Author Archives: Tamera

Alpha Waves and Learning

Posted on by:
Neurofeedback No Comments

Researchers from Rohr University Bochum in Germany have explored the impact of neurofeedback on alpha waves and found that learning to regulate alpha waves using neurofeedback training has an impact on learning. Reach more about their work here.

Alpha waves are a middle frequency of human electrical patterns that create a bridge between internal and external awareness (or subconscious and conscious, if you prefer). They are called alpha waves because they were the first electrical pattern in the brain that researchers discovered in the early 1900s. Without alpha waves, it is hard to be self aware and equally hard to relax. And, if peak alpha waves occur at too low of a frequency (ie, below 10 Hz), researchers say that it can create cognitive problems.

Alpha training is a fundamental of neurofeedback and a profound way to take control of your body, but its effects are more powerful when done as part of a whole-brain training plan.

A New Take on Self-Care

Posted on by:
Uncategorized No Comments


Come join me this coming Sunday at 2 pm at Grassroots Fitness in Vienna (512 Maple Avenue West), where I’ll be presenting a new way of looking at how we care for ourselves.

When you’re feeling tired, wired, and as if you’re the last person on your priority list, knowing where and how to improve the way you look after yourself can be overwhelming. Looking online for solutions tends to result in checklists–things like “10 Easy Tips to Take Better Care of Yourself.” Sometimes, items on those checklists are terrific ideas, but all too often, they are shallow suggestions like getting up 15 minutes earlier to fit in your daily shower.

Enough of that. There’s a better way to make you a priority in your own life. It’s not tricky. It’s not a magic pill. If done even partially, it can transform your life.

You can just walk in if you’d like, but it will help us plan better if you let us know you’re coming. Either drop me an email at tsiminow@novalifeworks.com or contact Joann Meginley at joann@grassrootsfitness.org.



A New Take on Self-Care

Posted on by:
Uncategorized No Comments

Come join me this coming Sunday at 2 pm at Grassroots Fitness in Vienna (512 Maple Avenue West), where I’ll be presenting a new way of looking at how we care for ourselves.

When you’re feeling tired, wired, and as if you’re the last person on your priority list, knowing where and how to improve the way you look after yourself can be overwhelming. Looking online for solutions tends to result in checklists–things like “10 Easy Tips to Take Better Care of Yourself.” Sometimes, items on those checklists are terrific ideas, but all too often, they are shallow suggestions like getting up 15 minutes earlier to fit in your daily shower.

Enough of that. There’s a better way to make you a priority in your own life. It’s not tricky. It’s not a magic pill. If done even partially, it can transform your life.

You can just walk in if you’d like, but it will help us plan better if you let us know you’re coming. Either drop me an email at tsiminow@novalifeworks.com or contact Joann Meginley at joann@grassrootsfitness.org.

I Don’t Work with Everybody Anymore. Here’s Why.

Posted on by:
Neurofeedback No Comments


It sounds like an odd thing to say, but I have stopped accepting just anyone who wants to work with me as a client. That’s because I want my clients to succeed, and I’ve learned the hard way that it is not a wise idea to keep my doors open without filtering those who likely won’t make changes.  Even though it is hard to say no to someone who really, really wants to do neurofeedback, especially if they have come to me referred by a friend or colleague, I do my best to filter out people to improve the chances that my trainees all have positive outcomes. If I don’t say no, the outcome is likely not going to be good. 

So, what are the bad things that I avoid by filtering clients?

The worst—and most likely—thing is absolutely nothing. By that, I mean that I perceive a reason why nothing will change if you do brain training. It is so frustrating to work with someone whose brain does not shift, and it feels like a waste of time and money. If I think neurofeedback might not be the right solution for you, the only way I will work with you is if you are aware that I think it’s a gamble, and we move forward like it’s an experiment.

What this means is that when I schedule a consultation, it’s not a sales technique. It’s a time for you to come in, get to know me, see the equipment, and ask questions.

In addition, it’s a time for me to get an idea of whether we might be a good fit. Usually, based on our conversation, people realize for themselves when things seem like they won’t work well; it’s only rarely that I have to find a way to tell people that it isn’t a good idea.

If you wonder whether you are a good fit for neurofeedback, here are a few things that people who get good results have in common:

They’re ready to commit time to training. Neurofeedback is a bit like going to the gym. In my gym, you’re expected to work out twice a week (or more, if you’d like to train more intensively). People who get what they want out of neurofeedback with me commit to twice weekly training. 

