Over the next few posts, we’re going to talk about an emerging field of study called cognitive neuroscience. But don’t worry. We’re going to leave (most of) the 7-syllable words to the textbooks and wikipedia entries. Instead, we’re going to focus on the practical applications of this science on our every-day life.

In our previous article, we gave a brief background of cognitive neuroscience and talked about some of the technological breakthroughs that have opened the door to a bunch of helpful new research. In order to make the most sense out of this research and learn how to better apply it to our everyday lives, there’s a helpful distinction to make.

What’s the difference between a brain and a mind?

We tend to use the two words interchangeably. And for good reason. There’s a lot of overlap. However, when going over some of this research with my clients, its often helpful to define our terms a bit more specifically.

• The Brain – A brain is an organ in the body. It is a collection of cells, called neurons (where we get the neuro in “neuroscience”). These neurons are connected to each other through synapses and collectively start to make up grey matter and white matter. A brain is a physical thing. It is the thing that sits inside your skull.
• The Mind – A mind is harder to define. It is the seat of our cognition. It is what happens when a brain, connected to other parts of the body via the nervous system and stimulated by interaction with other brains causes a flow of energy called “thoughts.”

At least, that’s one definition of what a brain is. Neurology, philosophy and religion have all tried to define what a mind is, and they tend to come up with slightly different definitions. Suffice it to say: A brain is a physical object. A mind is an abstract concept. You can hold a brain in your hand. You can’t hold a mind.

Why does any of this matter?

Ok…so why does that philosophical distinction matter? Well, because when we recognize that the brain is only one part of what makes up a mind, we open up the door for change. This is a really big deal. In other words, if your mind was only the sum of the activity of your brain, you would be a slave to your brain. Whatever happened in your brain would fatalistically determine your thoughts and behaviors. This would be particularly troubling if the activity of your brain was producing things like depression or anxiety because of something like high cortisol production.

However, your brain does not run a dictatorship. It is influenced by outside sources. For example, the presence of loved ones. Have you ever had a stressful day at work only to come home a caring parent, spouse or loved one? (Perhaps even a pet?) If that other person smiled and greeted you warmly – you may have felt a tiny bit of the stress melt away inside you. Just seeing their warm face had an effect on your mind.

Why is that? Because our brain is being influenced by the presence of another brain. When we see that other person – and when they see us and respond warmly – a tiny amount of oxytocin is released in our brain. And this can cause those feelings of stress to go down.
This is something that is often particularly helpful to people wrestling with something like anger management. There might be things going on inside of our brain that makes us get more angry more easily than the average person. But by recognizing our brain is only one part of the equation, we begin to realize that there is hope and that we can find other things to help us regulate our emotions.

Eric McClerren, MA CIT
emcclerren @ growcounseling.com