Here’s a tip: all models of the brain are wrong.

The lobes specialize, the hemispheres specialize, the brain waves indicate certain states of mind; These ideas are obviously correct, but they all have thousands of counterexamples.

But the point of a model is not to be universally true. At that time, it is not a model.

A completely faithful representation of the human brain is a human brain.

So the goal of a model is to be accurate and useful enough.

File that in the back of your mind as I speak of the triune model of the brain.

This model oversimplifies … but the gist is true. More than that, it is useful.

Ancient organisms evolved into the first reptiles, which were bigger and smarter than other animals at the time. That doesn’t say much. These reptilian brains sought to satisfy their basic and primary needs. They classified the environment: is that food for me or am I food for it?

The reptile brain seeks shelter, food, water, and mates. You need to respond to things quickly – in a fight to the death, being a quarter of a second too slow can kill you.

This brain doesn’t need to be too smart. It may depend on instinct and some learned behaviors. Overthinking things won’t help you catch a rabbit or intimidate a rival. Action trumps introspection.

Then some reptiles turned into something new: mammals. They were warm-blooded, so they ditched the scales in favor of fur and fur. This warm blood, which provided a stable temperature, allowed their brains to grow and be more sophisticated.

What is the main advantage of these new mental faculties?

Tactics pack.

It takes a lot of brainpower to hunt as a team, establish dominance, follow leaders, and communicate even simple concepts.

(“Threat!”, “Water!”)

But these mammals did not lose the needs of their reptilian cousins. They still needed to satisfy their hunger, find shelter, watch the world for danger, and find a mate.

So they kept the reptilian brain and developed the brain of the mammals around it.

Sometimes these brains would conflict. Perhaps the creature is hungry, so its reptilian brain searches for food. But they cannot eat the food in front of them because it belongs to a stronger rival, so the mammalian brain overrides it.

Sometimes they work together. The mammalian brain notices a social signal from a rival, suggesting that they are about to attack. The information is social but the threat is physical, so the reptilian brain goes into freeze, flight and fight mode.

Then over time, some mammals developed a third layer in their brains and became humans.

These human brains are absurdly powerful. They are capable of advanced abstract reasoning, sophisticated language, incomparable empathy and prediction, and the ability to analyze and alter most of their own functions.

All of these processes would be helpful. Humans would prosper over time, expanding to every biome on the planet. We have even left our planet, not permanently yet, but we are working on it.

This human brain is not perfect. Its processes are slow and expensive. Furthermore, they can interfere with the brains of mammals and reptiles in unproductive ways. It also means that our children take decades to mature, while many mammals can walk within hours of being born.

Sometimes the human brain conflicts with the other two. The mammalian brain wants you to fit in because there is safety (and mating opportunities) in the herd, even if your human brain wants to self-fulfill. Or your reptilian brain craves junk food, while your human brain knows what it will do to you.

They can also work together.

And when they do, that’s when you feel such incredible things.

Like being in the zone … or following your true purpose …

But three brains, living in a skull?

Conflicts inevitably arise.

And the brains of reptiles and mammals, by their nature, are unconscious.

Your human brain could tell others to eat healthier and be more selective about who they hang out with. But the others don’t understand the language. The reptilian brain thinks in primary terms, prioritizing survival. The mammalian brain thinks in terms of the social world, prioritizing status. They evolved long before language, so telling them what to do rarely works.

You have to speak their language.

That’s where hypnosis comes in. It translates your conscious intentions into messages that your unconscious understands and follows.