"Brainwashing" article

This post pertains to the "Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself" article by Seth Godin.

One of the ways he describes is "Acknowledge the Lizard" and what he means by this is you need to acknowledge that there is a part of your brain that will tell you "Hey, don't do that! There's a possibility of a negative social consequence in that action! You should take the safe route..." so you can better overcome it in order to go on and make creative, original works. Another point that really hit home was the 1st one: "Connect". I love the internet. I probably spend way too much of my free time on it, but it's just amazing all of the information and creative inspirations you have access to on it. What this point emphasizes is the importance of making connections via the internet in order to foster your own personal development and life.

I believe that both of these points are legitimate and apply to my own life, and therefore this blog. The "Acknowledge the Lizard" one I actually inadvertently touched upon in my first blog assignment when I talked about how I would be majoring in engineering right now if I listened to my "lizard brain" and went with my obvious strength which happens to be in a field that historically has great job security and salaries. Note that my "lizard brain" has not been silent since I made this decision, so I continuously have to acknowledge it in order to overcome it. 

The "Connect" point is an inherent characteristic of a blog, or any social website. Through the internet I've met people from all over the world- even way back in 3rd grade on Neopets.com where I was friends with a girl named Claire from England. I've been a part of multiple online communities, some of them being small enough where we actually got to know one another. Even if these online interactions don't explicitly spur a creative collaboration or project, they are invaluable in being introduced to new ideas from people from different areas of the world and different walks of life from yourself. Since you draw from what you know when you create something, the greater your pool of knowledge and understanding, the more you have to draw from. The importance of the internet can be seen in the Egyptian government shutting down the internet as a means of suppressing their people.