Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Are Some of Us Naturally Wired for Change?

Astrologers have long realised that the inbuilt easy acceptance of change some individuals are born with has specific astrological indications. A preponderance of well aspected personal planets in the mutable signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces; or positive emphasis on zodiac sign Aquarius or planet Uranus are examples.

An article at Live Science: Some Brains Are Wired For Change, by Amelia Thomas touches on the topic from a different, non-astrological angle. According to the article, scientists are finding that:
"People who welcome new experiences have stronger connections between their memory and reward brain centers than people who tend to avoid anything new, research now shows.

Specifically, people who actively seek lifestyle changes may have a more developed connection between two specific brain areas: the hippocampus, a site for storing and retrieving new and old memories, and the ventral striatum, a reward system which is responsible for those carpe diem moments, said researcher Dr. Bernd Weber of the Life & Brain Center at the University of Bonn in Germany. Turns out, if the hippocampus identifies an experience as new, it then relays signals to the striatum to release neurotransmitters which lead to positive feelings.

"The strength of the connection is positively correlated to novelty seek[ers] ... but this does not imply that having weaker connections is a 'bad' thing," Weber told LiveScience.

Weber and his University of Bonn colleague Michael X. Cohen used non-invasive MRI imaging technology on 20 subjects to follow the flow of diffused water through their brain tissues. The information was then used to reconstruct a nerve pathway to the striatum. If the pull of water diffusion is stronger, that in turn implies a stronger nerve fiber tract, Weber said.

The test candidates also took personality surveys, choosing the best descriptions of their attitudes about trying new things. The data revealed the relationships between a person’s personality and their physical brain structure.

"Brain 'wiring' and personality are not really one causing the other," Weber said. It's more likely to be an interaction between the two."

All of which leads me to wonder whether if, at certain times in the cycles of the year, vibrations, electromagnetic waves ....or something.... provide a helpful mix to strengthen, in a newly born child, the connections between specific centers in the brain described in the article. If so, do these times coincide with times when astrological doctrine expects similar characteristics to be identifiable in a personality?

Other characteristics might be similarly led by conditions at certain points in the yearly cycle. I don't find this an outlandish idea at all. We are all part of the same universal physical network. "We are star stuff" - Carl Sagan said so!

Inherited characteriestics, physical and mental shouldn't be discounted, but then astrological links within families are known to exist.

It's unlikely that data obtained from surveys such as the one mentioned above would ever be made available to astrologers for further research, more's the pity.

7 comments:

Wisewebwoman said...

I truly believe this, T, but could not word it as well as you.

It has always seemed odd to me that some people are so terrified of change without knowing anything of what lies ahead!

Cling to the familiar and wither.

XO
WWW

Twilight said...

Wisewebwoman - Thanks WWW!
Everything changes, always, eventually, so "going with the flow" is always going to be better than trying to do the impossible and hold back the tide - even when the tide is going the way one dislikes.....as now, I guess.

DC said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DC said...

I agree...the only thing that is constant IS change....and unfortunately....with most of us there is scarcity comfort in the idea of change or in the familiar for that matter....in other words...no matter what our feeble minds may say to us, our "comfort" is a result of what we tend to perceive as familiar, and that is usually dictated by our own idea of what our self is....either something constant or something changing. Typically comfort is found with the familiar. Yet there can be comfort in change. remember Clint Eastwood's line in the Bridges of Madison County, when he stated that he thought that there could be comfort in surrendering to the idea of change as a constant?
Remember....if we don't think of the our (perceived)self as our TRUE self....then there is nothing to feel uncomfortable about, or for that matter...to fear. No matter what changes may loom.

Twilight said...

DC ~~ Beautifully put, DC!
There can certainly be comfort in the sure knowledge that nothing lasts.

It's time for me to watch or read "Bridges of Madison County" yet again - I don't recall that particular line, and it's a good one. :-)

zodiac astrology horoscopes said...


If nothing ever changed, how dull would our lives be?
Sometimes the very best moments in our life happen at random.
S.

Twilight said...

zodiac astrology horoscopes - Indeed!