Accessing the full cognitive potential of the brain is a much-needed talent in today’s world. Through gaining a personal understanding of how the brain operates, one can become empowered to endure the adversity and interpersonal contention brought upon them by national issues such as COVID-19, national economic variables, or the very unpredictable political establishment. While reading this book, I reflected through the lens of the current world facing our nation. The knowledge gained from reading E. Bruce Goldstein’s book The Mind can provide multiple personal and organizational efficiencies in the following areas: critical thinking, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, diversity and inclusion, stress management, old age and memory, traumatic brain injury recovery, PTSD, and suicide prevention. Understanding what influences our perceptions, the complex network of the brain’s neuropathways, and the interconnections and interdependencies of these networks will empower one to take full advantage of the brain’s powers.
“…perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking to reason and taking physical action-is created by the mind and the brain…Our brain is not the mind. The brain is simply a part of our body that, for example, can be photographed, whereas our mind cannot.” (pg 181).
In his book, Goldstein empowers the reader to understand how the brain operates. He sheds light on the mysteries of the mind and explains how it works and why it works and what we can do to develop self-empowerment to access the capability of our minds to create a more healthy, joyful, and productive life. This book has the tools to help improve oneself and one’s organization. It can enhance creative thinking, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, accurate decision-making, and empathy and enable the reader to understand their limited perceptual view of the world and expand one’s perception.
Why can’t you tickle yourself? Why do you automatically focus on objects you are more familiar with or on dangerous things such as spiders? Why do you make assumptions and place your own definition on everything you perceive? There are many secret aspects of the mind and its daily operations. It influences our thoughts, our emotions, our perceptions, and our behavior. Most of the time, our minds have crafted a decision or behavioral response to a stimulus before we can analyze and make our own decisions. It may seem that our minds are on autopilot, and we are not in control. However, we can take back the control and discover innovative solutions to problems we face.
With each turn of the page, the reader will be drawn in to continue reading, discovering more and more understanding of how the brain operates, leading to empowerment, taking control of many of the brain’s automatic functions. This will be one book that I refer to quite often as I continue to research and write about developing cognitive dominance amongst our fellow citizens.
