WHAT DO YOU KNOW? – a lot, actually

Woody Allen once stated that his brain was his second most important organ (notch notch). Way back in my younger days, I fully agreed with that – but then Woody and I got smarter, obviously. Considering the ultimate power our brains have, we should wear a sturdy helmet at all times – yes, even in the shower... That’s how important that organ is; a lot, actually.

What do I know? I’m not going to bore you silly with the hugely vast knowledge I have about the brain – actually ‘brains’, as we have two; that would be one to your left and one to your right – but let’s stick with ‘brain’ for simplicity.

The brain is the most complex organ we carry around. In the largest part of our brains, we have an estimated 15–33 billion neurons (count them - if you have time), with each connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons. These neurons communicate with one another by means of long protoplasmic fibers, called axons, which carry trains of signal pulses called action potentials to distant parts of the brain and/or the body, targeting specific recipient cells, to make us do things. Physiologically, the function of the brain is to exert centralized control over the other organs in our bodies - seriously. I mean, how simple is that?

But the silly thing is that we normal people really don’t know a lot about the brain-thing. We also lack knowledge about how any of the multitudes of our other organs and/or limbs really work – and don’t you think that is weird since we drag around with these bodies all our lives - and compared, that we know so much more about how our smart-phones work and what they can do? Kind of sad, if you ask me… Perhaps a ‘brain-app’ should be invented? There’s an idea.

But back to the brain and what we do know: The vast knowledge we have and the inventory of what we know is crammed together between our ears. My question is: how the heck is there room for all that stuff; it is so beyond my comprehension – and should be beyond yours as well. 

You hear a song and instantly scroll through the vast list of the ‘music/song’ knowledge you have; you recall the name of the song, the singer, perhaps other information related to this tune, where you were, who he was, a geographic place, smells and a whole lot of other (perhaps insignificant?) information – and all this obtained much faster than a Nano second (and that is very fast). How do it do it, huh?

There are so many other senses triggering our brain inventory, as sounds, smells, touch, talk, etc. I still remember that during my first trip to the USA, an early morning jet-lag stroll by the Pacific Ocean (Capitola, California) and my first smell of the Eucalyptus tree. That was a million years ago (really) and every time the aroma of Eucalyptus passes through my well-shaped nostrils and hits my brain, I am back in Capitola, – and very vividly. And don’t you wonder how that works?

We take way many things for granted in our lives. We are to a certain extent pathetically ignorant - and that is meant in a nice way; generalization in this case is faster. But we are ignorant and it’s a pity, because our bodies are utterly fascinating (of course certain bodies are more fascinating than others – if you know what I mean).  But now I’m being pathetically silly.

How is it we keep balance (for the most part) while we walk? We also run, talk, listen (a tough one), move, think, react and the list of all the stuff our brains are controlling to near perfection, at least in my case, huh? Is – well, endless. It would take us a life-time to write down all the stuff we know – and probably much longer than that. Because we really know so much and when we consider that all this information is kept in that small space between our ears – protected by nerdy looking helmet or not… you must admit it is mesmerizing.

Of course we could easily shrink down our inventory of knowledge, kind of start a folder called: Important Stuff. That would be all the stuff that is important for us to be able to function – and function well. But what if we got rid of all the stuff that would easily fit under the category FLUFF? The stupid stuff we really shouldn’t bother any of our brain-neurons with; unimportant information that leads nowhere. Like doing a recap of last night’s Dancing with the Stars, anything Justin Bieber, whatever Kardashian (feel ashamed just mentioning them), discard all math from when Y, Z & X was added; all the stupid stuff we ever did, etc. You get the idea – just to save room, and perhaps we’ll be able to recall the important stuff much faster. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

But then of course there are times when we are not able to pull the information up fast enough – or at all. Most kids and some of us mature adults at times claim ignorance by activating selective memory whenever convenient – a lot. But at times and in spite of the power of our brain, we cannot recall and/or pull up stuff at all, no matter how much we really want to.

My Mother has dementia (loss of short-term memory, in this case) – started some years back. We decided at the time she was diagnosed, that we would not tip-toe around the issue, but call it what it was (of course, I can’t recall what we called it…) My Mother’s first comment was that having lived so long (she is 93), she could and can afford not to be able to remember everything – a lot of things, actually. We chat on the phone 4-5 times weekly, just short 5-10 minutes monologs from me pretty much and no matter how fascinating my stories are, my Mother have forgotten everything about them the second the phones go “click”.

I have always believed in brain gymnastics, to keep our brains sharp and fresh. To do that, we must exercise, read, diet, less alcohol/no illegal drugs, and apply challenging stimulation by forcing ourselves to think beyond and outside the proverbial box – especially things that we do not approach just because of that; you neurons will love you no end. 

I also believe that we are using far less than half of what our brains are actually capable of. At times some of us have those extra neurons lined up perfectly and we can do extraordinary things. When we look around us in our everyday lives, we see the results from that in just about everything. And it all materialized by first activating our brains, remembering and using the vast knowledge we carry around between our ears, or in technology we created to remember things for us.

Of all the stuff between my ears that I remember – and that is a lot, there are still a few things I wish I could forget; highlight and then hit the delete button – POW and gone forever. But we can’t, as we are stuck with whatever it is. And of all the fantastic and wonderful stuff I can and do remember, stuff I know, the masses of it, it is still the few things I want to forget that pops up at times – but I guess they are reminders of what NOT to do again, so I really shouldn’t be complaining – helmet or no helmet… 

 EARLY BRAIN PROTECTION HELMET

 

EFFECTIVE PROTECTION BUT NOT FLATTERING - AT ALL

 

EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE HELMET THAT DID NOT WORK

(SORRY ABOUT THE HORNS - VIKING HELMETS DIDN'T HAVE ANY)