Knowing how the brain works is one thing, know how your mind works is another – knowing the mind-set

So as to avoid any confusion a little reminder – my blog on Try knowing your brain before you change it! focused on how 'thee brain' (not necessarily your own) functions . Knowing how the brain works is one thing – knowing how your mind works is quite another! was exactly that – knowing your own brain.

In this blog, I want to focus on that great, glorious concept more commonly referred to as….Mind-set, and how it works, or more to the point, how it messes with us! So for example, what impact does loss have on people, why certain states or entities like the EU, or ‘globalists’, or the ‘political elite’ think the way they do, how populism influences the masses, or why no matter how many times you reassure someone, they still don’t not feel safe.

None of us is born with a mind-set, it is of course something evolves over time and is arguably influenced largely by environmental factors, be that our family, where we grow up, what we learn at school, the political system that governs us and so on. However, there has been plenty of argument going back decades as to whether or not we humans are already pre-determined (by nature) and thus born to think and behave in a certain way, or perhaps, how we are nurtured over our life time, is indeed the ultimate determinant.

Whilst many might argue on either side respectively, there is, at least from what I understand, an acceptance that both, your genes and your environment, are as equally important. So for example, there might be those with a propensity for violence in their DNA but depending on the environment where they grow up, that propensity becomes less or greater.

We might be more inclined to levels of stress but it we grow up in a loving family that offers us assurance and nurtures in us a sense of calm and how to deal with challenges, those inherent levels of stress might not see the light of day.

A mind-set is something that does evolve of course over time and tends to reflect the sum of our experiences enjoyed (or not enjoyed as the case may be) by someone and in turn, informs how they respond to others, how they approach various situations, how they deal with stress and so on.

It’s also true that individuals might be born with the capacity for empathy and grow to act accordingly and so feel compassion towards others in times of anxiety or crisis; or someone without any capacity for empathy who has committed an assault might feel no remorse at all. They might understand a crime has been committed but cannot comprehend the hurt caused to that person.

It’s not only important to understand how the brain operates generally speaking, and how your own mind works also, but it’s vital to also comprehend the mind-set of others if we hope to better understand the thinking behind the choices they make.

It’s all too easy to merely dismiss people as uncaring, mad, thoughtless, selfish and crackpots, but we have got to get to know the mind-set of someone who, for example, supports Trump - why would white middle-aged working class Christian Americans vote for Trump when he is anything but working class and is not remotely religious? Why, at a time when we need reason and intellectualism (and I’m not talking the academic snobbery type that you might find an exclusive educational institution) more than ever, people seem to be turning away from the very thing that brought us enlightenment?

Why are people seemingly less resilient these days and respond to triggers and stressors more rapidly, especially in an era when we have more capacity to truly assess danger or check reality? Why do parents compete with one another whey they know it makes no sense in real terms and only leads to stress and anxiety and sometimes even worse?

Why are those in power viewed as bad and those who are not, as good? Why do many view as a bad thing, political correctness? Why do we continue to pursue naming and/or shaming as a deterrent when we know that it is ineffective and fails to change behaviour? Why do we believe personality is fixed, and underestimate the importance of context?

Knowing the mind-set of others is of paramount importance in our efforts to get through our lives. It helps us, I believe, to become more patient or at the very least, more tolerant. It helps us tailor our expectations to a level of reality that we can live with and control. It helps us to respond more effectively to what life throws at us and helps us to nurture and generate empathy and compassion for (and in) others, and enables us to be less judgemental and live a more stress-free life.

Isn’t it worth making time to study the mind-set of others or ‘the other’ a bit more? You might learn a bit about yourself in the process?