They’re doing the other things they need to do. If you need to go to sleep an hour earlier than is your habit, then do it. If you need to see a psychotherapist, then do it.  If you need to see another type of caregiver, whether that’s a physician, a chiropractor, a massage therapist, an acupuncturist, a nutritionist, or a physical therapist, then do it. There is a nice synergy that occurs when a person brings together the team they need.  Or, if you have personal habits that need to shift, making that shift matters. If you can’t be bothered to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, for example, getting to bed on time will help you get better results from neurofeedback training.

They understand what neurofeedback can and cannot do. If you’re in a toxic relationship, or participate in too many extracurricular activities in school, or if you have some other part of your life that is way out of balance, neurofeedback may help you find your calm center so that you can address the hard things in your life with more courage and ease. However, neurofeedback is not a magic wand and cannot fix your crazy world. That part is up to you.

They tell me about their meds. I am not a doctor, and I make no recommendations about medications one way or another. But, neurofeedback is a gentle teaching tool for the brain, and it is no match for some medications.  Most common medications are just fine to combine with neurofeedback, but a few make doing neurofeedback a gamble at best, and a waste of time at worst.

They provide feedback. Neurofeedback is collaborative. My part involves operating basically as a coach or personal trainer. I set the conditions for training. Your part is for your brain to do the work. It is also important for you to provide feedback about how you feel and what you feel shifting. Without that, we’re flying blind.

Some people are not good self-reporters, and that is okay, as long as they have another person in their life who can observe what’s happening and provide feedback. Often, that’s a partner, friendly co-worker, parent, or teacher.

If you think you can do all these things, chances are you may be a good candidate for neurofeedback.

Self-Care for Busy People

Posted on by:
Stress Management Uncategorized No Comments

Come join me at the Grass Roots Fitness studio in Vienna on Sunday, January 27th, from 2-3 pm for my presentation on how to care for yourself when you’re overwhelmingly busy. It’s the first in the studio’s program Beyond Body Image—A Deeper Dive into Health and Fitness.  During this one-hour talk, we’ll debunk some of the myths about what self-care is and provide you with a framework for creating the habit of healthy self-care.

You’re welcome just to show up, but please help us with a head count by sending an RSVP to me at tsiminow@novalifeworks.com or Grass Roots Fitness owner Joann Meginley at Joann@grassrootsfitness.org.

When:  Sunday, January 27th, 2 pm

Where:  Grass Roots Fitness, 512 Maple Avenue West, Vienna, near the corner of Nutley and 123.

 

Brain Circuit Behind Seasonal Affective Disorder Found

Posted on by:
Brain Science No Comments

Neuroscientists from Brown University have found special light-sensing cells in the eyes that appear to be related to low mood and depression during the shorter days of winter, according to reporting from National Public Radio. This discovery, along with a similar study conducted in mice, suggests that light therapy is, indeed, an appropriate therapy for seasonal affective disorder. Read more about this fascinating discovery at NPR.

Why Teens and Young Adults Usually Like Neurofeedback

Posted on by:
Neurofeedback No Comments


The vast majority of teens and 20-somethings who have come to work with me to do neurofeedback training have enjoyed the experience, even when they’ve started out feeling skeptical or nervous. Here are a few of the reasons why:

Neurofeedback is not something done TO them. Sure, I set up the computer, make decisions about where and what to train, and attach and clean up the electrodes, but that to me is a little like setting up a Montessori environment—get the setting right, and the student will do the learning naturally.  

The teens know and understand that their body is doing the work of responding to feedback without coercion or force.  I am not doing anything to them. The computer is not doing anything to them. All that is happening is that pools of neurons in the brain get audio and visual rewards when they shift in a desired direction. Knowing your body is regulating itself, by itself, is pretty empowering.

My philosophy of neurofeedback is that people doing training are not broken people who need patched back together. Teens in Northern Virginia have enough stress in their lives without having to feel defective in some way, and I am told that they find it to be a relief to work with someone who gets that. 

It doesn’t matter to me in terms of providing training whether the person has a mental health diagnosis or deserves one if they don’t already have one. Neurofeedback is not treatment for diseases or disorders, and the Diagnostic Manual for Psychiatric Disorders (DSM-V) does not match up with the brain’s electrical patterns, making diagnoses an unreliable basis for brain training, anyhow.  What’s more important for training is to have a snapshot in time (called a Trainers’ qEEG) of the brain’s energy system.

When changes start to come, they feel good. Feeling calm again feels great, and it sets in motion a cascade of other things. A calmer person can perform better, sleep better, and feel happier than when they’re stressed and overwhelmed with the crazy things that life throws our teens and young adults these day. Who wouldn’t want to feel relaxed and calm?

