The mirror neuron reaction as a phenomenon was discovered in the early nineties. At that time, experiments were carried out with animals. While studying monkeys, some groups of scientists noted neural activation at certain points. For example, when an animal grabbed one or another object, activity in the motor cortex was recorded. Thus, it is logical to assume that at the moment when the monkey reaches for an apple or orange, neurons that are associated with one or another action are activated.
During the experiment, it was revealed that if you show an object, but do not give the monkey the opportunity to take it, a different group of neurons from those that are involved at the moment associated with this action will be activated. It should be noted that such active nerve cells were found in the motor cortex. Thus, the conclusion that the cortex is in some way a device for performing simple actions did not fit within the framework of the information that was obtained during the experiments.
As a result of the research, it was revealed that at the moment when the experimenter came and took an apple in front of the monkey, the same nerve cells in the animal began to activate as at the moment when it performed the action itself.
It is also noted that when a person observes the action of another living organism, groups of nerve cells associated with the human need to perform the same action or with the same type of behavior are activated. These groups of nerve cells are called mirror neurons.
This concept was not chosen by chance. A neuron is a nerve cell. Scientists suggest that, to one degree or another, they are all connected with the actions that a person performs, with everything that he knows how to do. Later, experts found that mirror neurons are found in quite large quantities. These in some way reflect the actions of others. In this case, the actions can be completely different, and this is not necessarily the capture of any objects.
Mirror neurons, when activated, promote muscle contraction, similar to what could occur if one or another action was independently performed. Such a phenomenon, for example, was identified by scientists in the process of studying the reactions of people watching the game on musical instruments or dancing. This was especially evident if the subjects did not know how to play or were unfamiliar with dancing. At the same time, mirror neurons are not always activated and contribute to the further manifestation of the reaction. Experts have concluded that nerve cells are excited under certain conditions and at certain times. During the experiments, some phenomena were identified and described that suggest that mirror neurons exhibit their activity within the system, but not individually.
Conduct registration studies brain activity possible using tomography (positron emission or magnetic resonance imaging). It should be noted that researchers have found that if a person has certain forms of autism, the above-mentioned phenomenon of repetition of one or another action is absent.
According to a number of scientists, it is mirror neurons that provide a person with the ability to empathize with other people, understand, imagine intentions, and construct certain assumptions about what may happen to other living beings.
It should be noted that the question of whether all nerve cells have the ability to reflect is under research. However, scientists say with great confidence that it is mirror neurons that provide the ability to imitate the actions of others.
Look at dad, ask him to look at your face and start yawning sweetly. You don't have to really yawn. You can just start saying “yawn, yawn, yawn.” The effect will be the same: dad will also gape. Why is this happening? Scientists would have puzzled over this question for a long time if a very interesting incident had not happened to the Italian scientist Giacomo Risolatti in 1996.
Giacomo examined the brain of an experimental macaque: he looked for brain cells (neurons) that are activated when the monkey eats raisins. The search lasted until the evening. Finally these neurons were discovered. They gave electrical signals whenever the macaque brought a raisin to its mouth. It was late, Giacomo was tired, hungry and decided to eat a couple of raisins himself. He took the raisin and brought it to his lips in front of the macaque. Suddenly her neurons gave a very powerful electrical response. They activated as if the macaque itself was eating raisins.
Giacomo realized that he had found these special cells that signal in two cases: 1) when the macaque itself eats raisins, and 2) when it sees someone else eating its raisins. He named these cells mirror neurons, because they seem to “reflect” someone else’s behavior in our heads. Mirror neurons were later found in other monkeys, some birds and, of course, humans. But why are these strange cells needed?
French scientists decided to answer this question. They divided the subjects into two groups. In the first group, real emotions were evoked using different smells (pleasant and disgusting). At the same time they were photographed. And the subjects of the second group were shown only photographs of faces from the first group (without odors). What happened? In the subjects of the second group, the same areas in the brain were activated as in the subjects of the first group. In other words, if a person saw a photograph happy person, his brain “rejoiced”, and if people saw a “sour face”, they themselves felt disgust.
Therefore, if we are surrounded by smart and happy people, we ourselves will also become happier and smarter. And if we have angry, grumpy, rude people next to us, our character can seriously deteriorate.
