CONNECT: May 17, 2013

Mirror Mirror.

Now you know I like to start these emails with a question or two to get you thinking, so if you read the title, don't worry, I'm not going to ask you about being the "fairest of them all" (seriously, with as many goofy things we've done to get people to think about how to prevent, "looking good" is clearly not our primary concern)......so this week's question is a bit less obvious.....

What if you were the mirror?  What would you do with that power? But wait, to complicate it a little, let's say you couldn't be the cool future-knowing mirror in Snow White.....but maybe only the "second-string" magical mirror.  One that can reflect anything it chooses but definitely can't see into the future.  Sure, telling the future is better......after all, that's why you didn't get called up to the big castle.....but don't feel bad, choosing what you can reflect is pretty cool too......look on the bright side, at least you're not an "ordinary" mirror that can only reflect back emotionless reality....as the still-pretty-awesome mirror, you have a choice.....and can therefore influence what the person sees.  So, what if you were the mirror?

As silly as it seems, this concept of influence through mirroring may be one of the most important findings related to health, prevention and wellness discovered in our lifetime.  It has (literally) turned many things onto (or perhaps better said, "into") its head.  You see, not too long ago a group of Italian neurophysiologists found that certain areas of the brain would "light up" when a monkey would perform an action BUT ALSO when the monkey would SEE the action performed.  Their brain would react as if they were actually doing it, when in fact, they were only watching; and although there is still much to be learned, this finding of an actual brain-pathway (hard-wire) that is dedicated to building habits by watching has HUGE implications.

Last weekend I got to see this in action.  For mother's day my mom only wanted one thing, to have the entire family over.  This plan evolved into a game of pictionary (which we used to play as kids), but now involved 6 significant others and 11 grand-kids, putting the total group of players at/about twenty five.  In the midst of this chaos, with a hundred other distractions, I watched my little niece, who is now old enough to walk, grab a marker in each hand (with caps on), teeter over to the easel, and start scraping at the easel as if to draw.  How did she know to do that? Is she a "natural" artist that was just drawn to the markers and easel?  Probably not.  Far more likely she watched as an entire group of people, one by one, walked up, marker in hand and did something on the easel.  As her little mirror-neurons fired away and electrical impulses woke up muscle groups needed to do the task, she (unprompted), mirrored a "behavior" that she saw in her environment.  What we reflected, after enough times in a row, influenced her and prompted her to act accordingly.

This applies to each of us and is becoming an ever more important component of health and prevention.  Our actions, good, bad or ugly drastically increase the likelihood that those around us will have the same patterns and habits......and it appears that we are hard-wired to do so.  Want your family to live a long healthy life?  Choose your reflections wisely.  Want your team or work-group to use the methods that will get you all home safely tonight?  Choose your reflections wisely.

If you knew you were the mirror for those around you what would you choose to reflect?

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.