Rebooting Your Brain

CHAPTER 4What Goes Wrong with Our Brain and Why?

If the earliest version of our brain is perfect and if it is completely designed to help us build the life we most want for ourselves, what goes wrong? Why does it go awry? What happens?

As adults, why are we the way we are? Why do we think the way we do? Why do we feel the way we do? Why do we struggle? More important, why do we succeed? Why?

My quest to understand how to reboot the brain really started with this one fundamental question of why? Little did I know it would open a well of incredible insights.

Broadening Our Perspective on Ourselves

We humans tend to think of ourselves in a somewhat finite sense. One day we're born, and if good fortune smiles on us, 80 or 90 years later we pass away comfortably in our sleep. Throughout this journey, we will have moments of happiness and sorrow. We will laugh, and we will cry. We will face sicknesses and disappointments. We will experience joy, loss, and regret.

I always thought that over the course of that lifetime, we end up being who we are based on the sum total of all our life experiences. If we were blessed enough to have the right upbringing, a good education, the right contacts and relationships, good timing, and a little bit of luck on our side, then we would have a great life. Conversely, if we were born into a tough environment, if our parents didn't do such a great job, if the education system failed us, and lady luck looked the other away, then our life was pretty ...