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halfmortaltechnique's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This book absolutely changed my life. Read this when I was about 21 and I’m so glad I read it then. Changed everything for me.
lasti's review against another edition
informative
3.0
There was not many things that I did not know before so it did not help me to learn sth new
unladylike's review against another edition
4.0
I put off actually reviewing this powerful (but problematic) book for the past 5 months, and I still feel like I'll need to re-read it and process some of Dispenza's other material before having a settled stance on it. I'm going to just copypasta my personal notes into this review space below, but first I'll give my two strongest competing feelings about it.
1. Overall, I was highly fascinated and affected by the main recommendations and potential for radical life change. I even put the book on pause at one point and wrote by hand (which is very difficult for me with my essential tremors, so I avoid even writing my own name when possible) a bullet point list of characteristics I'd like "Mabel 4.0" to embody. (4.0 because I'll be going into my fourth decade of life in the spring of next year.)
2. Red flags have flown in my mind since I first started learning about Joe Dispenza and the cult-like following he has gained, where millionaires pay absurd amounts of money in order to see him in person and basically be healed like he's a charismatic Pentecostal preacher. He doesn't get into that in this book though. Instead, my inner skeptic became alert by his big personal testimony: At age 23, he had his own successful chiropractic practice, I think in San Diego (one of the most expensive cities to live in); he's a straight, white, cis man who also, by that point in life, had a daily hour-long meditation routine and regularly competed in triathlons (which tend to only be accessible to those with huge, disposable incomes). He only mentions racial disparity once in the whole book, and only to make the point that white people's brains have learned to instinctively respond with a greater sense of fear when seeing a Black man [than when facing a white person). Dispenza completely fails to address his own incredible number of privileges that intersect to allow him to reshape his brain and body through will power.
Those are two of the big take-aways that I hold with tension. Now here are my notes:
I’m amused that key parts of the brain are named after an almond, a seahorse, and a pinecone.
Oh, and it’s a myth that the pineal gland is above the eyes like a “third eye” - it’s actually toward the rear base of the skull! WTF?
The cortical sensory map of the genitals contains more sense receptors than the chest, abdomen, back, shoulders, and arms put together. Significantly more somatosensory receptors in our lips than on our legs, which makes total sense - I use my lips or cheek to feel for air escaping a bike tube, but I frequently bang up my shin and get cut without noticing until much later.
It is the amygdala - the first brain - that allows your body to react to avoid a car accident before you are consciously aware of the danger.
Recent study of a blind man who could detect emotional facial expressions of fear vs happiness vs anger (57% vs 50% of control group, which, meh) suggests that we gauge these primal expressions that tell us vital info for survival using the amygdala rather than anything in the much newer neocortex.
Throughout, the phrase “Neurons that fire together wire together” is the key maxim or at least a sort of mnemonic device. (What’s a good mnemonic device to help me remember how to spell mnemonic?)
Semantic plus experiential knowledge is the key to really knowing something.
Engaging all the senses and having a Person, Place, Time, and Thing = stronger memory. Recall [book:Seeing Is Believing: Experience Jesus Through Imaginative Prayer|287993] and the many guides who encourage vivid imagining of smells, tastes, etc. The tongue and lips have the most sensitive nerves or receptors, (followed by the hands I think). People have been trained to see via their tongue and are capable of reacting and catching a ball (rolled across a table, so I imagine hearing was also involved, but I don’t think he mentions it when talking about this study).
The assertion that we become addicted to our emotions and who we are, the thoughts and behaviors we’ve exhibited, is intriguing. Even the negative emotions, and the particular reactions to particular situations. I keep thinking of Astra playing out scenes of rage, pettiness, and abusive control as a way of behaving they inherited from their parents, and experienced countless times to reinforce it as the go-to behavior, and in some sense, the chemicals released from those outbursts made them feel good, or like themself.
Look for details about the study he mentions with two groups of people doing the same exercises for a number of days, but one of the groups is in a nice, chill state of mind and the other is emotionally distressed over that time period. Allegedly the exercises did almost no good to the angry or disturbed group compared to the physiological and chemical benefits it gave the happy group. Is this an isolated study? Is it repeatable? What were the sample sizes and how did they determine those mind-states? It’s kind of scary and further depressing to think that forcing oneself to exercise while pissed off, heart-broken, etc. doesn’t do as much good as I would have thought.