Mirror neurons help us detect more than just other people's emotions. Here's how Risolatti explains his discovery: “Let's imagine that the person opposite us brings a glass of water to his mouth. How does our brain understand what it is doing? The brain could compare the images of the person and the glass with what is stored in memory, think, remember the laws of physics and make some assumption. But it turns out that it is much easier for our brain to understand what another person is doing by mentally repeating his action. This is what mirror neurons do.” It turns out that mirror neurons allow us to experience what is happening to others as if we were performing this action ourselves. That’s why we like watching movies, sports programs, and ballet so much. Every time we watch a movie, some part of our brain makes us feel that we just turned on pointe 10 times, we were the ones who ran to the finish line first, we were the ones who defeated the villain and saved the beauty from terrible death. Scientists have established this as follows. They put special sensors on people who were watching TV. It turned out that when people watched a ski race, the muscles in their legs were activated. When they watched boxing, their arm muscles tensed and their fists clenched.
But this is not all that our mirror neurons can do. It turns out that they help us quickly learn something new, even if we don’t understand anything yet. After all, learning through trial and error takes a long time and is sometimes even dangerous. And thanks to mirror neurons, it is very easy for us to imitate: we do it without thinking, as if automatically. Therefore, children love to repeat after someone big and smart (for example, dad). You can repeat each other. For example, if Petka Ivanov suddenly starts soaking bread in compote or smearing plasticine on the wallpaper, his comrades will immediately happily join him. Not only children, but also adults constantly imitate each other: for example, their favorite movie actors, bosses.
Of course, some animals can also imitate (for example, talking parrots or great apes). But people do it more often and more willingly. This was confirmed by Derek Lyon in his remarkable experiment. Derek showed chimps and young children (3-5 years old) how to open a candy box. In addition to the necessary actions that lead to opening the box, Derek performed a bunch of “extra” actions. Then Derek left the box with the subjects, and he himself left the room and began to peep. It turned out that the chimps gradually stopped doing “extra” actions and did only what was needed to get candy. But human children happily reproduced both necessary and unnecessary actions.
Scientists believe that our tendency to copy “meaningless” actions is not so meaningless on the scale of human history: thanks to this, people were able to pass on the experience of distant ancestors to subsequent generations. This is how elements of culture began to be passed on from person to person: holiday songs and dances, prayers, mystical rituals, useful skills. Therefore, it turns out that small mirror neurons are the basis of our great culture!
Artist Anna Gorlach
There's a lot of talk about mirror neurons. “Mirror neurons are neurons in the brain that fire both when performing a certain action and when observing another creature perform this action. Such neurons have been reliably discovered in primates, and their presence is confirmed in humans and some birds” (Wikipedia). The theory of mirror neurons as a way to understand the actions and emotions of other people has been reasonably criticized for its overly global conclusions. Proponents of the theory consider mirror neurons to be the creators of our civilization and the cause of autism (in case of problems in such neurons). The facts are that little is known about these neurons specifically in humans, and not monkeys, and a lot of research is required before moving on to generalizations. After all, mirror neurons are only a small part of the system for understanding the world around us. After all, this is incredible difficult task, and our brain can hardly do this with the help of a small group of neurons located in the motor regions of the brain. And while they are breaking spears around mirror neurons, let’s look at the situation from a different angle.
First, the theory states that when we kick a ball, for example, our motor neurons are activated in order to perform such an action. When we ourselves are not moving, but we are looking at a person kicking a ball, the same neurons are activated in us, although to a lesser extent. What's more interesting is that when we just imagining When you yourself or someone else kicks the ball, the same thing happens in the brain.
Studies with professional athletes have proven that visualizing (imagining) motor movements really works. Yes, you can imagine yourself taking a penalty kick or landing a jump from the comfort of your chair, and your skills in these actions will improve measurably in the actual performance. Several rules have also emerged: you must present necessary so that the movements are successful. Imagining failure will only make the actual results worse. Another rule: visualization should must be combined with practice.
You can try a simple experiment: imagine yourself writing a sentence with your non-dominant hand. The speed at which you can do this in your imagination will be just as slow, and your actions will be just as clumsy, as in reality! If you set yourself the goal of learning to write with this hand, then as you learn, your actions will become more successful and easier, both on paper and in the imagination. This works precisely because when we visualize, we use the same parts of the brain that are involved in actually performing physical actions.