Frankly, these benefits apply to everyone who comes for training. Who does not want to feel empowered, whole, and relaxed? But, I think it carries a special weight for young adults who are slowly growing in to having more autonomy over their bodies and their lives.

Neurofeedback is NOT Hard to Do

Posted on by:
Neurofeedback No Comments

Initial calls from people who are interested in brain training, especially mothers of potential trainees, often result in the question of whether neurofeedback is hard to do. The short answer to that is an emphatic no.

Perhaps because it is often compared to physical training of other parts of the body, it’s natural to come to the conclusion that doing brain training is going to take a lot of hard work to achieve. However, neurofeedback does not involve the mind, and it is not necessary to think hard to make neurofeedback work.

In fact, trying to analyze or think one’s way through a neurofeedback session often is counter-productive. It works best when an individual just relaxes and enjoys the session.

Actual training happens at a part of the body we normally think we cannot control, called the autonomic nervous system. The equipment measures and then rewards pools of neurons for responding to rewards that come in the form of tones, making a movie or film clip progress, or playing a video game.

The computer and the brain handle the tricky part, mostly without our conscious involvement. Sometimes, receiving coaching through a session is important, but even then, the training is not beyond a person’s capability.

For many here in Northern Virginia, the hardest part of training is the initial commitment to making the time to come for training.  Because of that, I keep convenient hours, including Saturday time, that help make that commitment a bit easier.  If you’re thinking about whether it’s time to make that pledge to yourself, give me a call, and we can sort it out together.

Prepare Your Student to Launch

Posted on by:
Stress Management No Comments

I already knew that many students struggle their freshman year of college, but until I read this recent article from the New York Times, I had no idea that a full 30 percent of all students in the US fail to return to school the next fall for their sophomore year.  The article lists many reasons why some students struggle so much that they leave school, notably that our students aren’t ready to face the freedoms of college by taking care of themselves and regulating their own sleep, study, and party habits.

As much as I appreciate this article, it seems not to emphasize that, especially here in Northern Virginia where there are enormous pressures to excel in school, we don’t stop to think about what sets our kids up for success BEFORE they leave home.  It’s so easy to presume that because they were accepted to college or are academically prepared for college, the next step after high school automatically should be going away to school.  But, just as our children didn’t all walk, talk, and learn to ride a bike at the same time, they don’t all hit those maturing into adulthood milestones at the same time, either.

If your student isn’t quite on track to launch into college, you probably know it or are worried about about it. So, what do you do about that niggling feeling?

One key solution is to ask yourself what your student really needs rather than going along with societal pressure to pretend everything is fine or just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.  Here are a few answers to that question of how to help your unprepared student:

  • Gap Time. For some, a break from school to explore an interest, work, travel, or do volunteer work is an excellent option, especially for the teen who just needs more time to mature enough to see the benefit of college. It’s scary for parents, who may worry that one year off may result in every year off, but that time may give your student exactly what he needs.
  • Community College. For some, a semester or two of community college, even part-time if that’s appropriate, can give time to develop the independence they need to leave home. Check with the university your student wants to attend to be certain, but many schools will still consider an applicant a freshman (and therefore eligible for freshman scholarships/financial aid) if she has fewer than 30 community college credit hours.  Or, if your student ends up wanting to stay in community college longer, there is a two-year guaranteed acceptance program in Virginia that promises acceptance to the school of your choice as long as the applicant meets GPA requirements. In addition to students who have taken a year before going away to a four-year school, I’ve known people who’ve transferred to William & Mary and UVA using guaranteed acceptance.  This is definitely not a “lesser” option for students who just aren’t quite ready to leave home.
  • Neurofeedback. You may not have heard of it before, but brain training using neurofeedback is appropriate for high schoolers who need to build resilience in the face of tension, stress, and overwhelm BEFORE going away. Because it takes about five or six months to complete neurofeedback training, the ideal time to get started is a minimum of six months before heading off to school, and preferably well before that.
  • Mental health care. It can be hard to know where the line lies between normal stress and anxiety and anxiety as a mental health issue. If you have concerns that your teen might be suffering from an anxiety disorder (or depression), talk with your doctor or another professional.

Give me a call if you would like to explore whether and how neurofeedback might help your student who is either not quite ready to launch or has come home and is not prepared to go back next semester.

 

 

 

 

 

One Family’s Neurofeedback Journey

Posted on by:
Neurofeedback No Comments

It’s not often that I run across blog posts that I want to share with my own community, but advocate Carey Sipp has chronicled the journey of an amazing military family who have used neurofeedback to transform their lives.  It’s lovely that they have chosen not to be anonymous and to share their story with the entire country.  I hope you will benefit, too.  Check out the story on Carey’s blog here and published in ACEs Connection here.

