Hello Team...I am currently reading Descartes' Baby and am on the chapter about "Good and Evil." I got really excited about how action/movements effect our emotions. It ties into Patty's post about "laugh therapy" and how our actions can change our biology. Ok, the part that I thought was really interesting was the "mirror" neurons that fire off when we watch others actions or when you are doing an action yourself. The neurons that fire off are the same whether you are performing the action or if you are watching the action. It totally makes sense that your brain cannot tell the difference, hence the topic of empathy. As explained in the chapter we mimic the facial expressions of others to empathize with them. Example would be (A) you smile because you are happy (B) I mimic your smile and feel happy as well, in particular I feel your happiness. We in an essence can actually feel each others joys and pains because the neurons do not differentiate whether it is my emotion or your emotion. If you have healthy boundaries you can tell the difference, I am not saying we cannot conceptualize the difference, but our neurons don't. It is crazy, so empathy is a chemical reaction in my brain.
If I got the information correct that is what I took from it at this exact moment in time. I am excited to hear what you all have to say and develop this idea further.
On a side note do you ever feel like the professor from Gilligans Island? You know the episode where they are rescued and he re-invents all these items like Frisbee’s and skateboards, like it is his own original invention. I feel like that with my education, it's like re-inventing the skateboard. I am totally stoked to invent it for myself.
