NeuroNuggets

There is something strange about being human that we never think about. Your brain has never touched the outside world. Not once.  It sits in complete darkness inside your skull, floating in fluid, locked away from light, sound, textures, colours, everything.  And yet somehow it builds an entire universe for you.  It convinces you that you can see a sunset or hear a song or feel the wind. But non of these sensations reach you in the form you think they do. Your brain receives nothing but electrical signals from your senses and uses them to construct its best guess of what is happening out there.  Your world isn’t out there. It is in here, inside your head.  Sometimes the best way to understand this is through illusions.  There is one called the checker shadow illusion. Two squares on a chessboard look like completely different colours, even though they are the exact same shade. You can check the pixels, you can isolate the squares, it doesn’t matter.  ...

  There is a certain kind of love that feels like gravity. You know it is pulling you somewhere dangerous, somewhere you probably shouldn’t go…but your body leans toward it anyway. You tell yourself you can stop whenever you want. You tell yourself you are in control. But something inside you keeps walking back to that Person who hurst you more than they heal you.  And the strangest part is that it feels familiar, almost comforting.  People always ask the same question : Why do we fall for people who are bad for us? Why do we stay? Why do our brains get hooked on someone who makes us feel small, confused and unsteady?  The answer isn’t just emotional. It’s biological. The brain is doing something very old, very primitive and powerful.  It starts with unpredictability.  Healthy love feels steady. You know where you stand. But the toxic kind is all about inconsistencies. One moment they are warm, affectionate, almost addictive. The next moment they pull away ...