Meaningful Life

Crockett recorded her workshop today on the TrueNorth Roku Channel. The title was “A Meaningful Life.” While technically today’s topic was the 8th Domain, this workshop walked the audience through a series of exercises. Feel free to do these now then listen to the last 20 minutes:

She had people describe a moment where life felt meaningful:

Next she had folks describe a moment of meaninglessness:

Then we discussed the two competing functions of this domain, how one part of the brain wants certainty, (this is the part that blots out eye blinks, so everything runs smoothly and is seen as more or less continuous and the same). Crockett asked folks to describe how that part thinks and acts:

Then the audience described the part of the brain that knows it will die one day and does its best to create meaning:

Finally, she overviewed the 8th Domain including her suggestion (see #1 and #2) on how to remain buoyant when faced with the pain of living:

Topics covered were how each domain in interpersonal neurobiology usually integrates two competing functions. One example is how the 1st Domain: Consciousness is integrating the

1. known and the

2. knowing (which she said the “known” was her, specifically the sound of her voice as she was teaching, and the “knowing” was everything else around that that one could pay attention to with their consciousness, with their subjective experience of being aware).

Another example that she gave was in the 4th Domain: Memory there is the

1. storyteller/present day self recalling the memories and the

2. stories/memories, how integrating memory is about the ongoing process of integrating #1 and #2.

The overall message is that each domain is a process, (examples: how our awareness goes between the 1. known and the 2.knowing, how memory is a process between current self and our memories, and how this 8th domain is a process where we are in more certainty and at other times in uncertainty).

And if we can understand how many simultaneous processes are happening, it can help us whenever we feel stuck like we “know” what is happening and when we feel like life is “one way.” We can remind ourselves that there is so much more going on at any one time especially in those moments when we feel CERTAIN. We can relax behind our sense that life is one way, we can be curious about what is happening and we can learn and become more. This was a crucial final part of the lecture (that there are many processes happening simultaneously) as we looked at how we integrate our relationship with 1. certainty and the part of the us that sees ourselves as immortal like we’ll live forever, and 2. the other part of us that knows life is uncertain and we are mortal.