OUTSIDE THE BOX OF THE BRAIN

At the risk of spouting cliches, I shall say that the human is a most complex being/entity. We are divided into so many parts that I’ve always wondered how we can unify this panoply of organs, tissues, cells, thoughts and feelings. 

Now comes another fascinating take on the problem at hand: the great connection among our tissues, our minds, bodies, feelings as expounded in Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind, the Power of Thinking Outside the Brain (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). According to the review by Susan Pinker in The New York Times Book Review (June 27,2021) this volume lives up to its tantalizing title. For me, it evokes an abundance of thought. 

 I haven’t been inspired to write a blog in quite a while, but this book does tickle my brain cells. “I knew it,” I say to myself gleefully about my obsessive habit of waking, sipping my strong morning coffee and opening my computer to the word document that records the date followed by odd tidbits of thoughts and dreams that roll into my sluggish mind. 

I have thought of the time spent in this process that can last up to 45 minutes as rather a colossal waste of time, but occasionally some insight occurs that I can apply to my work as a psychiatrist with one of my patients or the beginnings of a poem. 

Annie Murphy Paul’s book provides information that I conclude justifies my time journal-writing and likely contributes to my good health. Paul speaks about interoception which is an awareness of “an SOS signal from body to brain.” “Though we typically think of the brain as telling the body what to do, just as much does the body guide the brain with an array of subtle nudges and prods. One psychologist has called this guide our ‘somatic rudder,’” Paul writes. 

Paul notes that looking out on grassy expanses near loose clumps of tress and a source of water helps up solve problems: “passive attention is effortless: diffuse and unfocused, it floats from object to object, topic to topic. This is the kind of attention evoked by nature. Psychologists who follow in the footsteps of William James, deemed the father of psychology, call this state of mind ‘soft fascination.’” 

I think the connection that Paul notes between diffuse and unfocused thinking and problem-solving helps to explain what happens during journal writing. From the comfort of my bed or couch I allow my mind-brain to enter the state of soft fascination. 

From my scattered thoughts of a few days ago, I jotted down the words therapist-journal. I realized my journal is my therapist. For years I have acknowledged that writing is a form of therapy and urge any patient who is open to exploring the process to try this technique to help them identify a conundrum and possible solutions to it. If one could prescribe a pill to overcome the resistance to the process, I would write a lot of prescriptions. The resistance to the process to problem-solve is another wide avenue to explore. 

Dear Reader, Kindly, send your thoughts about the above to jsimon145@gmail.com.