Wisdom asks us to be changed by what we encounter.
What does your brain do with information that doesn't fit?
Something we understand about the brain now more than ever is that it’s not so much reacting to the world.. It’s predicting.. And then using the minimum amount of information to confirm those predictions.
Our brains use what has happened before to predict and prep for what is happening now.
So much of the time, this is useful.
(otherwise we would have to re-learn every single thing all of the time)
But sometimes reality presents us with information that doesn't fit the model we already have.
- We hoped for a particular outcome but didn’t get it, or got one we didn’t really want.
- Someone reacts differently than we expected.
- A strategy we have used before and works, all of a sudden doesn’t..
- We learn something that contradicts what we thought we knew.
In neuroscience, these mismatches between prediction and incoming information are often described as prediction errors.
There is something beautiful and profound about them.
First of all, they are the foundation of how the brain actually learns and updates. Without the mismatch, our brain keeps going with how it already predicts and filters..
THe other thing i love is that a prediction error gives us a chance to notice something about ourselves:
Will I make the new information fit what I already believe?
Or will I allow what I'm encountering to update me?
This is where I've been thinking a lot about wisdom.
I’ve talked about wisdom before in other articles*
(like this one "wisdom questions to help your brain"
and this one: "nervous system wisdom is the key to real change (not just positive thinking)
Wisdom, to me, is about how we meet constantly incoming new data and events…
It has to do with our ability to stay open to information that complicates our existing models.
It requires us to notice more.. And to tolerate the discomfort that comes from not knowing..
To hold multiple puzzle pieces of information that don't fit neatly together.
And to be able to hold that something can be true and still not be the whole truth.
Our brain-body systems are constantly receiving information.
- Sensations
- Voice frequencies
- Facial muscles movements
- Signals from inside our bodies and from the people and environments around us.
Some of that information asks us to update our point of view, our stories, our expectations and our interpretations of what is happening.
Updating can be uncomfortable because it is less efficient (and therefore more ‘expensive’ from the brain’s point of view).
Sometimes it asks us to let go of the story we’ve used to explain a certain kind of behavior or situation in a way we’ve done for years or decades.
Sometimes it means allowing for a person in front of us to expand out of the adjective or label we already placed on them.
Wisdom asks us to stay present enough to constantly update and open to information that comes to us (even when it doesn’t fit what we thought).
To let our understanding of our world, ourselves and others become more nuanced as reality reveals more of itself.
Tomorrow, I'm releasing a new podcast episode that explores this from the perspective of Critical Hope .. a kind of hope that doesn't ask us to avoid complexity in order to feel hopeful or better.
I can't wait to share it with you.
With deep appreciation for what you are contributing to this world,
Stefanie ❤️🧠✨
P.S. If you love exploring questions like this with me, this is exactly the kind of neuroscience we go much deeper into inside the Super-Regulators™ Neuroscience Academy ...connecting what we know about the brain, nervous system and human behavior with the wisdom you already bring to your work.
P.P.S. - these ideas are reflected in this New York Weekly article featuring my concept of "The future of leadership is Embodied Systems Thinking"
