Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets ofthe Heart

by James R. Doty

Children, and adults as well, perform best when there is consistency and dependability. The brain craves them both.

there are nerves that connect the heart to that part of the brainstem called the medulla oblongata via the vagus nerve, how the vagus nerve had two components, and how if you increased the output of the nerve by relaxing and slowing the breath, it would stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your heart and decreasing your blood pressure. I also learned how decreasing the tone of the vagus nerve actually stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which is what happens if you are scared or frightened—your heartbeat increases.

She taught me the pointlessness of wishing for a different past and the futility of worrying about all of the frightening futures over which I had no control.

Another mystery of the brain is that it will always choose what is familiar over what is unfamiliar. By visualizing my own future success, I was making this success familiar to my brain. Intention is a funny thing, and whatever the brain puts its intention on is what it sees.

Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. However, energy can change forms, and energy can flow from one place to another. That is the gift we are each given.

We can study every single mystery of the brain, but its greatest mystery is its ability to transform and change.

When our brain changes, we change. That is a truth proven by science. But an even greater truth is that when our heart changes, everything changes. And that change is not only in how we see the world but in how the world sees us. And in how the world responds to us.

Many misinterpret Darwin by implying that survival of the fittest means the survival of the strongest and most ruthless, when in fact it is survival of the kindest and most cooperative that ensures the survival of a species in the long-term. We evolved to cooperate, to nurture and raise our dependent young, and to thrive together and for the benefit of all.

“Love and compassion are necessities; without them humanity cannot survive.”