Happy Brain, Happy Life by Peter Hollins , Chapter by Chapter
00:00:49 Chapter 1 The Healthy Brain
00:04:51 Chapter 2 The Resilient Brain
00:08:53 Chapter 3 The Storytelling Brain
00:12:50 Chapter 4 The Connected Brain
00:16:48 Chapter 5 The Disciplined Brain
Hear it Here - https://adbl.co/3zYQx7924_pd_us
Neuroscience made simple: practical methods to rewire your brain for happiness, fulfillment, and better decisions along the way.
Much of the time, we are unhappy. We are not satisfied. We are sad or
depressed. This all starts in the brain. So let's go there.
Understand your brain; change it; shape it; master it.
You don't have to be a scientist to make your brain work for you. Happy
Brain, Happy Life is all about how to fine tune your brain to the finest
condition possible. We start with what makes a happy and healthy brain,
and then we go into how to get there. Once we get there, we talk about
the specific actions and behaviors we can use in our daily lives to
ensure that you are set for health, wealth, and love.
Your brain thinks it is 20,000 BC. Let's prevent self-sabotage.
Peter Hollins has studied psychology and peak human performance for over
a dozen years and is a bestselling author. He has worked with dozens of
individuals to unlock their potential and path towards success. His
writing draws on his academic, coaching, and research experience. Oddly
enough, neuroscience was his favorite class in school, and he has found
how to apply that same information to real life situations.
Create real neural changes, which have huge real life effects.
The recipe for massive amounts of serotonin.
The stressful brain and how it literally changes your neural network.
How the brain is a storyteller and is wired to think and process with
stories.
The neuroplasticity of compassion.
Triggering factors for the neurotransmitters you want.
The relationship between dopamine and setting goals.
Why humans are social animals .
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DCKH11PT/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-410024&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_410024_pd_us
Transcript
Hello listeners. This is Voice Over Work, an audiobook sampler. Where do you listen?
Speaker:Today we're introducing the book, Happy Brain, Happy Life. Everyday Neuroscience of Health,
Speaker:Wealth and Love by Peter Hollins. You don't have to be a scientist to make your brain
Speaker:work for you. Happy Brain, Happy Life is all about how to fine tune your brain to the finest
Speaker:condition possible. We start with what makes a happy and healthy brain, and then we go into
Speaker:how to get there. And once we get there, we talk about the specific actions and behaviors
Speaker:we can use in our daily lives to ensure that you are set for health, wealth and love.
Speaker:Chapter 1 The Healthy Brain
Speaker:We'll begin this book with a question. What is the mind and what is the brain?
Speaker:And what is their relationship to one another? Definitions sometimes tell us that the mind
Speaker:is what perceives, reasons, remembers, imagines, etc. And that the mind encompasses conscious and
Speaker:unconscious processes and mental phenomena. The mind, we're told, is the seat of consciousness
Speaker:and the thing we use to think and feel and perceive. Although this tells us what the mind does,
Speaker:it doesn't really tell us what the mind is. Thought, memory, learning, imagination,
Speaker:consciousness, perception, mood and motivation are very different activities, yet we attribute
Speaker:them all to the mind. If those activities stop, then where is the mind? The brain is easier to
Speaker:define. It's that organ that sits inside your skull. What then is the relationship between
Speaker:brain and mind? Consider that a human being is like an instrument, say a violin. There is the
Speaker:violin itself, the body, the neck, the strings, the bow, but there's also the potential for music,
Speaker:which is what the violin has been made for. In this metaphor, the brain is the physical violin,
Speaker:and the music it creates is the mind. Brain and mind are two aspects of the same thing,
Speaker:but the brain is while the mind does. In much the same way as a violinist can master their craft
Speaker:by learning all about music and its creation, they won't get very far if the physical instrument
Speaker:itself is damaged. If the violin's strings are out of tune, the bow too loose or the body chipped
Speaker:and broken, then the violin won't play properly no matter how skilled the violinist.
Speaker:The psychological approach to self-improvement focuses on the mind, i.e. the experiences and
Speaker:outward manifestations of the activity of the brain. In this book, however, we'll be focusing on the
Speaker:other side of the equation, the brain itself. We'll be paying close attention to the physiological
Speaker:aspects of our psychological well-being, because it's only when the brain itself
Speaker:is happy and healthy that the mind can be healthy. When the brain as an organ is strong,
Speaker:healthy, and resilient, then the mind reflects this in the form of flexibility, creativity,
Speaker:resilience, and so on. Just as good music is a natural expression of a well-maintained violin,
Speaker:a healthy mind is the natural expression of a healthy brain.
