It's in Your Brain

One of the reasons you are sensitive to change and the health and welfare of friends and relatives is the same reason you are not a serial killer or CEO. If we watched your amygdala through an MRI machine we could see a virtual fireworks display when your decision process went from impersonal to personal. In a psychopath or CEO you would see darkness. They are driven by objective alone, how they achieve it is incidental. Is this oversimplified, to be sure. I mention this primarily because of the pangs we suffer sometimes because of our hardwired behavior.

In the newness of this doorway to 2013 remember that only part of you is malleable. We are not all executive material any more than we are all psychopaths. Fortunately we are all very different, very human examples of the possibilities of life as a human being. So do not be too quick to compare your insides with other people’s outsides. It’s a losing proposition, you can’t win. And most of the time you will be incorrect in your observations anyway.

If you are looking for ways to improve yourself, select things that you can control. For most of us weight can be controlled and exercise.  Improving our mind with more and better reading is ours to manage. Giving freely and often to those around us and in need is a choice unless you are among those who find emotion to be entropy. Politicians are often gifted with that characteristic. It isn't that they don’t care what happens. They just don’t care what happens to you.

Happy New Year!

Herb Ratliff, January 2, 2013, All Rights Reserved