I have had a question about the Lizard Brain posts.  The question was “What are you talking about?”

A fair question I think.  I did think that you may well have figured it out but for those who got a bit lost in all that a more in depth explanation is in order.  As you may be aware the main difference between human beings and animals is our brain size and function.  Now this isn’t fiction or guess work but solid repeatable science.

If you look at it seriously and thoughtfully it should become clear that humankind is not the fastest, strongest, tallest, biggest, or any other category you can think of, animal on the planet.  But we dominate everywhere.  Why?

There is only one possible answer, we are the smartest animal on the planet.  We are able to adapt to any climate and not just survive but thrive and multiply.  There is only one place we don’t totally dominate, the large bodies of water.

So we strip mine them instead.  We don’t have to live there to dominate but it is still riskier than the land mass.  If you are of a religious persuasion our brains were created as an add-on to the existing core brain which is in reptiles and the add-on for the primates, effectively creating a triple layer brain.

For the others our brains evolved from the reptilian to the mamallian and then to us.

None of this really matters in out day-to-day lives as we mostly operate on auto pilot and that works out fine for us.

The Medulla controls our basic life support functions, heart beat, breathing etc. and sits right on the top of the spinal column.

The Pons regulates motor control, some basic sensory function and some respiratory functions.

The Cerebellum is in charge of muscle tone and fine motor movements.

The Midbrain consists of the superior and inferior colliculi, 1 of each on either side of the midbrain, and  controls the eye movements and auditory functions.  It also seems to act as an amplifier so the little movement you spot in the corner of your vision really gets your attention.  Pretty important if you want to avoid a confrontation with a predator.

The Forebrain includes, but isn’t limited to, the Thalamus, the Hypothalamus, the Limbic System, the Corpus Callosum and the Cerebrum.  Now we are getting into the working part of the brain.

Everything up to the Limbic System are replicated in all animals and control all the physiological systems, vision, hearing, memory and simple learning.

The Limbic System is associated with emotional responses and learning.  This is the area most thought to be the difference between reactive and responsive behaviour.  Reactive behaviour is where the fight or flight responses are generated in response to external stimuii.  Is that thing I see near me for fearing, feasting or fornicating?  Responsive behaviour allows us to more critically respond to the external stimulii.

The Cerebrum is where we do our best thinking and the size and complexity of this is what makes the difference between the mammals and all other animals.

There is more but that is enough for our purposes.

The issue of the Lizard Brain is that it is still in control of your reactions.  This is the bit which keeps telling you that you’re useless, can’t write, no-one will be interested in what you write (I didn’t write all this before for that very reason) , and all the other helpful things it comes up with.

It does this in a misguided attempt to protect you, that’s it’s job after all.  Success of any sort makes you a bigger target and the Lizard Brain understands that it’s best to be bland, to hide and not be noticed.

But you don’t want that so you and good old Lizzy duke it out.  Unfortunately for you the Lizard Brain has nothing else to do but “protect” you.

Fixing this isn’t hard and can be done by you at home in private.

Go to Dragon Rising and get the book, you won’t regret it.