Speaker:What are the physical characteristics of a healthy brain?
Speaker:Have you ever thought about the physical condition of your brain? For the vast majority of us,
Speaker:our brain is something secret and invisible, and, if we're lucky, we're born and we die,
Speaker:never setting eyes on it. Perhaps we forget that it's there at all and don't appreciate that it's
Speaker:composed of living tissues and blood vessels, just like the other limbs and organs of the body.
Speaker:Your arms, legs, hands, feet, facial features, all of these things are uniquely yours,
Speaker:and change according to their state of health. The same is true of your brain,
Speaker:which is just as unique as the rest of you, and the health of which is just as dependent on its
Speaker:environment. Before we can understand how to achieve a healthy brain, we need to understand
Speaker:exactly what- Chapter 2 The Resilient Brain
Speaker:A healthy brain is one that needs to be able to resist many of life's unfortunate threats and
Speaker:hazards, and if injury is sustained, the brain should be able to recover as quickly as possible.
Speaker:In other words, a healthy brain is resilient. So far we've mentioned a few rather scary things
Speaker:that can happen to the human brain in the course of its lifetime. Alzheimer's disease, brain damage,
Speaker:sleep deprivation, and the ravages of drug and alcohol use, to name just a few.
Speaker:The shocking fact, however, is that the biggest threat to our brain health is not unexpected
Speaker:head injuries or dementia, but rather from a more pervasive, everyday danger, chronic stress.
Speaker:What stress does to your brain? Stress is everywhere. It's a part of life,
Speaker:and most of us will have to deal with various levels of stress all throughout our lives.
Speaker:But if stress is everywhere, so is resilience and coping.
Speaker:In this section, we'll consider the quite serious effects of prolonged stress on the brain,
Speaker:but also take a look at the good news, how to manage it, and even, if we're lucky, thrive in it.
Speaker:First, let's define exactly what we're talking about. Stress can be understood as the body's
Speaker:reaction to challenges and demands in the environment. This is important. Stress is not
Speaker:in your world. It's in your brain. The stress reaction is part of our biological mechanisms
Speaker:for survival. Stress forms part of that complicated response that helps us focus on and protect
Speaker:ourselves against threats. When the body is stressed, it floods with a cascade of hormones,
Speaker:adrenaline, cortisol, that, in turn, trigger the release of a host of other hormones.
Speaker:The point of this response is to mobilize action that will keep you safe. For example,
Speaker:you may be walking in the woods and your sense organs, eyes and ears, tell you that a wolf is
Speaker:nearby. This perception triggers a series of responses that prime you to act to save yourself.
Speaker:Increased heart rate, decreased digestion, pupil dilation, hyper focus.
Speaker:When the danger passes and the wolf moves on, your body returns to baseline and relaxes again.
Speaker:This finely tuned evolutionary mechanism doesn't always help us when it comes to the
Speaker:stressors of the modern world, however. Dwelling on money trouble, ruminating over social aggravations,
Speaker:getting stuck in traffic, or worrying about climate change are all stimuli that may be
Speaker:perceived in just the same way as a wolf in the forest, except the danger might never sufficiently
Speaker:pass and the body remains in a chronic, prolonged state of hyper arousal that never abates.
Speaker:A fight-or-flight response is triggered when the HPA axis, which includes the hypothalamus,
Speaker:the pituitary, and the adrenal system, is activated. They orchestrate the release of
Speaker:hormones throughout the body that then stimulate the nervous system. The entire organism undergoes
Speaker:changes. For example, digestion stops, muscles tighten, and heart rate increases.
Speaker:The mind takes on a tunnel vision quality and focuses with heightened awareness on the perceived
Speaker:threat, excluding everything else from awareness. Bruce McEwen is a neuroscientist from Rockefeller
Speaker:University, and he claims that because stress changes the way the brain…
Speaker:Chapter 3 The Storytelling Brain
Speaker:Human beings, or more accurately human beings, brains are storytelling machines.
Speaker:The way we interpret life, the assumptions and expectations we hold,
Speaker:the narratives we construct for ourselves, and the words we use to speak to ourselves
Speaker:prove that one of the brain's primary forms of expression is verbal. Words matter,
Speaker:because they reveal the hidden ways we make sense of the world around us.