(not sure if this was from the book - I think it was on someone’s Feeld profile actually lol) There is no moral “good” or “evil” - there is generosity and pettiness. Consciously make a habit of choosing generosity more!
The frontal lobe/prefrontal cortex is THE biggest gift we have developed evolutionarily that other animals lack (in terms of ratio of frontal lobe to the rest of the brain it’s vastly more in humans). It is essentially our driver or steering wheel, but it doesn’t light up from doing the same things we always do. It is key for learning new things and exploring new actions. To break an addiction, we can use our will and direct the frontal lobe to engage in something outside our primary comfort zone. Yay!
1. Overall, I was highly fascinated and affected by the main recommendations and potential for radical life change. I even put the book on pause at one point and wrote by hand (which is very difficult for me with my essential tremors, so I avoid even writing my own name when possible) a bullet point list of characteristics I'd like "Mabel 4.0" to embody. (4.0 because I'll be going into my fourth decade of life in the spring of next year.)
2. Red flags have flown in my mind since I first started learning about Joe Dispenza and the cult-like following he has gained, where millionaires pay absurd amounts of money in order to see him in person and basically be healed like he's a charismatic Pentecostal preacher. He doesn't get into that in this book though. Instead, my inner skeptic became alert by his big personal testimony: At age 23, he had his own successful chiropractic practice, I think in San Diego (one of the most expensive cities to live in); he's a straight, white, cis man who also, by that point in life, had a daily hour-long meditation routine and regularly competed in triathlons (which tend to only be accessible to those with huge, disposable incomes). He only mentions racial disparity once in the whole book, and only to make the point that white people's brains have learned to instinctively respond with a greater sense of fear when seeing a Black man [than when facing a white person). Dispenza completely fails to address his own incredible number of privileges that intersect to allow him to reshape his brain and body through will power.
Those are two of the big take-aways that I hold with tension. Now here are my notes:
I’m amused that key parts of the brain are named after an almond, a seahorse, and a pinecone.
Oh, and it’s a myth that the pineal gland is above the eyes like a “third eye” - it’s actually toward the rear base of the skull! WTF?
The cortical sensory map of the genitals contains more sense receptors than the chest, abdomen, back, shoulders, and arms put together. Significantly more somatosensory receptors in our lips than on our legs, which makes total sense - I use my lips or cheek to feel for air escaping a bike tube, but I frequently bang up my shin and get cut without noticing until much later.
It is the amygdala - the first brain - that allows your body to react to avoid a car accident before you are consciously aware of the danger.
Recent study of a blind man who could detect emotional facial expressions of fear vs happiness vs anger (57% vs 50% of control group, which, meh) suggests that we gauge these primal expressions that tell us vital info for survival using the amygdala rather than anything in the much newer neocortex.
Throughout, the phrase “Neurons that fire together wire together” is the key maxim or at least a sort of mnemonic device. (What’s a good mnemonic device to help me remember how to spell mnemonic?)
Semantic plus experiential knowledge is the key to really knowing something.
Engaging all the senses and having a Person, Place, Time, and Thing = stronger memory. Recall [book:Seeing Is Believing: Experience Jesus Through Imaginative Prayer|287993] and the many guides who encourage vivid imagining of smells, tastes, etc. The tongue and lips have the most sensitive nerves or receptors, (followed by the hands I think). People have been trained to see via their tongue and are capable of reacting and catching a ball (rolled across a table, so I imagine hearing was also involved, but I don’t think he mentions it when talking about this study).
The assertion that we become addicted to our emotions and who we are, the thoughts and behaviors we’ve exhibited, is intriguing. Even the negative emotions, and the particular reactions to particular situations. I keep thinking of Astra playing out scenes of rage, pettiness, and abusive control as a way of behaving they inherited from their parents, and experienced countless times to reinforce it as the go-to behavior, and in some sense, the chemicals released from those outbursts made them feel good, or like themself.