Understanding True Self-Care

Posted on by:
Stress Management No Comments

Articles about self-care are all the rage these days—a Google search on the term results in 1.8 billion hits. Yet many of these articles are shallow click-bait that fail to point out that true self-care is a matter of treating yourself like you matter and living in congruence with the values that matter to you. So, I’d like to address a few of the misconceptions about self-care.

Self-Care is Not Self Indulgence. There’s nothing wrong with having dessert or taking a bubble bath, but these things alone do not constitute self-care.  Similarly, what we jokingly refer to as retail therapy may feel good, but it is not true self-care, either. Treat yourself from time-to-time, but don’t think that that’s all there is to being good to yourself.

Self-Care is not Self-Numbing.  Deciding that you’ve had a hard day and deserve to eat half a pan of brownies or drink half a bottle of wine may help you stuff all the emotions of the day, but keeping yourself from experiencing hard feelings and letting them pass is not a healthy long-term approach to taking care of yourself.

Self-Care is Not Self Abuse. This one sounds like it should be obvious, abuse does not equal love, but it’s amazing how many people I know who think that driving themselves as if they’re in boot camp for every aspect of their life is not self-care.   There is a balance between having goals and flogging yourself.

Self-care is not a synonym for self-improvement or perfectionism.  Life is more than one long exercise in fixing all your inadequacies and flaws.  It’s one thing to have goals and want to change things or learn something new, but thinking that you must do this to be good enough is playing with low self-esteem, not self-care.

Does this confuse you now about what true self-care looks like?  True self-care isn’t hard.  I can teach you how to build a lifestyle around self-care if you want to call and set an appointment. But, one good model for putting yourself on the path to true self-care is thinking about and copying the way a loving mother or father cares for a toddler.  A good parent, most of the time (remember, perfectionism also is NOT self care):

  • Sets bedtime and nap routines, because sleep is important. She also makes sure the toddler has down time just to play and be.
  • Makes sure the toddler gets fresh air, walks, and ample time to play at the park. Moms know that play and being in nature are vital for healthy kids.
  • Provides a healthy diet. Processed foods are only an occasional a treat for a toddler. Their healthy diet consists of whole, fresh food (yeah, sometimes to toddler protests, but mom persists!).
  • Watches to ensure life is lived in moderation. Parents limit things like screen time.
  • Teaches good social habits. Moms make sure values like sharing, manners, and kindness are learned and lived. Moms may also, depending upon their beliefs and values, teach spiritual and religious habits.
  • Demonstrates love and affection. A loved toddler gets kisses, hugs, and snuggles. There is no doubt in that child’s mind that her parents love her.

Can you imagine what life would be like if each of us treated ourselves as a loving parent would treat us? Can you imagine having boundaries that are firm, routines that can sometimes be bent (it’s a great day—let’s skip the chores and go for a walk!), values that are lived and not just thought, and habits that enrich our bodies, minds, and spirits? If it interests you, try playing the game of imagining yourself as your own best parent, and see what unfolds.

 

 

 

Depression Sub-Types Found

Posted on by:
Brain Science No Comments

Most of us, just based on watching the people around us, have an intuitive sense that the word depression may be an umbrella term for something big that encompasses more than one thing.  Recently, Japanese researchers have found clues that point to three sub-types of depression, according to research published in Scientific Reports and summarized in Neuroscience News.  Using MRI technology and data from 134 individuals, researchers determined that individuals with depression and a history of trauma, and those without a history of trauma but increased connectivity among some of 78 different regions of the brain that were studied, formed the three sub-types. The research appears to have been geared toward determining who may and may not respond to SSRIs.

You can find the Neuroscience News summary here and the study itself here.

101 Ways to Reduce Your Stress

Posted on by:
Stress Management No Comments

Those who know me know that I advocate ongoing self-care so that stressful situations are easier to manage when they arise. However, sometimes, life happens, and people need ways of reducing and managing when things aren’t going well. The following are all options to consider trying when life gets overwhelming.  If you don’t like these, also try making your own Emergency Stress Reduction list.