Speaker:While we can use words to express our reality, the truth is that words can, in turn,
Speaker:influence us and shape that reality. The words we surround ourselves with, the
Speaker:quality of the stories we immerse ourselves in, and the way we speak to ourselves, especially,
Speaker:has a major impact on how our brains work. This relationship is not a theoretical one,
Speaker:but rather something that we can see reflected in the brain itself, its activity,
Speaker:and its neurotransmitter levels. In this chapter, we're going to be exploring
Speaker:the two-way verbal relationship that exists between us and the world.
Speaker:Journaling Rewires the Brain
Speaker:There's something very special about sitting down and putting pen to paper.
Speaker:The act of cracking open a notebook and filling it with your thoughts has far-reaching benefits,
Speaker:and these are not merely anecdotal, but increasingly supported by neuroscience research.
Speaker:Why is journaling so good for your brain? Journaling distresses you.
Speaker:When you put your thoughts and feelings into words, you externalize them, i.e.,
Speaker:get them out of your head, and immediately gain some psychological distance. This alone makes
Speaker:them feel less intense, and at once, you give yourself the opportunity to think about your
Speaker:feelings rather than remaining lost and reactive inside your feelings. The amygdala in the brain
Speaker:is responsible for the complicated processes associated with emotional regulation, but
Speaker:one thing is for sure, emotional reactions are often lightening fast and involuntary.
Speaker:Writing, however, gives us a moment to interrupt this knee-jerk response, slow down our thought
Speaker:processes, and think more clearly. This reduces our anxiety levels, increases our feelings of
Speaker:self-awareness, and builds mastery and self-efficacy as we realize that we are actually able to choose
Speaker:our reaction to life situations. A study done by Michigan State University found that writing
Speaker:reduces cognitive load. According to the study's authors, chronic worriers actually
Speaker:impair their own cognitive function because they're essentially multitasking all the time.
Speaker:Journaling allows you to free up cognitive resources that you would otherwise spend on
Speaker:rumination and vague worry, and channel it towards something useful, like working through
Speaker:problems or processing emotions. The research team was interested in what they called
Speaker:expressive writing, which is delving into your deepest thoughts and feelings. There may be
Speaker:relief in setting aside worries in this way. It's a little like telling your brain,
Speaker:you don't have to keep thinking about this anymore, Brain. It's been noted. It's here on the page,
Speaker:so you can let it go. Thank you for your help. There's also something to be said for the power
Speaker:of labeling. When you put a succinct label on any motion, it suddenly becomes smaller,
Speaker:more definite, and more manageable. Chapter 4, The Connected Brain
Speaker:In this chapter, we'll take a look at the neuroscientific evidence for an idea that many of
Speaker:us have long suspected to be true, that kindness, generosity, and a life lived with purpose
Speaker:can have immense effects on your physical well-being.
Speaker:Self-help literature on boosting brain health often focuses on very limited ideals of what a
Speaker:healthy brain should be and do. It's all about intelligence, processing power,
Speaker:or problem-solving capacity. And yet, if you were to ask a strong and healthy elderly person
Speaker:how they keep vital and mentally switched on, they probably won't tell you that the secret is
Speaker:Sudoku puzzles and brain workouts. Rather, they might mention their grandchildren,
Speaker:their volunteer work, or the strong sense of belonging they feel in their community.
Speaker:One of the biggest determinants, not only of life satisfaction, but longevity too,
Speaker:is a life that feels like it means something. Let's take a closer look.
Speaker:Your brain wants a purpose. What makes a good heart? That's easy. A healthy, happy heart is one
Speaker:that pumps well enough to supply fresh, oxygenated blood to every tissue and organ of the body,
Speaker:and also carries carbon dioxide back to the lungs so it can be removed. In other words,
Speaker:a healthy heart is one that does the job a heart should do.
Speaker:In the same way, a healthy gut does what a gut should do, and healthy arms and legs do what
Speaker:arms and legs should do. When it comes to the brain, we can see its health in terms of its function.
Speaker:But then, what is the brain's function? The brain's not like the heart, or a stomach,
Speaker:or a leg, or an arm. It has many functions that are easy to identify. It can learn,
Speaker:solve problems, imagine, memorize, plan, etc. But to what end are all of those functions applied?
Speaker:It seems as though the brain is an organ that doesn't have a job, but a purpose.
