Good morning my friend!
Spring is fighting its way into Nebraska, as last week’s massive snowstorm has almost all melted and more birds have migrated into our little piece of God’s creation here on the river. I hope you’re doing well.
In today’s letter, we’re going to take a look at the differences between the two halves of your brain, specifically in the ways that they allow you to pay attention to the world around you. But before we get started, here’s a couple of things for you.
Special announcement!
Lisa and I will be at First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs, Florida TOMORROW NIGHT (March 18, 2024) at 7PM. I’m so honored to have been invited back, after they chose my previous book I’ve Seen the End of You as their book of the year for 2021, and now are hosting me again to talk all about Hope Is the First Dose! Click the button below for more information, and if you’re in the area, we’d love for you to come out and meet us. We’ll be signing books after the talk.
Don’t forget that you can get the recent podcast archive with transcripts of all episodes by clicking the button below.
All right, let’s do some self-brain surgery!
Today I want you to pay attention to the way you pay attention.
Here’s Some Science:
We’ve all heard about the differences between the two halves of our brain. It’s been said that “left-brained people” are analytical, logical, etc., and “right-brained people” are artists, creatives, and the like. We’re taught this in school, and made to believe that most of us operate as if one side of our brains are dominant over the other.
The problem with that model is that it isn’t really true. Whole books have been written on this topic, so if you’re interested you can dive deeper. Iain McGilchrist’s stunning The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World is probably the best overall look at this complex topic. (Note: I don’t agree with everything McGilchrist says, but his work is important and fascinating).
We talked about attention and perspective on the podcast a few times lately, and you can click the button below to listen to my favorite episode on why it’s so important.
I’m bringing it up today for one reason: it’s not only important THAT you pay attention to your life if you want to become healthier, feel better, and be happier. It’s much more important HOW you pay attention.
I’m just going to drop this here today and let you get on with your day. But I hope you’ll listen to the podcast and begin to appreciate the concept that the attention we bring to our lives begins to shape the reality of what we see.
There’s a well-known phenomenon in physics that the way we observe an experiment affects the outcome of the experiment. This has been verified in research across multiple disciplines as well: biology, chemistry, psychology, and many other fields. Researchers often find what they expect to find when they’re studying something.
Another concept from physics that’s relevant here is called the quantum zeno effect, and it shows that the more we look at a system from a particular viewpoint, the more the system stays the same.
This is relevant in the conversation about the two sides of our brains, because we have all generally believe that the way we see the world is accurate and true.
The problem is, we’ve been taught for the past hundred or more years (in the West especially) that the left side of our brains is the “Smart side,” and we think that our perception (which is formulated in our minds as a mental image of how things are) is correct.
The left hemisphere takes a snapshot of the world around us, puts language around it to explain it to ourselves, and allows us to operate as if we know enough to understand it.
The problem is, once we reduce something to “a thing” then we’ve made it a two-dimensional, flat object. Unfortunately, most things (people, problems, situations) are not so simple. When we flatten experiences or people into two-dimensional objects we think we understand, we can then manipulate and manage them, explain them away, or otherwise think that “it is what it is.”
The right brain, on the other hand, is multidimensional, experiential, phenomenological. It gives us a round, more complete picture, but one that’s not so easily flattened and put into our pocket.
Here’s why this matters to you today:
Someone lies to you, and you turn them (left-brain) into a “Lying liar who always lies and I’ll never trust them again.”
You tell a lie, and you give yourself a tremendous amount of nuance and context (right-brain) about why that was needed, how you were protecting their feelings or shielding them from something worse. You’re not a lying liar; it’s much more complex than that. Other people are “things,” to the left brain, but you’re a different story.
You struggle with anxiety, and the more you think about the problem of feeling anxious, the more you (left-brain) begin to identify yourself as an anxious person. The mental health industry and society at large line up to support your diagnosis, and soon you’re wearing a label as “having” an anxiety disorder. The more you look at yourself in this way (quantum zeno), the more true and inescapable it becomes: you’re always going to be anxious, because you have anxiety, and you’re disordered. (Note: I’m not saying there’s no such thing as anxiety disorder. If you’re struggling with this, get help).
Viewing anxiety from a right-brain perspective gives us more context. Why am I feeling this way? Have I been through something in the past that my brain is using to contextualize my current situation and apply a set of chemical signals to what’s happening now that I’m interpreting as dangerous because of something that’s not actually going on currently? Perhaps I can sit with my feelings, biopsy my anxious thoughts, and realize that I’m actually safe and there’s no immediate issue. I can remember that feelings aren’t facts, and begin to feel my anxiety lessen. I’m not “A person who’s always anxious,” I just need to understand that sometimes past events bring familiar feelings into current moments, and I can learn to discern what I’m feeling.
Here’s Some Scripture:
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:6-8, NLT
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2
I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4, NKJV
Let’s Smash Them Together:
My point is this: our point of view and the way we attend to things, people, and situations has immense power to make those things more and more real in our lives. Learning to allow the two halves of our brains to both weigh in and add context to what we feel and observe will help us round out our experiences, calm our anxieties, and improve our relationships. Left brain is very fast and immediate, and has the advantage of putting language on our observations. Right brain requires time to process and sit with before we come to see things more clearly. That’s why learning self-brain surgery to put the biopsy into our toolkit before we react to a thought or feeling is so important.
Interestingly, functional brain imaging studies have shown that prayer and meditation are powerful ways to calm anxiety, increase resilience, and increase our right brain activity. From a brain science standpoint, Psalm 34:18 (I sought the Lord and… he delivered me from all my fears…) is happening in the right half of your brain.
The world today operates as if left brain is all there is. We’re in a hurry, and want to name and label everything and everyone. Everybody has a diagnosis, and we begin to believe that our feelings and experiences are easily identified but hard to change.
But you, my friend are not stuck with the way you feel. Use both halves of your brain, and begin to practice observing your life from multiple perspectives. They’re both important, and your life will become healthier, feel better, and be happier when you let them work together in the way they were designed.
And the good news is, you can start today.
Lisa and I are praying for you.
Dum spiro spero (While I breath, I hope),
Lee
Psalm 71:14 ("As for me, I will always have hope.")
From the banks of the North Platte river on Moon River Ranch in Nebraska, USA
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Thank you Dr Warren!
Woohoooooo! I got enough space back on my phone to re-download substack!!!! Such a great letter today!!!! As always!