Do you know what the corpus callosum is? No? Well, neither did I. That’s until I read Michael Gurian’s book, “What Could He Be Thinking: How a Man’s Mind Really Works.”
WHAT incredible insights! I REALLY recommend this read.
The corpus callosum is a small nerve-bundle in the brain. Its sole purpose is to facilitate communication between the left and the right hemispheres. Every human being has one, so it’s by no means unique, or an outstanding feature in more talented or clever people. Not at all.
But, here’s the kicker. And what a kicker it is!! The corpus callosum is a quarter smaller in men than in women. Men have 25% less of this little nerve-treat than women. And that explains a LOT!
You see, because this little communication facilitator is smaller in men than in women, men connect far fewer feelings to words. Or even thoughts to words. READ THAT AGAIN!
When I read this, it was as if the veil had dropped. So THAT’S why?! Right?
You see, the male brain’s language function sits in the left hemisphere. Women use up to seven cortical areas in BOTH hemispheres for language. So, if a man has a 25% smaller corpus callosum, he LITERALLY has a 25% smaller chance of translating that feeling or thought into a word or words.
The outcome of this impediment is the men we all know and love. And, in the case of guys … well … US! That’s why men use around half the number of words in a day than women do. And Ivy League studies have proven this over and over again.
It’s not about verbosity – it’s about the ability to translate thoughts and feelings into words. Women are just better at it than men. Period!
How This Smaller Nerve-Nut in The Noodle Impact Men
Anxiety is a great example of how this smaller corpus callosum can make the lives of men a living hell.
Firstly – anxiety is common. In fact, most of us will suffer one major anxiety attack at least once in our lives. And, we’d be in a whole heap of trouble if we couldn’t experience anxiety.
Anxiety is really nothing more than our bodies alerting us to a perceived threat. The issue comes in with anxiety disorder. This is when there is often NO threat, but the body-mind combination perceives one anyway and acts accordingly.
For many decades, researchers believed that men were about half as likely to suffer from an anxiety disorder than women. But, with the newest research pointing to this smaller corpus callosum and the decreased ability to translate thoughts and feelings into words, this is being questioned. And seriously so!
Just follow this thought with me for a moment. Anxiety is a horrible thing. But it’s just the example I’m using here to illustrate a broader point. And I’m going to be giving you a solution or two in a moment.
So, a guy has an anxiety attack.
- The feelings are there
- And his thought-world is soup at that moment. Right?
- Because this is how it works when anxiety strikes.
- Now, he’s stuck.
A woman’s brain is 25% better equipped to translate those horrible feelings into words, and words are a place from which one can start understanding and deal with issues. The guy is simply stuck with the feelings and wordless thoughts.
Stuck, is the operative word here.
This inability to “vocabularize” so many thoughts and feelings effectively can be directly or indirectly linked to SO many happiness obstacles in a man’s life.
Stress, depression, anxiety, aggression, substance abuse, you name it.
The Importance of Cracking That Nerve-Nut
Self-harm among men is around four times as prevalent as among women. Much of this can be attributed to any of a variety of disorders that may or may not surround the actual acts, but they have one set of emotions in common:
- a narrowing of vision
- a complete sense of hopelessness
- the impression of being stuck without a way out.
This is huge because we always thought men just have a propensity for keeping things to themselves, handling their problems on their own, and not showing weakness at any cost.
Now, it turns out, none of this is a clear-cut as it seemed for so long. The lesser capability to translate thoughts and feelings into words may have a whole lot to do with it.
If there is a way to deal with these “untranslated” thoughts and feelings, a man’s world might change.
- That sense of “alone against the world” might dissipate.
- The stress may be less.
- The anxiety, often borne in silence, might go away.
- Hopelessness, which is never, ever, shared, may become a thing of the past.
The benefits are too many to mention.
Sure, But How?!
As human beings, we may think we’re the bee’s knees. The cat’s meow among all living things on the planet.
In many ways, this may be true. But our emotional and intellectual worlds are still just emerging from the primordial soup. We’re only just discovering what our brains are capable of, and our psyches and inner lives are lagging sadly behind.
If we can play a proper game of catchup between these two parts of our inner being – the intellect (brain) and the emotional world (heart) – many of the calamities that befall our lives could be eradicated for good. And the rest could, at the very least, be managed properly.
So, the secret to this is what exactly?
Really, it’s about building bridges between what we feel and what we think, what we feel about what we think, and what we think about what we feel. This is the start.
Once we’ve done that, it’s possible to bring both thoughts and feelings, as well as the links between them, back under our conscious control.
For men, this is a crucial step to peace and happiness. And with peace and happiness comes a whole host of other benefits. An even keel and a clearer mind. Less emotional knots. Less aggression. More tolerance. Greater productivity. More prosperity. Need I even carry on?
How Positive Affirmations For Men Build This Bridge – One Day At A Time
What is a positive affirmation? Well, in short, it’s a positive statement or a series of positive statements that change the way your mind works. Literally.
This has everything to do with the way the conscious mind and the subconscious mind interact. So, if you bring a positive statement into your conscious mind – specific wording that describes a specific outcome, or a specific way of feeling or thinking – and you repeat it again and again, your subconscious mind takes that as truth. And that is the TRUTH!
Before you know it, that statement is accumulated into your inner being, your inner responses to situations and people, and the way you feel about yourself and the world around you.
You make the positive affirmation, and the world will change around you. Period.
Think that’s baloney?
Think again. Researchers have proven (in more than one study) that thinking about your top traits and best qualities for ten minutes before an important meeting calms the nerves, improves confidence, and increases the chances of a positive outcome by 68%
Still not convinced?
What about this one. In another, independent study, a 10-minute affirmation exercise increased the problem-solving abilities of chronically-stressed individuals to exactly the same as those with no or low stress.
That’s in just 10 minutes. Imagine what daily affirmations can do in your life!
It’s a no-brainer.
Learning More
Eddie Sergey’s story is inspiring. It shows the power of the human mind – the incredible resilience of the human spirit in action.
- Eddie was a 4th-grade dropout
- Eddie was diagnosed with cancer
- Eddie didn’t graduate from high school
- Eddie didn’t go to college
- Eddie didn’t read books – he found that difficult
- Eddie was homeless, poor, and completely on his own.
Today, Eddie is a SUPER SUCCESSFUL entrepreneur. How?
The incredible power of the human spirit – the ability to overcome his external obstacles by changing his inner world.
Eddie was in a place where he had seemingly NO control over his life. He was at the mercy of the streets and the elements. But then he realized he had total control over one thing – the INCREDIBLE POWER OF HIS MIND.
And that was the beginning of a true miracle. That simple realization changed EVERYTHING about Eddie’s life.
- He changed the story he was telling about himself TO himself
- The altered story dissolved his limiting beliefs
- The disappearance of his limiting beliefs dissolved the obstacles that prevented him from doing, having, and being all he desired.
And, starting with a single affirmation, this is REALLY how it works. It starts inside, not outside. And it works from the inside out, not the outside in. We’ve all been stuck in perceptions that don’t serve us at all – perceptions that have ceased to serve us millennia ago.
Yet, humans being humans, we hate change. The individual hates change, and turning society’s thinking around is like the Titanic swerving quickly to avoid the iceberg. Not possible!
Well, Eddie and people like him have done it, and continue to do it every day. And they’re reaping the benefits. Shouldn’t you?