Mirror Neurons
If you could see me right now, as I sit in my home office writing this blog, there would be a connection. If I were to yarn in your presence, there's a good chance that you too would yawn. If I were to look back over my shoulder towards my bookcase, you too would do the same. Have you ever wondered why that is? Mirror neurons.
Mirror neurons are neurons in the brain that fire when someone acts or observes the same action performed by someone else. Behaviors are mimicked in one another. Thus, you are a product of your environment. What happens around you or in your presence affects who you are and how you behave.
24 hours from now, I will be in the presence of the other Social Work Advanced Standing students for the first time as we begin orientation. This is something I am anxiously looking forward to attending. I could have stayed home in Chicago and accepted The University of Chicago's offer to admission but I didn't like the environment I was in. I do not like the way the city operates and Illinois as a whole is failing as has been for many years prior. I only have a few friends there, fewer still who are on the same level as me academically and what I want out of life. I didn't want to get trapped in a cycle from which I could not escape. So I left.
In February, when my acceptance letter from Columbia University arrived, I jumped at the chance to attend an Ivy League school for my Master's. I wanted to be around others who positively mirror me. Not just Social Workers; life goals and future aspirations. We are all products of our environments. If you don't like what you see in others, or yourself, change who you surround yourself with, both people and places. This is what I have done in search of those mirror neurons.
This was the hardest move I've had to make in my 13 years of being an adult and living on my own, but it was necessary. I am in search of something better than what I once had, something greater for myself and my son, more compatible mirror neurons. As I am about to embark on this new journey, I will keep my eyes open and pay attention to others. I am not certain where this path will take me, but I know what I want; a better life for me and my son. This process will not be easy, but I look forward to the challenge. I look forward to the people who will very soon come into my life, to share classroom and personal space with one another. I look forward to finding those positive, compatible mirror neurons that fire off when something positive happens. After all, we are all products of our environments.
Mirror neurons are neurons in the brain that fire when someone acts or observes the same action performed by someone else. Behaviors are mimicked in one another. Thus, you are a product of your environment. What happens around you or in your presence affects who you are and how you behave.
24 hours from now, I will be in the presence of the other Social Work Advanced Standing students for the first time as we begin orientation. This is something I am anxiously looking forward to attending. I could have stayed home in Chicago and accepted The University of Chicago's offer to admission but I didn't like the environment I was in. I do not like the way the city operates and Illinois as a whole is failing as has been for many years prior. I only have a few friends there, fewer still who are on the same level as me academically and what I want out of life. I didn't want to get trapped in a cycle from which I could not escape. So I left.
In February, when my acceptance letter from Columbia University arrived, I jumped at the chance to attend an Ivy League school for my Master's. I wanted to be around others who positively mirror me. Not just Social Workers; life goals and future aspirations. We are all products of our environments. If you don't like what you see in others, or yourself, change who you surround yourself with, both people and places. This is what I have done in search of those mirror neurons.
This was the hardest move I've had to make in my 13 years of being an adult and living on my own, but it was necessary. I am in search of something better than what I once had, something greater for myself and my son, more compatible mirror neurons. As I am about to embark on this new journey, I will keep my eyes open and pay attention to others. I am not certain where this path will take me, but I know what I want; a better life for me and my son. This process will not be easy, but I look forward to the challenge. I look forward to the people who will very soon come into my life, to share classroom and personal space with one another. I look forward to finding those positive, compatible mirror neurons that fire off when something positive happens. After all, we are all products of our environments.
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