap four-letter-words with very soft expressions of anger — and you will see that your kids start using those softer expressions). It might sound too easy, but for me, it works: changing personal language patterns to the positive results in better conversations, less stress and better performance in business and private environments.
There is another aspect of switching to positive language: dismissimg negative communication altogether: the mother of a friend of mine used to tell him not to say something negative, if that was the only thought which came into his mind in this situation. I follow this advice when being on Twitter: if I get annoyed about a tweet and my spontaneous reaction would be some harsh and negative critique — I don’t tweet and I don’t take it that seriously any more. The effect for me: I save time, I don’t get angry — and there is no dirty discussion on Twitter annoying everybody else.
Photo: Herrsching, Ammersee

The post Speak positive! appeared first on MICHAEL REUTER.