Such incredible ability cannot remain unclaimed by the brain: it is too good. Therefore, according to some studies, our dreams appear to be simulations of behavior in unclear situations. This dramatization seems real to us in a dream, and we can safely practice in search of correct behavior And emotional attitude to that. At least half of all our dreams are simulations, and 20% of dreams are re-enactments of threatening events, where our brain considers various options exit from them. Some dreams, which we all know very well, end in failure, instilling fear and horror in us - this is an unsuccessful option, which, nevertheless, gives us an understanding of something important.
The quality of a mental simulation of a situation depends on experience. Thus, professional hockey players studied in one study differed significantly in simulating situations related to hockey from people who only knew about it by hearsay. Is it possible to become a good hockey player just by watching the actions of hockey players on TV or at the stadium? There is no evidence today that this approach is effective. But the quality of the simulation will increase, and as it turns out, it even depends from one interaction experience, and this experience may be trivial.
So, in one study, people first matched pictures with words. They could see words, for example: mop, brush, bottle, and corresponding pictures. What people didn't know was that some objects were shown to them in different orientations—for example, a toothbrush was shown horizontally to some, and vertically to others. After this, people were distracted for 20 minutes and then sentences were shown on the monitor, one word at a time, and participants had to press a button to go to next word. They were required to decide as quickly as possible whether the sentence they saw made sense.
Imagine: twenty minutes ago a person saw for a second a picture of a toothbrush, vertical position, and then receives a sentence: Aunt Rose finally found a toothbrush on the bathroom floor.
We begin a mental simulation of a situation on the fly, as we read or listen to a sentence. When a person comes to the words “on the floor”, his brain tells him that if so, then the brush should lie horizontally. But twenty minutes ago he saw it vertical, and an inconsistency of images arises in his brain, and it takes additional time to change the imaginary picture! Everyone who received such incongruent pictures showed a delay in reaction time.
This suggests that even fleeting experience changes the process of imagination and influences understanding. Therefore, if a person's experience in some area takes tens of thousands of hours, then his imagination of a familiar situation will be significantly different from the imagination of a beginner. This also suggests that to understand the world we constantly imagine it in our brains - every object we see, sound we hear and words we read.
The simulation literally behaves the same way as reality. Try, while walking, to imagine that you are riding a bicycle, pedaling. You can't do both well at the same time. Again, because one real action and another imagined one begin to compete for the same brain region.
But we can go and sing, and in addition throw a ball with a tennis racket. That is why scientists for a long time could not understand why talking on the phone, even over a speakerphone, has such a strong impact on the quality of driving. It would seem that driving requires mainly movements of the arms and legs, and vision, and conversation - movements of the mouth and hearing. But the solution turned out to be precisely this: what exactly are we talking about by phone. When the conversation concerns spatial or visual aspects, driving deteriorates. You are asked over the phone to decide what to do with the door at the dacha, and in order to do this, your brain must imagine a dacha, a rickety door, and will begin to occupy the resources of precisely those regions that are involved in driving.
People who have impaired motor functions are found to be less able to understand the corresponding movements of other people. For example, some patients with Parkinson's syndrome have a worse understanding of verbs, and some patients with dementia have a worse understanding of nouns that correspond to their problems. Others cannot visually judge the weight of boxes that a person lifts. This occurs due to the physical limitation of imagining such actions - after all, in order to understand this, you need to activate a region in the brain, and it is affected. This is useful knowledge because there is a hypothesis that perhaps by teaching words the condition of these patients can be improved!
Understanding this, it is relatively easy to detect socially dangerous pathologies. Thus, when showing pictures depicting negative emotions in people, and in particular in children, it is possible, using biometric data, to understand whether the viewer feels the same emotions, in other words, whether he experiences empathy. Some people, who might be called sociopaths, have this ability physically limited—their brains cannot activate the appropriate brain regions to understand other people's experiences.
