Book Recommendation: The Social Animal by David Brooks

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Last year I was delighted to come across an occasional interview  on TV  with New York Times columnist David Brooks speaking  about an upcoming book he was researching and writing on the brain.  You can usually find the popular columnist on his regular Friday spot on PBS’s Newshour with a political analysis and opinion that for has helped me over the years to make sense of the crazy world of politics.  What he had to say in those teaser interviews seemed out of character and really piqued my curiosity especially with his use of the words resonance and coherence and explanations of the power of the unconscious mind and all things early childhood.  Afterall, these are concepts that align with some of the key principles underlying the resonance repatterning work that I am engaged in and tunes into my former training and career in early education.  Things I have theorized for years now are now being articulated by an authority!    I could hardly wait for the book to be published.

Today I found out that the book was out.  While my copy of it is on order, I had to share these two related videos with you in case you too are interested in work that not only expands the recent findings of how the brain works but what it means for our life today.  I personally am always looking for other things to shift with repatterning and from watching the Allan Gregg interview in particular struck upon an idea.  I wondered how transformative it would be to do a group series (of repattering)  that focused on the first 3 years of our life beginning 2 months before we were conceived?  What would you change about your resonance with life in that time period?  What memories or experiences would you like to stop resonating with? What would you like to make stronger?  If you did resonate with a different beginning in life – how would your life change today?   Certainly something to think about.

Here are the video links:

1. Recent Interview on TVO with Allen Gregg – this is a 30 minute interview where David gives an in depth interview on some of the key points from the book.  We are social animals whose best decisions are based in our emotions.  Much of how we experience life is determined by our unconscious mind and the experiences we have accumulated there.  The evidence for this is so strong David Brooks sides with social policy that supports children in the early years up to three years of age.   These were concepts I thought about over 30 years ago as an undergraduate in the child studies program at the University of Guelph.  It is a captivating interview!

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

2.  David Brooks on Ted Talks – this is one of the classic 18 minute Ted Talk videos where David Brooks begins with some humorous examples of the importance of our social relationships.  He touches on many of the points I assume (at this point) are the main premise of the book.  The same and yet a little different from the Allan Gregg interview.

Enjoy!

Carolyn