Speaker:Those many functions need to be put towards some higher ambition. After all, a person may possess
Speaker:a vital, intelligent brain capable of many impressive functions. But if that brain continually asks
Speaker:itself what's the point, it's hard to imagine that we would call it healthy.
Speaker:A fascinating meta-analysis by aging research reviews strongly suggests that having a purpose
Speaker:in life is not just some nice lofty ideal, but absolutely necessary for good brain health.
Speaker:Without it, adults risk higher rates of dementia, not to mention depression.
Speaker:Researchers even hinted that purpose and meaning may be detectable in the body as a counterbalance
Speaker:to distinctive neuro-inflammatory cellular stress response. The purposeful brain appears to be better
Speaker:connected and organized. A research team at University College, London,
Speaker:crunched data from more than 62,000 older people across three countries and found a
Speaker:negative correlation between what they call positive psychological constructs, PPCs,
Speaker:and cognitive impairment in later life. In particular, measures for purposeful living
Speaker:were better predictors of good cognitive health than other PPCs like optimism and happiness.
Speaker:This is an astonishing finding. Having a life of purpose may ultimately be healthier than
Speaker:having a life that is merely happy. Chapter 5 The Disciplined Brain
Speaker:What do you think of when you see the word discipline? Do you imagine the kind of toughness
Speaker:and self-restraint required to stick to a gym routine or stop yourself from indulging in a
Speaker:bad habit? Do you think of Navy Seahills or drill sergeants? In this chapter, we'll be looking at
Speaker:a slightly different perspective on discipline, namely that it's possible to discipline yourself
Speaker:to be happy. Many of us assume that our mood is not really under our control. We imagine,
Speaker:perhaps even unconsciously, that how we feel is nothing more than a result of the influences
Speaker:our environment has on us. If things are going well, we'll be happy, and if things aren't,
Speaker:we'll be sad or anxious. Learning to be Optimistic
Speaker:But optimism can be thought of as a good habit, and one as nurturing for your brain as
Speaker:any other healthy habit, like keeping a good sleep routine or eating your veggies.
Speaker:The first thing to understand about optimism is that it's something we have a degree of control
Speaker:over. This is important because optimism can literally alter your brain. A study from the
Speaker:University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign examined the MRIs of 61 healthy participants
Speaker:and discovered that people with bigger orbital frontal cortices, OFCs on average, seem to be
Speaker:more optimistic and less anxious. An earlier study also looked at OFC size, but particularly in adults
Speaker:who had experienced an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Their data showed that people who had lost
Speaker:the greatest amount of OFC volume showed a greater likelihood of being diagnosed with PTSD
Speaker:later on. Follow-up studies by the same researchers found tiny changes in participants'
Speaker:white matter integrity, suggesting that stress and trauma can damage the brain's interconnectivity.
Speaker:We already know that stress can wreak havoc on the brain,
Speaker:and these studies show that there is indeed a link between brain health and optimism.
Speaker:But is the reverse true? I.e., can optimism change your brain in positive ways?
Speaker:The Dulkos study cautiously concluded that it could be, and suggested that optimism may protect
Speaker:a person against anxiety by creating changes in the OFC. When it comes to the brain, there are often
Speaker:chicken and egg questions about cause and effect, but there's good reason to expect that training
Speaker:yourself to respond well to stressful events can mitigate their effects on your brain.
Speaker:Don't worry if you're a bit of a negative Nancy. Licensed psychotherapist and licensed clinical
Speaker:social worker, LCSW, Carol Ward explains that optimism is down to both nature and nurture,
Speaker:saying, From my experience, optimism is both a personality trait and a product of our environment.
Speaker:From an early age, babies and children pick up the emotional vibes in their homes.
Speaker:If the atmosphere is relaxed and loving, children blossom, even if they innately have
Speaker:a tendency toward anxiety. But if the home environment is tense and filled with dysfunction,
Speaker:optimism is one of the first things to go.
Speaker:It's hard to be emotionally open and hopeful when that is not being modeled for you by your
Speaker:caretakers. An interesting twin study suggested that optimism is
Speaker:Chapter 6 The Agile Brain
Speaker:When we consider the neuroscience of the brain in terms of what the brain's functions are,
Speaker:then we see that as an organ, the brain has evolved for all the many complex survival tasks
Speaker:demanded of a human being, keeping healthy and safe, connecting harmoniously with the tribe,
Speaker:using symbols and language to make sense of the world, plugging into sources of meaning,
Speaker:purpose and direction, and staying strong and determined in the face of challenge, uncertainty
Speaker:and adversity. So far so good. In this final chapter, we look at one more important function
Speaker:of the happy brain, adaptation. Part of what makes human beings the unique organisms they are
Speaker:is that they can respond and react to unknowns in the environment. The human brain is capable
Speaker:of imagining the future, planning for it, and anticipating and avoiding potential danger.