When we develop our imagination by remembering past events (and we reconstruct them every time) or by reading fiction books, we begin better understand the world around us. So, the world of Fenimore Cooper activates the visual system to see how the Indian froze and merged with the tree, noticing the deer, the auditory system to hear how the string of his bow barely creaks, the olfactory system to smell the mushroom smell autumn forest. The motor cortex also activates, and the muscles tense, as if you were holding a bow in your hands with the string drawn. Therefore reading is good fiction- a very useful activity for many reasons, including for your future.
Our imagination is a powerful ability. Every second we try to understand the world around us, and when we fail, it is because we have difficulty imagining it. This is amazing, because we can even imagine apparently non-existent objects: unicorns, vegetarian zombies or rosy-cheeked cupids.
Perhaps we can do this because we read fascinating (and therefore emotionally charged) books about it, or watched films. Stephen King, for example, knows how to captivate us and enrich our imagination with some creepy horror that we know does not exist, but which after reading it we can easily imagine (and fear).
Another approach is to train. It’s worth trying the “royal” method of improving imagination:
«- Can't be! - Alice exclaimed. - I can’t believe this!
- Can not? - repeated the Queen with pity. “Try again: take a deep breath and close your eyes.”
Alice laughed.
- This won't help! - she said. - You cannot believe in the impossible!
“You just don’t have enough experience,” the Queen remarked. “When I was your age, I devoted half an hour to this every day!” On some days, I managed to believe in a dozen impossibilities before breakfast!” (Leiss Carroll. Alice in Wonderland).
In addition to understanding the present, our imagination prepares us for the future, where we will spend the rest of our lives. Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert noted (Gilbert, 2006): “The greatest achievement human brain– his ability to imagine objects and episodes that do not exist in real world, and this ability gives us the ability to think about the future. As one philosopher said, human the brain is a machine of anticipation, and the creation of the future is the most important work in which it is engaged».
Bergen, B. K. (2012). Louder than words: the new science of how the mind makes meaning. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Bosbach, S., Cole, J., Prinz, W., & Knoblich, G. (2005). Inferring another’s expectation from action: the role of peripheral sensation. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 1295-1297.
Gilbert, D. (2006). Stumbling on Happiness. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Malcolm-Smith, S., Koopowitz, S., Pantelis, E., & Solms, M. (2012). Approach/avoidance in dreams. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 408-412.
Wassenburg, S. I. & Zwaan, R. A. (2010). Readers routinely represent implied experience object rotation: The role of visual. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 1665–1670.
Weinberg, R. (2008). Does imagery work? Effects on performance and mental skills. Journal of Imagery. Research in Sport and Physical Activity, 3(1), 1–21.
Woolfolk, R. L., Parrish, M. W., & Murphy, S. M. (1985). The effects of positive and negative imagery on motor skill performance. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 9, 335–341.
Scientists have figured out why some people are able to sincerely empathize and sympathize with others, while others remain “crackers”.“I’m good, that’s why I sympathize. And you’re bad, that’s why I won’t get any understanding from you.” We try to divide each other by this moral parameter.
But in reality this is not entirely correct.
There are no “good and understanding” or, conversely, “bad and insensitive” people. There are only people with different features brain...
Mirror neurons are special neurons in the brain that fire both when performing a certain action and when observing another creature performing that action.
The phenomenon of mirror neurons and intuition
How do we perceive another person's emotions?
What is sympathy, empathy, where do these emotions come from? Once in France, while exploring this issue, they conducted an interesting experiment.
One group of volunteers was asked to depict different emotions on their faces - sadness, joy, melancholy, anger, disgust. The subjects were photographed and then showed the pictures to another group, while their participants were recorded. An amazing thing was discovered: when looking at emotional pictures in the brains of the volunteers, the same areas were instantly activated as if they themselves were sad, happy, sad, angry or disgusted. In fact, some people internally “mirrored” the emotions of others - without realizing it.
This experience only confirmed the version of neurophysiologists that in the brain of each of us there are special cells that, without any analysis, understand the emotions of another person. Scientists call these cells "mirror neurons".
How mirror neurons help us learn and experience
Today it is believed that the existence huge amount tiny “mirrors” in our brains were evolutionarily predetermined. Man is an overly developed creature, his behavior is determined not only by instincts (like the behavior of animals), but also by rather complex social norms. And then the chain is simple. To learn the skills and information necessary for survival, a human baby must be able to imitate adults very well, understand the motives of their actions, quickly remember and imitate their movements. This is what “mirror neurons” are responsible for. Those first representatives species homo sapiens, which did not have them in sufficient quantities, simply died out without leaving any offspring. Well, we - the heirs of millions of “mirror” generations - “mirror” each other constantly, easily and naturally, without noticing it.
