Cognitive Scientist Maya Shankar On Navigating Unexpected Life Changes, The Neuroscience Of Identity, & How To Unlock Your Next Self
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We are constantly changing, and change can accelerate these inner transformations. Our brains are not wired to enjoy uncertainty, but change is coming for all of us, whether we like it or not, and we become different people on the other side of change. Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast and welcome to the official season of change. Change is obviously something that is on everyone's minds this time of year. So change is what I've decided to devote this month's programming towards, and it's what we're
going to talk about today. Specifically the challenge of dealing with changes that are imposed upon us involuntarily, whether it's injury or loss or disappointment or maybe a future that suddenly collapses on you out of the blue. Change is this thing that has a way of of really rattling our deep desire for control and our profound dislike of uncertainty that really threatens our identity in ways that we're rarely adequately prepared for. But here's the thing: control, this thing we clutch and are so attached to is basically an illusion.
And impermanence and uncertainty, these are just things that are part of the fabric of reality. And the reality is that despite what you might think, we are all changing all the time. So to help us untangle this uh mental knot and help us make sense of everything, I sat down with neuroscientist Maya Schonker, who returns for her second appearance on the show to explain why we have such a distaste for this kind of change, what is happening in our brains cognitively and neurochemically. And she also provides
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