Look for details about the study he mentions with two groups of people doing the same exercises for a number of days, but one of the groups is in a nice, chill state of mind and the other is emotionally distressed over that time period. Allegedly the exercises did almost no good to the angry or disturbed group compared to the physiological and chemical benefits it gave the happy group. Is this an isolated study? Is it repeatable? What were the sample sizes and how did they determine those mind-states? It’s kind of scary and further depressing to think that forcing oneself to exercise while pissed off, heart-broken, etc. doesn’t do as much good as I would have thought.
(not sure if this was from the book - I think it was on someone’s Feeld profile actually lol) There is no moral “good” or “evil” - there is generosity and pettiness. Consciously make a habit of choosing generosity more!
The frontal lobe/prefrontal cortex is THE biggest gift we have developed evolutionarily that other animals lack (in terms of ratio of frontal lobe to the rest of the brain it’s vastly more in humans). It is essentially our driver or steering wheel, but it doesn’t light up from doing the same things we always do. It is key for learning new things and exploring new actions. To break an addiction, we can use our will and direct the frontal lobe to engage in something outside our primary comfort zone. Yay!
sas_lk's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.25
I learned a lot, and have taken a lot from this book. My only criticism is that this draaagged. Sometimes I felt as though there was a little too much repetition, which made me simply want to skip sections because I was bored.
kimball_hansen's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. This book explains the brain, nerves, and other related things very well. One of my favorite topics.
Finally, I can find the bonus PDF by going to tantor.com and typing on the book's name then click on PDF extra one. Enter access code Think to find the material. That's all neat.
This is the same narrator that did the [b:Breakfast with Buddha|736376|Breakfast with Buddha|Roland Merullo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348360531l/736376._SY75_.jpg|2270861] series.
I want to see what my brain looks like and what sections are smaller or larger than a typical brain.
Notes:
We choose to remain in the same circumstances because we have become addicted to the emotional state they produce and the chemicals that arouse that state of being.
Our innate intelligence gives life to the body.
Next to sex and severe stress, digestion uses up the largest amount of the body's energy.
The cerebellum is the most densely packed area of grey matter in the brain. It's one of the few areas where brain cells are still reproduced after birth.
The reason why we can't remember many conscious things as a young child is because the hippocampus is not fully developed until after we are 4 years old.
At birth the baby can hear every word that is being said.
Knowledge and experience work together to form the best neural connections in our brain. Knowledge without experience is philosophy. And experience without knowledge is ignorance. The interplay between the two produces wisdom.
We use what we know to learn what we don't know.
Our routine thoughts are our most hardwired thoughts because we practice and attend to them so often. They form that basis of the personality.
"We have a lot in common. My neural net matches your neural net."
Has our life just become a series of unconscious decisions. A good example is looking at how you dry yourself off after a shower. You do it the same every.single.day.
Knowledge removes the fear of survival. Living in stress is living in survival.
Stress is a result of perceiving that we are no longer in control of our environment.
Animals aren't subject to anticipatory stress. They live in the moment.
How well can our immune system detect tumor cells and discard them when we are fighting an emergency elsewhere (like unnecessary stress) requiring all our energy?
Feelings are the past memories of experiences. Learning is making new memories that have new feelings. Most of us cannot think greater than how we feel. We spend more time feeling than learning.
Chapter 9 was really good about how some people are addicted to their self-loathing behaviors. There is a greater level of familiar comfort of being the victim than the discomfort of being a victim and the discomfort of not being one as well. We need to achieve mastery over ourselves. Do we cave in and let in the flood of long-term memories that define us and reaffirm our old self? Or do we stand fast in our commitment to avoid thoughts and feelings of victimization? Do we settle for immediate relief or can we willfully hold on to a greater vision of ourself in spite of what we are feeling?
Our life is a mirror of how we are feeling and how we are wired neurologically. In order to create any new experiences we must leave behind the thoughts, memories, and associations of the emotional past. To change our brain is to change the future.
What distinguishes us from all other species of animals is the size of frontal lobe relative to the rest of the neocortex. The frontal lobe makes up about 30-40% of the total volume of the neocortex.
Reality may exist wherever our mind is.
Faith operates when we hold a particular intention in our mind for an outcome, and we trust and believe in that outcome more than we believe what the external world is telling us. If so, faith can be defined as believing that the only real thing is thought independent of the circumstances. When we pray to a higher power, for change in our life aren't we just believing and making thought more powerful than our reality?
Half of all prison inmates have ADD.
