No matter what age we are, our brains are always changing in response to pressures from genes, culture, and opportunity. The choices we make dictate much of the lives we lead. But we are also affected by random things that happen to us, and the choices that others make. Opportunity, or lack thereof, is often a matter of luck, governed by large historical forces, such as wealth, plagues, access to clean water, education, and good laws. In ways both large and small your brain has been changed by your life’s experiences, whatever they are—by disappointment, love, interactions with key people,
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