Building a Better (Emotional) Brain

Levels of sadness exist within the brain. Some of them are trivial, like when the Patriots win … again! Others are all consuming, as when you cannot see the good, find the good, or feel the good in this world even when you are surrounded by it.

Think of it in terms of two sides of a glass, with you on one side and the world on the other. Your perception is that glass.

In the first case, when your team loses or you suffer some slight, those external events enter your brain to be tinted in some way by the glass of your perceptions (whether you happen to love or loathe the Patriots, for example). Remember that the events themselves are neutral. It is your glass that tints them darker or lighter. This is an environmental effect that we can choose to change or not. We have control there.

In the other case, the internal state lingers in a darkness that is unaffected by what the actual events are or what you want them to be. The glass is gray, opaque, and streaked so that ALL external events come through tinted darker in the mind. When this lies outside of your psychological control to change, then it becomes a chemical issue. The glass of your perceptions becomes stained, independent of your choice to make them one way or another.

So. You can build a better emotional brain on your own, if you can still impact the glass of your perceptions. In that case, focus on the positive. Find the good. Practice gratitude. These actions essentially clean the daily grime off that large picture window of your mind. It makes it easier to see clearly, and interpret external events positively.

But if you find yourself in the second case, or veering in that direction, you may find that you cannot clear the glass on your own, no matter what you think or who you talk to. In that case, it may be time to talk to a physician to find a medical solution. Hopefully it never gets to that point, and you can clean the glass on your own. I think that would be your goal.