What determines the number of mirror neurons in the brain?
True, people still differ from each other. Some people's brains are literally filled with mirror neurons - such people are easy to learn, know how to empathize, are sensitive to changes in those around them, they say about them: “They feel the world subtly.” The brain of others may not be so much gifted with “mirrors” - such a person in his development relies not on imitation, but mainly on his own intellectual reserves, striking (if he allows) with a fresh look at the world, but at the same time he often seems “insensitive” to others.The number of “mirrors” in the brain depends on various factors. For example, from the floor. Women have several times more mirror neurons than men, so they are better equipped for understanding and empathy. This is how it happened as a result of evolution: a mother who spends a lot of time with her child must be emotionally open and able to empathize - so that her baby can develop his own emotions according to the mirror principle.
Genetics also leave their mark social norms, existed at different nations over generations: for example, among representatives of emotionally reserved peoples (Japanese, Chinese, Swedes, Indians North America) there are more “mirrors” than the temperamental Italians or the emotionally open French, because the “restrained” need to be able to notice emotional changes even on stony faces. Therefore, the Chinese will easily “decipher” the feelings of an open European, but the European will be at a dead end in relation to the Chinese.
Quick Note:
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Video: What is the Mirror Neuron Phenomenon
What else are mirror neurons responsible for?
Mirror neurons are responsible for many phenomena in our lives.Thanks to them, we are really scared while watching horror films - although logic understands that there is nothing to be afraid of, because horrors do not happen to us, but on the other side of the screen.
Thanks to them, our mood improves if we find ourselves surrounded by smiling, cheerful people.
Thanks to them, we ourselves can cheer up a sad friend by simply smiling at him.
And also magical power mirror neurons are already widely used in physiology and medicine. It has long been noticed: when people watch, say, a boxing match, their muscles involuntarily tense and their fists clench. This is how human muscles “sympathize” with what we see on the screen. This neuroeffect is already being used to restore people who have suffered serious injuries, strokes, and other diseases that impair motor function. As it turned out, if you show such patients special films with appropriate movements, then their body itself, without grueling training, “remembers” how to move correctly.
"Mirrors" can be deliberately used in ordinary life. Forgive me, look at smiling, successful, healthy people - both your brain and your body will begin to tune in to the same positive wave.
Lecture "Through the looking glass of the brain: the phenomenon of mirror neurons"
Scientific educational film "The Theory of Everything: God in Neurons and the General Scheme of the Universe; Modern Neurology
“Today in most areas, in order to work successfully, you need to be able to establish a good relationship and collaboration with people. Those who build their mental relationships on the basis of logical structures, doing computers or engineering, sometimes suffer greatly from the chaos and uncertainty of interpersonal relationships." Very often we, people, are unpredictable, our behavior or reaction is not predictable, which puts us, and even more so our interlocutors, in an awkward position, destroying the prospects for mutual understanding.
And here I think it is appropriate to quote the words of University of California professor Matthew Lieberman: “Four out of five processes that occur in the human mind in the background when the brain is at rest are associated with thoughts about other people and about oneself.” Therefore (1) you should not be your own enemy - do not insult yourself in internal dialogue, do not criticize or humiliate, but make friends with yourself, who have a growth mindset, are calm and balanced. And (2) try not to have enemies at all - so that the air of constant internal broadcasting is not clogged with skirmishes, proceedings and disputes with an imaginary interlocutor.
By the way, I set the second rule of the 25 rules and principles for those who intend to become the smartest and richest, which are present in the first part of the book of almost the same name: “ You shouldn't have enemies!»
Neuroscientists believe that the human brain has a social network that is responsible for the individual's relationship with the society around him. Our life from infancy, our environment, and even more so our conscious choice of whom to be friends and communicate with - all this forms a unique social network for each individual person. It is similar to the neural networks that control vision, movement, or hearing. We primarily notice in the frantic stream of sounds and images precisely: (1) what interests us, (2) what is dear and close to us, (3) what is clear to us. The brain focuses its attention on this. Also with social network, which, depending on our beliefs, paradigms and stereotypes, dictates to us who to be friends with and who to stay away from.
