Expanding Our Understanding of the Mind Opens a World of Possibilities.
So, what is the mind, really?
So, when you hear the mind, what do you think of? I have never met anyone on the streets that would point somewhere other than the brain in your skull. And, no doubt, the head brain is part of the mind — but, is the mind more?
Recently, I worked through Dr. Daniel Siegel’s massive work The Developing Mind, and have found his (along with other scholars) broad definition of the mind, opening up new possibilities. Let me share with you some of my findings.
So, what is the “mind”?
“The mind” is not the same as the brain or the head brain, but Siegal argues that the mind is an emergent phenomenon of embodied and relational energy flow. So it is a complex system that is both within the body and between the body and the world of people and nature — within and between.
The easiest way to think about this is to break the mind into three equal parts of energy flow:
(1) The Head Brain: This, again, is what we typically think of when we think about “the mind.” The organ inside our heads that controls all the bodily functions of a human being — made up of billions of nerve cells, protected by the cranium.
