What if your brain was wired to seek nourishment?

I was watching something on tv yesterday and there was a psychologist talking about how your brain will notice the 5 people in the room who aren’t having a good time and not focus on the 95 that are.

She went on to explain how it has to do with a survival mechanism in the brain blah blah blah. When we were cave people we needed to survive, and learning what was harmful helped us do that.

And I thought. Hmmm.

Who were the people that studied this and determined that?

What if that weren’t true? And what is something that shaped our lives in THIS lifetime that would cause us to focus on the 5% ?

Our whole system is set up to do things with 100% accuracy or get punished.

Get the grades. Or fail the class.

Get the job done. Or don’t get promoted or that raise or you might even lose your job.

Be the best partner with all the perfect qualities. Or be single. Dun dun dun.

That 5% can easily been deemed as dangerous when you think of how we’re societally structured for an arbitrary perfection and these behaviours are constantly and consistently reinforced.

Wait!

Before you go down the spiral of doom.

Hear me out.

We are also wired for NOURISHMENT.

Our brains like to make sure that we are nourished too.

Whether through connection - best way to stay safe is to:

Talk to your community and gossip (seriously, gossip can save lives and let us know who is safe and who isn’t)

Be with other people. When you with other awesome humans your chances for survival increase. Then we can collectively participate in sharing resources, information, support and care, or the energy of love for each other that we all need to thrive.

Nourishment through food and drink.

If you notice that you think about food a lot (🙋🏽‍♀️) think about the importance of being physically nourished- my mind likes to keep me alive through reminding me to think about what I want to eat next and then reminding me that I am hungry (and on occasion hangry)

Nourishment through creativity and/or play

We need to engage ourselves in play and ways that stretch our thoughts and imagination. When you are doing a hobby that you love, or trying something new that you’ve never tried your brain is delighting in creative problem solving, thinking in different ways and expanding its skill set.

When you are able to play and put perfection down for a little while. Allowing the messy and mistakes to be something celebratory instead of punishment worthy. Your whole nervous system gets to rest and relax.

By the way. If you think about this in nature - watch squirrels

Do they look out for danger?

Mostly (some are more daring than others)

They do pay attention to where they stashed all their food caches. (Nourishment)

They chitter with their neighbours (gossip) to see what’s happening in the neighbourhood (I’m sure they collaborate to tease the dogs for fun!)

They play.

Sometimes they fight while they set and maintain boundaries.

They don’t paint or sculpt or create (not considering the nests they all have to build)

But isn’t that the thing about humans that sets us apart?

And maybe that’s the thing that we need to lean into if we can, meaningless creativity that is there simply for enjoyment.