Speaker:Every creature has evolved and adapted to thrive in its unique environmental mellute,
Speaker:but what makes humans special is that they're able to encounter unexpected novelty in the world
Speaker:and adapt very quickly to it. Our ability to engage with novelty goes beyond just surviving it.
Speaker:Instead, we use the potential of newness and the unexpected to help us be more creative,
Speaker:solve problems, and use curiosity to drive our hunger to learn more about the world.
Speaker:In other words, the brain was built for novelty. The spice of life.
Speaker:Many of us can remember the particularly dull, mindless feeling that fell over everything
Speaker:during the months of lockdown over the pandemic. Stuck at home, people's worlds shrank,
Speaker:and there wasn't much newness to stimulate the brain, and every day brought the same
Speaker:tedium and predictability as the day before it. People actually noticed subtle signs of
Speaker:cognitive decline, poorer memories, worse mood, and a rapid decline in social and communication
Speaker:skills. Dr. Laurie Santos is a cognitive scientist and Yale lecturer and puts it succinctly,
Speaker:there is a connection between novelty and happiness.
Speaker:Novel stimuli tend to activate regions of our brain that are associated with rewards.
Speaker:Yep, it's our friend dopamine again.
Speaker:Newness in your environment is often felt by the brain to be intrinsically rewarding
Speaker:and has far-reaching influences on your attention, brain connectivity, and mood.
Speaker:A fun study asked its participants to move around New York City and Miami as the researchers
Speaker:tracked their GPS data and monitored their daily moods. The team lead, Dr. Aaron Heller,
Speaker:said this of the data gathered. What we found was that for every person on days when they
Speaker:displayed greater exploration, greater roaming entropy, they reported feeling happier. It's
Speaker:as simple as that. The experience of novelty, or going to places you've never been before,
Speaker:actually seemed to have an even larger association with positive emotion on that day.
Speaker:The relationship is bi-directional, however. If you explore more, you feel better,
Speaker:and the better you feel, the more inclined you are to keep exploring.
Speaker:Novelty has been said to make us more resilient, more curious, and happier overall.
Speaker:The more we actively engage with our environment, the more alive
Speaker:Introduction
Speaker:One of the famous Delphic maxim inscribed at the Apollo Temple in Delphi is,
Speaker:Know Thyself This is precisely what this book is about.
Speaker:Throughout the chapters it follow, we'll see that knowing oneself and knowing others are
Speaker:two skills that cannot be developed in isolation. We start by gaining insight into our own thoughts,
Speaker:emotions, and beliefs, and how they inform our behavior. Only when we can understand ourselves
Speaker:in this way can we understand others. And, if we have empathy and compassion toward ourselves,
Speaker:can we practice it for others? This book is about two skills that act in tandem,
Speaker:self-awareness, and social awareness. These two pillars form the foundation of emotional
Speaker:intelligence, and from them, we can construct a way of being that is proven to be more balanced,
Speaker:robust, creative, cooperative, and innovative. Let's begin with a question.
