Sublime

Developing the lens that enables us to see the mind more clearly stimulates the brain to grow important new connections. This revelation is based on one of the most exciting scientific discoveries of the last twenty years: How we focus our attention shapes the structure of the brain. Neuroscience supports

Understanding how the subparts of the brain (say, neurons) work will never allow us to understand how the brain works.

prefrontal cortex. For example, the side of this region is crucial for how we pay attention; it enables us to put things in the “front of our mind” and hold them in awareness. The middle portion of the prefrontal area, the part damaged in Barbara, coordinates an astonishing number of essential skills, including regulating the body, attuning to othe

brain. When

Our sense of who we are depends, in significant part, on our memories. And yet they’re not to be trusted. ‘What is selected as a personal memory,’ writes Professor of psychology and neuroscience Giuliana Mazzoni, ‘needs to fit the current idea that we have of ourselves.’

Taken together the reptilian brain and limbic system make up what I’ll call the “emotional brain” throughout this book.

a high-functioning Silicon Valley executive suffers from partial seizures in a region within the posteromedial cortex (on the inward-facing side of the cortical hemisphere, along the midline) during which his sense of self is distorted, including his perceived location in space; he eavesdrops on his own thoughts, a form of depersonalization. Direct