We’ve all felt it at least once or twice in our lives. That sense of recognition when you first meet someone, followed by laughing at the same things, or thinking the same things, and doing so at the same time. In other words, you and this person you’ve just met seem to already know one another.
That’s how fast, and often, lifelong friends are made.
Frequently, this is the kind of experience that leads two people to fall in love, mate and marry. It’s the kind of experience that has inspired poets and songwriters for centuries. It turns out that science now has an explanation for why this simpatico experience happens.
This surprising sense of instant kinship and compatibility has been found to be the result of how each person processes the world around them.
This comes out of a study led by Carolyn Parkinson, Director of the Computational Social Neuroscience Lab at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
According to an article at health24.com, the study used “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to compare which regions of the brain lit up as 42 volunteers watched short clips from news reports, music videos, comedy skits and documentaries.” On the basis of the results, the researchers “were able to identify who among them were friends. The closer the relationship, the more alike the neural patterns in parts of the brain governing emotional response, high-level reasoning, and the capacity to focus one’s attention.”
We are learning so much more about the brain every day, thanks to those who study it and share their findings.
This information helps us not only understand our friend, family and love relationships better but also navigate the ups and downs of our individual lives better.
My greatest teacher-of-life, Dr. Joe Dispenza, has been studying and documenting his global, ground-breaking research on the human brain and mind (the brain in action!) for decades. In his 20s, Dr. Joe was in a horrific cycling accident during a triathlon. To the dismay of all his physicians, he opted-out of their vehemently recommended surgery. Instead, he chose to heal his crushed spine using his own powerful mind and unshakable spirit. And he did just that, in the most spectacular way, in a stupefying short amount of time.
His work inspired me to do the same for my own unique body and life situation, and I’ll never turn back! I’m a veritable kid in the candy store of understanding the brain and mind better and helping others in their search for understanding.
Is this brain candy for you? Does your brain light up in the presence of others on a similar path? If so, I’d love to hear from you.