Speaker:Are you self-aware? It's a tricky one, since the quality you're asking about is the same
Speaker:quality you need to answer the question. In fact, there's a high risk of self-delusion here, since
Speaker:a lack of self-awareness is one of the things that may prompt us to say, sure, other people don't
Speaker:know themselves, but I do. Just as most believe themselves to be above average drivers, a statistical
Speaker:impossibility, most people believe that they're self-aware, even with little evidence. Self-awareness,
Speaker:just like driving, is a skill that can be developed. This means that it can be strengthened,
Speaker:improved, interfered with, or even compromised. Ironically, those with higher self-awareness
Speaker:tend to be more modest in their self-assessments, but the process is worth it. The ability to
Speaker:clearly see and be aware of yourself has many proven benefits. More confidence and creativity,
Speaker:better decision-making, improved communication skills, and more effective leadership strategies,
Speaker:just a few. The effects go far deeper than this. Better self-awareness completely alters your sense
Speaker:of identity, purpose, and resilience on a fundamental level. Improving one's self-awareness can also
Speaker:provide a useful tool in healing from and overcoming past traumas, especially for those who were unable
Speaker:to develop a healthy or comprehensive self in their early childhood. Even with all of these
Speaker:reasons for studying and promoting self-awareness, there is a major gap between what psychologists
Speaker:and researchers know about the topic and what is known about deliberately improving this skill
Speaker:out in the real world. Psychologists Tasha Yurik and colleagues conducted a massive study on
Speaker:self-awareness. They gained interesting insights into what it is, what it isn't, and how it can
Speaker:become better at it. Their biggest finding? True self-awareness is rare, with only around 15% of
Speaker:people making the grade. Another big contribution of the study is the discovery that there are
Speaker:actually at least two different kinds of self-awareness. Let's pause and consider the fact that self-awareness
Speaker:doesn't really have a fixed definition. The term might refer to the ability to monitor one's own
Speaker:inner experience, or what's broadly called self-consciousness, or it could be about self-knowledge.
Speaker:But what's going on when someone has a pronounced sense of who they are as a person
Speaker:that everyone around them disagrees with? Yurik's study found there's a difference between internal
Speaker:and external self-awareness. Internal? The clarity with which we perceive our
Speaker:innermost desires, emotions, thoughts, values, strengths, and weaknesses, i.e. how accurately
Speaker:you see yourself. External? The understanding of how other people view us, and the effect we have on
Speaker:them, i.e. how accurately you see others' perception of you. Those with high internal self-awareness
Speaker:fare better in their jobs, relationships, and overall emotional regulation. Those with high
Speaker:external self-awareness are more empathetic, and are more capable of taking on others' perspectives.
Speaker:Both types are positively correlated with overall life's success and satisfaction.
Speaker:What may surprise you is that scoring well in one area doesn't mean you'll score well in the other.
Speaker:This revelation allowed Yurik to postulate four main self-awareness archetypes, according to where
Speaker:they fall on these two scales. Low internal self-awareness, low external self-awareness? Seekers.
Speaker:Understandably, they don't know who they are or how they appear to others.
Speaker:They may feel aimless, confused, or frustrated in their work and relationships and be unclear on
Speaker:their own values. Low internal self-awareness, high external self-awareness? Pleasers.
Speaker:The tendency is to focus on how they appear to others at the expense of understanding their own
Speaker:perceptions and preferences. They may be well liked, but make decisions often not in their
Speaker:own best interest. High internal self-awareness, low external self-awareness? Introspectors.
Speaker:While crystal clear on their own values and perspectives, they lack insight into how this
Speaker:might differ from other people's experiences of them, which can cause friction or misunderstandings.
Speaker:High internal self-awareness, high external self-awareness? Aware.
Speaker:They know who they are and what they want, and they know other people's opinions and
Speaker:feelings about them and consider both. According to Yurik, both types of self-awareness are
Speaker:important, and the most successful individuals are those that have cultivated both capacities
Speaker:simultaneously. If you can correctly identify your type, then you know exactly what to work on
Speaker:when becoming a more rounded and generally self-aware person. Yurik and her team explored the
Speaker:things that most commonly impede self-awareness, and they homed in on two aspects, experience and power.
Speaker:Experience can give us false confidence in our abilities, or make us wrongly down ourselves,
Speaker:both inhibit accurate self-awareness. For example, the paradox of expertise is where
Speaker:leaders actually become less accurate at assessing their own competence the more
Speaker:experienced they are, while an inexperienced person may underestimate their valuable contribution.
Speaker:Similarly, having a high degree of power makes most people overestimate their self-awareness,
Speaker:competence and empathy. That would explain a lot about our world, wouldn't it?
Speaker:Anytime you are limiting opportunities for feedback and genuine listening,
Speaker:you're losing perspective and distorting your own self-awareness. On the other hand,
Speaker:anytime you enlist the insight that comes with constructive feedback,
Speaker:you strengthen self-awareness. Most interesting of all, the research team found that introspection
Speaker:doesn't lead to better self-awareness. Deeply examining your own thoughts and feelings is
Speaker:valuable, but it turns out, it doesn't always help us to know ourselves better.
Speaker:Surprisingly, practiced introspectors were found to be less self-aware than others.
Speaker:The reason is, perhaps obvious, it's so easy to do introspection wrong.
Speaker:None of us can learn of our un-
Speaker:you
