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Before I post this next post, I want to give you a little background on me, and why I’m writing this blog to begin with so you can understand my motivation a little better and why I find this information to be so relevant.

Before my interest in the brain developed I was diagnosed with dysthymic depression, anxiety and ADHD. Dysthymic basically means chronic and long-lasting anxiety clouds the brain with excessively worrisome thoughts and exacerbates the ADHD's hindrance on focus. The worst part about depression in my opinion is that it kills your motivation. All you want to do is be by yourself, eat and sleep. This motivational impact contributes exponentially to the cycle of isolation, low self-esteem and low self-confidence. The thoughts associated with these self-perceptions add more fuel to the fire of despondency and social withdrawal. I isolated myself, and spent a lot of time thinking about very existential things and being very introspective. In my isolation I used the Internet to try and answer all of the questions I had had that popped into my head about religion, afterlife, God, and existence. If there was or wasn't a God, how did that relate to my purpose in life? These questions always brought me back to a core understanding. I am above all things, a Human, What are the rules humans must live by?

I forced myself out of my isolation and made a pact with myself to not spend a day a home if it could be avoided. I decided that this funk I was in wasn't helping anyone and it was time for me to help myself. The questions I had about life wouldn't go away and I felt compelled to find some answers. Through the course of my informational exploration, I came to ask myself some new questions and gained a new level of awareness. I started thinking, "What good is information if it can’t help you have a higher quality of life? Wouldn't more valuable information help you AND others have a higher quality of life?”

It took me a few years to get out of the depressed state, which had since become engrained into almost every aspect of my life, my sleeping habits, my eating, and grooming habits, thoughts, posture, etc. My desire shifted from wanting an understanding of reality and the universe, to wanting to understand how I could create a better life for myself, and how I could share this information to help and empower others the way I was empowered and helped.

The search for answers always ended up leading me to the brain one way or another, and specifically to "Mindfulness Based Self-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy". This is a means of therapy to be used by the individual in which one controls their own thoughts to create neuroplastic change in brain structure, and ultimately creates new, healthier behavioral patterns and feedback loops. This therapy drew my interest for one, because it didn't require a psychiatrist and medications or bills, all it took to start the process was information and a little dedication. I felt empowered with every new bit of information I picked up about the brain. Learning more and more my desire to share the information just grew.

My goal with this blog is to at the very least increase the knowledge of the average reader, to make modern neuroscience and psychology accessible to the average person. I believe that a great step towards helping yourself is knowing yourself, and that increasing that level of information, can only increase the awareness of the individual. I think American author Bryant McGill said id best, "Knowledge is that possession that no misfortune can destroy, no authority can revoke, and no enemy can control. This makes knowledge the greatest of all freedoms."