Mirror neurons
In 1995, Italian neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti from the University of Parma made a discovery about a specific group of neurons. Rizzolatti discovered that mirror neurons, distributed throughout the brain, fire when a person sees other people performing what is called an “intentional action.” If you see someone take a piece of fruit from the table and eat it, mirror neurons fire in your brain. But they also work when you eat it yourself. It is this ability that helps us gain an intuitive understanding of other people's goals.
Leading mirror neuron expert from Holland, Christian Kiesers, explains how mirror neurons provide a person with direct insight into the intentions of another person. “When we see another person's facial expression, we activate the same networks in our motor center; in addition, we transmit information to the insula associated with our emotions. Seeing your facial expression, I detect the movement of the facial muscles, which causes a similar motor reaction in my face; As a result, a smile causes a reciprocal smile. In addition, the motor reaction is sent to your emotional centers, so that to some extent you share the emotions of the interlocutor.”
UCLA mirror neuron researcher Marco Iacoboni writes, “Real communication is more than video, video is more than telephone, because we all respond to body language and especially to facial expression.”
The final messenger of the Creator, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said: “The believer (mu’min) is the mirror of the believer [in which at times his vices and shortcomings are reflected, and sometimes the true state of affairs].”
The Prophet Muhammad instructed: “In no way neglect good deeds, even the most insignificant ones. Let it be at least a [sincerely friendly] joyful look at your brother [at your interlocutor. Not gloomy and stern, but joyful, cheerful, kind].”
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said: “Your [benevolent] smile when looking at a person is alms [that is, before God it is a benefit and will return to you at least tenfold multiplied in the form of earthly and eternal blessings].”
So how can you turn a sworn enemy into a friendly friend?? Always be sincerely good-natured, ignore all the bad and focus your visual and auditory attention only on the good that comes from him, no matter how insignificant it may be.
IN Holy Quran said:
“Good and bad are not the same. [This different things. There can be no justification for evil. But if someone has shown it towards you, give yourself the opportunity to grow and develop, tune in properly internally, pacify your emotions and] respond [to the bad] with good (the best) [from the good that you have; answer with something that does not contain bitterness, callousness, rudeness, or cruelty. Try to remain sincerely friendly and smiling even with your sworn enemy. After some time, after several (possibly dozens) sincere and kind gestures on your part, when his mirror neurons scan and reflect all the kindness and beauty expressed by your body language and invariably imprinted on your face] you [remaining truly calm, balanced and friendly] you will see how your [sworn, irreconcilable] enemy [who could not stand you, suddenly after some time] turns into a close and sincere (bosom) friend [worried about you]” (Holy Quran, 41:34) .
Mirror neurons are the means by which the brain recognizes what others are feeling and what they intend to do. Such neurons help determine how to react to a particular person, whether it is worth establishing cooperation with him or whether it is better to immediately abandon him.
“Mirror neurons (English: mirror neurons, Italian: neuroni specchio) are neurons in the brain that are excited both when performing a certain action and when observing someone else performing this action.
Mirror neurons are responsible for imitation.
The function that mirror neurons perform is not completely clear and is the subject of scientific debate. These neurons may be involved in empathy, understanding other people's actions, and learning new skills through imitation. Some researchers argue that mirror neurons can build a model of observed events and actions, while others attribute their functions to the acquisition of speech-related skills."
Scientists do not know the exact purpose of these unusual neurons. consensus, but the participation of these neurons in some processes is beyond doubt. For example, the fact that these neurons are responsible for imitation and, as a consequence, for learning, speech and cultural development.
From infancy, people try to imitate their parents in everything. And the first thing they learn is oral speech, and bypassing textbooks and teachers. Then they begin to copy behavior patterns. And this continues throughout life. Only then do we imitate the people from our environment, those with whom we most often communicate and meet. And even without striving for this, we still copy each other. Speech style, way of thinking, facial expressions and gestures - everything sticks.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of the Creator) said: “Truly, a righteous interlocutor [a friend with whom you communicate and to whom you listen] is comparable to a seller of incense [beautiful aromas]. [If you talk to him and maintain a relationship] he will either give you incense, or sell you, or you will smell a pleasant smell [and enjoy it while being around]. A bad interlocutor [a friend with whom you communicate and to whom you listen] is similar to a blacksmith who will either burn your clothes or you [while being next to him] will feel bad smell[and you will be completely saturated with it].”
