...not all encounters with the world affect the mind equally. Studies have demonstrated that if the brain appraises an event as "meaningful," it will be more likely to be recalled in the future.
Daniel J. SiegelRead
Early experience shapes the structure and function of the brain. This reveals the fundamental way in which gene expression is determined by experience.
Interpretation
Early experiences significantly influence brain development and gene expression.
This quote by Daniel J. Siegel emphasizes the critical impact that early life experiences have on the brain's structure and functionality. It suggests that our genetic potential is not determined solely by our DNA, but is also shaped by our interactions and experiences, highlighting the interplay between nature and nurture in human development.
In practice
In a discussion about childhood development and education, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of early experiences.
...not all encounters with the world affect the mind equally. Studies have demonstrated that if the brain appraises an event as "meaningful," it will be more likely to be recalled in the future.
Too often we forget that discipline really means to teach, not to punish. A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioural consequences.
While the days of parenting may seem so long, the years are so short.
We must keep in mind that only a part of memory can be translated into the language-based packets of information people use to tell their life stories to others. Learning to be open to many layers of communication is a fundamental part of getting to know another person's life.
For "full" emotional communication, one person needs to allow his state of mind to be influenced by that of the other.
Grief allows you to let go of something you have lost only when you begin to accept what you now have in its place. As our mind clings to the familiar, to our established expectations, we can become trapped in feelings of disappointment, confusion, anger, that create our own internal worlds of suffering.
Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.
Nature - how, we don't know - has technology that works in every living cell and that depends on every atom being precisely in the right spot. Enzymes are precise down to the last atom. They're molecules. You put the last atom in, and it's done. Nature does things with molecular perfection.
Notwithstanding all that has been discovered since Newton's time, his saying that we are little children picking up pretty pebbles on the beach while the whole ocean lies before us unexplored remains substantially as true as ever, and will do so though we shovel up the pebbles by steam shovels and carry them off in carloads.
Imagine a survivor of a failed civilization with only a tattered book on aromatherapy for guidance in arresting a cholera epidemic. Yet, such a book would more likely be found amid the debris than a comprehensible medical text.
Science is not a substitute for common sense, but an extension of it.
A cardinal principle that we must not stray from - no exceptions - is that your genetic information is your business in terms of who sees it. Nobody should be gaining access to that information without your explicit permission, and nobody should be requiring you to take a genetic test unless you decide that that's what you want to do.
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