Law of Attraction Magazine August, 2015 Issue | Page 5

brains of others will fire in a similar way. Our actions cause similar action-representations in the brains of others. Think for a moment about how great you feel while watching a high-speed car chase or tremendous acrobatics. Your own brain sets up a simulation as though you are actually doing these things. You start to feel as though you are the pole-vaulter or the ice-skater since your brain mirrors the actions of those you are watching. While this field is still developing, a more established set of findings goes on to further support the "Law of Attraction." Early research using brain imaging has shown that fear activates an almond-shaped collection of nerve cells in the brain called the amygdala. When you show people fearful faces, the amygdala activates as if those people were experiencing fear themselves. What is perhaps more intriguing, is that there are ways to change the experiment so that people are entirely unaware that they are seeing those fearful faces. However, when you look at their brains during this period when they are unaware of seeing the faces, the amygdala also activates. Even people whose brains have been damaged so Even peopl e whose brai ns have been damaged so t hat t hey are "bl i nd" t o what t hey see wi l l have t hei r amygdal ae l i ght up when exposed t o fear f ul f aces. that they are "blind" to what they see will have their amygdalae light up when exposed to fearful faces. Thus, fear in others will register in our brains as fear. Another person's lit up amygdala will light up our own. We "attract" the fear to ourselves because we are connected to other people and their brains instantly. That is why anxious people make other people anxious, and fearful people make other people afraid. Similar principles apply to happiness and expected reward, when our brains will light up those centers that correspond with these emotional states in others. While at first astounding, it starts to seem believable when we think of how often we have a "gut feeling" of fear when someone else is afraid, or a "gut feeling" of well-being when someone's smile is authentic. This "gut feeling" is actually also a "brain feeling" as we set up brain responses in the brains of others with our own emotions. That is, aside from our brains mirroring the actions of others, they can also mirror emotions. A third line of evidence that supports the "Law of Attraction relates to "Ask and It Is Given" and "The Power of Intention." The brain regions involved in "intention" are very connected to those regions involved in action. As a result, firing up those brain regions involved in intention will start to fire up your action centers. Intention needs to be strong enough for action to occur. Also, when you place your attention on a certain feeling (e.g. pain), it can worsen that feeling. By inference, when we place our attention away from that pain, the pain is decreased. Thus, it is not so much that we are "attracting" what we put out, but that we make it possible to feel and do things when we attend to them or intend to do them. Thus, "contagious actions", "contagious feelings", "intention-action" connections and "attention-action" connections all support the "law of attraction". Underlying all of these ideas is the notion of connection - we are connected within and without. What we t hink and f eel af f ect s how we wil l act and how ot hers wil l act as wel l . The dept h of our f eel ings and act ions is a crit ical variabl e in "at t ract ing" what we want t o our l ives. Dr. Srini Pillay is CEO of NeuroBusiness Group (NBG), voted one of the "Top 20 Movers and Shakers" in Leadership development in the world by Training Industry in 2013. Srini is also Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatr H]\