Respect yourself, human evolution and triune brain theory. A personel perspective.

1. why and how you need to listen to your body when
it has something very important to tell you …

2. Rationale (if any …)
“Why some staff members shorten their
sick leave while they are advised to rest?”
they
should listen to what their body wants to
do …
they should respect themselves

3. « Respect yourself …
“If you don't respect yourself/ Ain't nobody
gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na”.
“ Put your hand on your mouth/ When
you cough, that'll help the solution”
The Staple Singers

4. Going back to my roots (1) …
It tooks 5M years to move
from: ardipithecus ->

5. Going back to my roots (2) …

To Homo genus (2.5M years ago):
 Homo abilis ->
Homo erectus ->

6. Going back to my roots (3) …
To Homo sapiens sapiens ->
200,000 years ago (??)
-> To be continued …?

7. Summary of the Human
adventure.
• 5 million years … this is the time it took to adjust ourselves, as human beings “in
being”, to a slowly changing environment. 6 glacial periods
• We are now in an interglacial period that started 10 to 12,000 years ago.

8. Everything goes too fast

Over just 100 years we shifted to a universal rural life to more and
more urban setting (in 2007, urban>50%, worldwide)

From the 4-strokes seasonal rhythm (in the Northern hemisphere), to
a chaotic +/- succession of the seasons.

Global warming,

Globalization of the commercial exchanges.

9. How do we cope with a changing
environment at the scale of a human life?
 The
intrinsic human (mammals) physiology – (other than
the nervous system): it is a matter of physics, chemistry
at the level of the cell (cell biology) and of
communication between cells (endocrine glands, local
mediators, …)
 C.
Bernard (1813-1878) - homeostasis: “The stability of
the internal environment [the milieu intérieur] is the
condition for the free and independent life”

10. The Boss ….
Human species managed to survive as bare fragile animals,
struggling among beasts in a hostile environment. (we are
just naked apes - Ref.: The Naked Ape, Desmond Morris)
WHY?
• They were living as a united group,
• Their unique circumvoluted and hyperconnected brain
(protects individuals and thrive on its peers: We are The
others).

11. The triune brain theory (Paul D.
Mac Lean, 1913-2007)

Superposition of 3 evolutionary structures we
inherited during the evolution from the
reptilians (320M years ago):
 The reptilian complex
 The limbic system
 The neocortex

12. The reptilian complex
 The
reptilian complex: instinctual behaviors involved
in aggression, dominance, territoriality, and ritual
displays. The deeper structure of the brain. INSTINCTS.
Immediate survival.

13. The limbic system:

The limbic system: inherited from the early mammalian species and is
responsible for the motivation and emotion involved in
feeding, reproductive behavior, and parental behavior. BASIC NEEDS.
Emotion, motivation, long-term memory, olfaction (M.
Proust, Remembrance of Things Past. Volume 1: Swann's Way. The Cookie)

Memory, “a human being is an acting memory” without memory, no
happiness, no sadness …

14. The neocortex

The neocortex: the most recent step in the evolution of the
mammalian brain, conferring the ability for language,
abstraction, planning. THINKING CREATION IMAGINATION.

Frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes, outer layer of
the cerebral hemispheres

15. Three buddies in a boat (skull?)
Connections between these 3 structures:
 the reward bundle
 the punishment bundle
 the inhibitor system

16. The Reward/Punishment/Inhibition of
Action system (1)

The reward bundle (medial forebrain bundle) reinforces a sensation
that pleases us. “I want it again …”, “Give me more …” (Pleasure
Systems in the Brain, Michael A.
Bozarth, http://wings.buffalo.edu/aru/ARUreport01.htm)

The punishment bundle (periventricular system – PVS) transmits the
information that what is happening is
detrimental, painful, unpleasant, IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED …

The behavioral inhibitor system (BIS, H. Laborit, cf. supra): passive
submission. Chronic stress and subsequent chronic diseases.

17. « I don’t like that » … or How to deal with
punishment? Fight or flight!
1st is the flight: okay, but what if there is no way to escape?
Unconscious actions
 2nd : “is there anyone around? If so: YOU are the CULPRIT”.
From willingness to flee to willingness to fight. “It is useless, but
it makes me feel so much better …”
Unconscious actions


3rd, no way out, and nobody to punch … or I am not allowed to
react (culture, education). It is the inhibition of the action. All
the mechanisms triggered to take action just act against the
individual -> psychosomatic diseases and beyond.

18. The Reward/Punishment/Inhibition of
Action system (2)
(Ref.: http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/avance.php accessed on 25 September 2013)

19. 4 basic behaviors
 H.
Laborit, a French neurophysiologist, identifies
subsequently 4 central behaviors:
 Consumption, which satisfies the elementary needs,
 Gratification, which reinforce the sensation of
pleasure,
 Response to punishment, that may be flee or fight,
 Inhibition, which is a state of tension that drives to
anxiety which is the impossibility of taking over a
situation.

20. The Boss is Back on the Track
 The
neocortex has the capacity to take over and to give a
meaning to what we decide to do.
 We
often take action based upon a wrong assessment of
the situation.
 This
same neocortex gives a time-lagged picture of the
current situation:
It doesn’t listen to what your body feels right
away through its 5 senses.

21. Here and Now …

This is exactly what the Buddhist tradition teaches: the Four Nobles
Truths (the 1st is the « Truth of Dukkha »: unsatisfaction, anxiety of
trying to hold on things that are consistenly changing »

This is the core of any meditation technique
 Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness
Meditation in Everyday Life. Hyperion Books, 2005.

22. Give yourself a break
 Recenter
 Feel
yourself on your respiration
the tensions, and focus on releasing them
 Clear
your thoughts
 Lying
down, sitting position or walking

23. Back to basics

Do not pretend to be stronger than you really are:
 Accept to feel tired, sleepy, weak, sick and manage yourself
accordingly
 « Know Thyself » (ancient greek aphorism).

Finally repecting yourself is respecting the others:
 If you spend all your energy to struggle against yourself you will be
a burden for your colleagues and your family.
 If you carry a communicable disease, just stay away from the one
you care, keep the bugs for yourself …

24. Respect … again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kDGi8gYS18
THANK YOU
JJ