Humans, unlike animals, have free will because we can make our choices beyond our basic primal instincts. But the author makes the case that we aren't really using our free will, just a prescripted list of options we have made in our mind.
One of the reasons diets don't work is because they don't get immediate feedback.
All we can ever know is what we perceive. What we perceive is based on what we experience, along with the tools of interpretation of what we inherited or employed time and time again.
The best way to get rid of old memories and past experiences is to create new memories and experiences.
Do we perceive reality based on our memories and habitually see from our prior experiences instead of our future possibilities?
Past memories are processed in the brain as emotions.
Finally, I can find the bonus PDF by going to tantor.com and typing on the book's name then click on PDF extra one. Enter access code Think to find the material. That's all neat.
This is the same narrator that did the [b:Breakfast with Buddha|736376|Breakfast with Buddha|Roland Merullo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348360531l/736376._SY75_.jpg|2270861] series.
I want to see what my brain looks like and what sections are smaller or larger than a typical brain.
Notes:
We choose to remain in the same circumstances because we have become addicted to the emotional state they produce and the chemicals that arouse that state of being.
Our innate intelligence gives life to the body.
Next to sex and severe stress, digestion uses up the largest amount of the body's energy.
The cerebellum is the most densely packed area of grey matter in the brain. It's one of the few areas where brain cells are still reproduced after birth.
The reason why we can't remember many conscious things as a young child is because the hippocampus is not fully developed until after we are 4 years old.
At birth the baby can hear every word that is being said.
Knowledge and experience work together to form the best neural connections in our brain. Knowledge without experience is philosophy. And experience without knowledge is ignorance. The interplay between the two produces wisdom.
We use what we know to learn what we don't know.
Our routine thoughts are our most hardwired thoughts because we practice and attend to them so often. They form that basis of the personality.
"We have a lot in common. My neural net matches your neural net."
Has our life just become a series of unconscious decisions. A good example is looking at how you dry yourself off after a shower. You do it the same every.single.day.
Knowledge removes the fear of survival. Living in stress is living in survival.
Stress is a result of perceiving that we are no longer in control of our environment.
Animals aren't subject to anticipatory stress. They live in the moment.
How well can our immune system detect tumor cells and discard them when we are fighting an emergency elsewhere (like unnecessary stress) requiring all our energy?
Feelings are the past memories of experiences. Learning is making new memories that have new feelings. Most of us cannot think greater than how we feel. We spend more time feeling than learning.
Chapter 9 was really good about how some people are addicted to their self-loathing behaviors. There is a greater level of familiar comfort of being the victim than the discomfort of being a victim and the discomfort of not being one as well. We need to achieve mastery over ourselves. Do we cave in and let in the flood of long-term memories that define us and reaffirm our old self? Or do we stand fast in our commitment to avoid thoughts and feelings of victimization? Do we settle for immediate relief or can we willfully hold on to a greater vision of ourself in spite of what we are feeling?
Our life is a mirror of how we are feeling and how we are wired neurologically. In order to create any new experiences we must leave behind the thoughts, memories, and associations of the emotional past. To change our brain is to change the future.
What distinguishes us from all other species of animals is the size of frontal lobe relative to the rest of the neocortex. The frontal lobe makes up about 30-40% of the total volume of the neocortex.
Reality may exist wherever our mind is.
Faith operates when we hold a particular intention in our mind for an outcome, and we trust and believe in that outcome more than we believe what the external world is telling us. If so, faith can be defined as believing that the only real thing is thought independent of the circumstances. When we pray to a higher power, for change in our life aren't we just believing and making thought more powerful than our reality?
Half of all prison inmates have ADD.
Humans, unlike animals, have free will because we can make our choices beyond our basic primal instincts. But the author makes the case that we aren't really using our free will, just a prescripted list of options we have made in our mind.
One of the reasons diets don't work is because they don't get immediate feedback.
All we can ever know is what we perceive. What we perceive is based on what we experience, along with the tools of interpretation of what we inherited or employed time and time again.
The best way to get rid of old memories and past experiences is to create new memories and experiences.
Do we perceive reality based on our memories and habitually see from our prior experiences instead of our future possibilities?
Past memories are processed in the brain as emotions.
bookish_erika's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0