I am so incredibly pumped that Alabama Shakes has a new song out, and a new album coming April 21. I just want to get out of my cozy bed and dance around. Not actually, but I did seriously consider it. Florence + the Machine also has a new single - I'm reluctantly including the link because it did nothing for me and I consider myself to be a fan. I was certainly not compelled to listen to it 3 times in a row like I may or may not be doing with Don't Wanna Fight...
Self reflection is something I do a lot of. Some might say too much. Lucid dreaming is something I have experienced before and it's very confusing. Not something I've mastered and not something that requires elaborating. A few weeks ago a friend sent me this article (Lucid Dreamers Show Better Self-Reflecting Capabilities When Awake) which talks about a recent study which analyzes the correlation between the two. Most interestingly:
"As described in The Journal of Neuroscience, the brain images revealed that the most frequent lucid dreamers had greater volume in a brain region called the anterior prefrontal cortex compared to those within the low-lucidity group. This area is involved in controlling conscious cognitive processes and also plays a role in our ability to self-reflect. Alongside this apparent change in brain structure, the researchers also observed differences in brain function. They found that those in the highly lucid group displayed more activity in this brain region during megacognitive, or thought monitoring, tests while awake." Which also made me think of a recent episode of a new npr podcast called Invisibilia. It talks about new developments in brain science, I find it fascinating. I think the more we know about ourselves and how our brains work, the better we become at understanding the world and the people around us. There is so much we don't know about the brain, and a lot of what the neuroscientists are studying today was once thought of as new age and quickly dismissed. That means a lot has been overlooked in recent decades. I am curious to see the impact of the studies and new information that is coming available to us regular folk. I read this article last week called Why We Should Be More Self-Accepting (According to Science) that a friend sent me. If science is involved, I'm in. Actually it's mostly an info-graphic which is an even easier way for me to absorb information. It describes self-compassion as; self-kindness, understanding common humanity and mindfulness, also noting that it is often confused with; self-pity, self-indulgence and making excuses for bad behaviour. The basic idea behind this is that we can increase our level of happiness (how do you measure happiness, is there a test I can take at the doctors?) by being as kind to ourselves as we are (theoretically) to others. Seemingly simple and logical until the inner critic speaks up. The info-graphic offers a bunch of ideas on how to fight off that noisy inner critic and be a better human, especially during life's rough patches.
This is a song I heard recently by Precious Bryant. I've never heard her before and I think I've been missing out.
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VictoriaSpeculations in and around Toronto. Music. Pictures. Kittens. Whatever. Archives
July 2016
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