That is why you should be careful when choosing friends, that is, you should understand what kind of people we surround ourselves with: whether they are successful or not, gloomy crybabies, always complaining about life or happy lovers of life, intellectually rich, able to express themselves correctly and beautifully, or constantly using swear words whether people are active or passive, optimists or pessimists. Create the “right” environment around you, and very soon you will become the happy owner of all the attributes of success.
Visualization
The ability is fantastic! Improving motor skills by visualizing these actions. Mirror neurons don't really care whether you perform an action or imagine it happening, they still work. Improved coordination is attributed to strengthening of the conductive connections between neurons during imaging. A very useful property for athletes, and not only.
Read more about this in the material “Internal Dialogue” from my book “A Trillionaire Thinks.”
People with a growth mindset believe that challenges are a gift, a wonderful opportunity to become more experienced, smarter, and wiser. They gradually develop a unique skill in turning life's failures into future successes. This category of people clearly understands that the existing intellectual, physical or material basis is the starting point for development. They clearly know that thanks to effort and knowledge, everyone is able to change and develop. When they encounter a difficulty, it doesn't even occur to them that they are failing! And what is also very important, reaching heights, this category people do not strive to prove their worth to others and they do not see this as a way to become better than others.
Alyautdinov Sh. Become the smartest and the richest. Part 1. M. - St. Petersburg: Dilya, 2013. P. 9.
Hadith from Anas. See, for example: As-Suyuty J. Al-jami' as-sagyr. P. 548, Hadith No. 9141, “Hasan”.
There are several types of fraternal ties: blood, religious and universal (the ancestors of all people are Adam and Eve).
Hadith from Abu Dharr; St. X. Muslima. See, for example: An-Naysaburi M. Sahih Muslim. P. 1054, Hadith No. 144-(2626); al-Qari ‘A. Mirkat al-mafatih sharkh miskyat al-masabih. In 11 volumes. Beirut: al-Fikr, 1992. T. 4. P. 1336, Hadith No. 1894.
See, for example: At-Tirmidhi M. Sunan at-Tirmidhi. 2002. P. 575, Hadith No. 1961, “Hasan”; al-Bukhari M. Al-adab al-mufrad. Beirut: al-Kutub al-‘ilmiya, b. g. P. 262, Hadith No. 891; al-Amir ‘Alayud-din al-Farisi. Al-ihsan fi takrib sahih ibn habban. T. 2. P. 221, Hadith No. 474.
Holy Quran, 7:199.
See, for example: Harun ‘A. Tahzib ihya ‘ulum ad-din [A shortened version of Imam al-Ghazali’s book “The Resurrection of the Sciences of Faith”]. Cairo: at-Tawzi‘ wa an-nashr al-Islamiyya, 1997. P. 307; al-‘Askalyani A. Fath al-bari bi sharh sahih al-bukhari. In 18 volumes, 2000. T. 9. P. 195, hadith No. 4642, partially.
IN this material I have given several fragments from David Rock’s book “The Brain. Instructions for use. How to use your capabilities to the maximum and without overload.”
Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes. Understand the emotions, feelings and desires of your interlocutor. Empathy is also associated with the concept emotional intelligence and, naturally, is the most important psychological component of communication skills.
Mirror neurons give us the ability to empathize, which makes us socially integrated and more successful. This ability, of course, is to some extent innate. There are people who have innate charm. But this ability can also be consciously developed.
Empathy is a mutual phenomenon, that is, in order to penetrate the mind of your interlocutor and understand his hidden desires, you need to open up to him. Let it even be conscious. And, of course, nothing makes a person feel better than a friendly attitude. A fake, forced smile won't help here. Your interlocutor's mirror neurons, like your own, recognize falsehood because they are able to perceive more subtle non-verbal signals.
It is also worth noting the underestimated importance positive thinking. In other words, turn your face to the world, and the world will turn to face you. All this seemingly “magic” has a tangible biological basis.