  1. Neurofeedback (you knew that would be first!)
  2. Meditation or centering prayer
  3. Grounding (bare feet on sand, soil, or grass)
  4. Establishing a regular prayer/meditation practice
  5. Go for a walk
  6. Seek counseling
  7. Exercise vigorously
  8. Seek spiritual direction
  9. Have coffee with a friend
  10. Walk a labyrinth
  11. Play hooky from work
  12. Go to a movie with a friend
  13. Have a small amount of comfort food
  14. Watch a comedy show
  15. Go to an outdoor concert
  16. Explore the root causes (for example, do you really hate your job, or is it just the commute?)
  17. Make a gratitude list
  18. Pledge to eat six servings of fruit/veggies a day for a week
  19. Let go of one of your commitments
  20. Challenge yourself to try something new
  21. Have a good cry
  22. Go on a retreat
  23. Hire help
  24. Take a 3-day vacation
  25. Get a new job
  26. Buy a plant for your home or garden
  27. Give someone flowers
  28. Attend a worship service
  29. Tell a joke or ask someone to tell you a joke
  30. Attend a worship service far outside your faith tradition
  31. Clean out your junk drawer
  32. Start keeping a dream journal
  33. Organize your tools
  34. Try keeping a diary/regular journal
  35. Donate time to a charity
  36. Buy a coloring book of mandalas and some pencils/markers
  37. Stop wearing shoes that hurt your feet
  38. Read a self-help book
  39. Get a massage
  40. Read the biography of someone who inspires you
  41. Go for acupuncture
  42. Next time you shop for clothing, choose something colorful
  43. Get a physical
  44. Have a picnic, even if it’s only in your basement
  45. See a chiropractor
  46. Spend time in a park
  47. Buy fun eyeglasses or sunglasses
  48. Admit defeat (or declare victory), and move on
  49. Leave the abusive situation NOW
  50. Fast for a day
  51. Stop drinking soda or alcohol
  52. Find or buy a worry stone, and carry it in your pocket
  53. Make or buy prayer beads or a rosary, then use them
  54. Make a meal for someone
  55. Make a healthy dessert and take it to work
  56. Send a greeting card to someone for no reason
  57. Buy yourself flowers once a week for a month
  58. Give time or money to a social justice cause
  59. Consult a financial advisor
  60. Go finish that degree
  61. Go on a spending fast
  62. Fix something broken in your home
  63. Stop the diet
  64. Take that friend’s annoying advice and follow it
  65. Change your dietary habits
  66. Go to a beach, shoreline, or river bank
  67. Adopt a grandparent
  68. Join a gym
  69. Quit the gym
  70. Try a new sport
  71. Check with your pharmacist, especially if you take may meds
  72. Go to a museum
  73. Hire a babysitter or mother’s helper
  74. Spend time with a child
  75. Take a break from the kids
  76. Go for a Reiki or other energy healing session
  77. Take a break from social media
  78. Try a binaural beats app
  79. Give up the newspaper, or conversely, subscribe to home delivery
  80. Stop reading the news
  81. Make a summer reading list
  82. Subscribe to a “not typically your thing” magazine or newsletter
  83. Join a book club
  84. Adopt a pet (but be committed for life if you do this)
  85. Purge your books
  86. Turn off the television
  87. Face the music (to whatever you’re avoiding or procrastinating on)
  88. Sit outside 15 minutes a day for two weeks
  89. Make art
  90. Listen to music every day for two weeks
  91. Visit a botanical garden
  92. Decide to forgive yourself
  93. Go organic
  94. Go on a spontaneous road trip
  95. Do something for the environment
  96. Study or learn about your ancestry
  97. Call/reach out to an old friend
  98. Join a group
  99. Drop a group
  100. Go to sleep
  101. Take a nap

And, #102, call me to find out whether I can be of assistance in reducing your body’s stress reaction.

 

Neurofeedback for Schizophrenia

Posted on by:
Neurofeedback No Comments

Many people, including some professional practitioners, think of neurofeedback only as something to be used for ADHD. This may be because the most research has been done on ADHD, or it could simply be that other studies are less well-known and smaller in scope. The literature on schizophrenia is among that not as well known.

In 2010, a study was done that showed progress on schizophrenia symptoms among 70 individuals included in the study. It’s a small number of participants, but the progress was statistically significant. Then, in 2017, a single-person case study was done on a middle-aged woman with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Her symptoms improved, too. You can read the full study, conducted by researchers at the Universities of Macao, Shanghai, and Lisbon and published in the journal Behavioral Neurology here.

Because the abstract is fairly straightforward, I have included it for those who don’t want to read the full study:  “Schizophrenia is a chronic and devastating brain disorder with ongoing cognitive, behavioral, and emotional deteriorated functions. Neurofeedback training, which enables the individuals to regulate their brain activity using a real-time feedback loop, is increasingly investigated as a potential alternative intervention for schizophrenia. This study aimed to explore the effect of short but intensive neurofeedback training for schizophrenic patients with difficulty for long-time training. A middle-aged woman with chronic schizophrenia completed the intensive training of alpha/beta2 (20–30 Hz) in four consecutive days with a total training duration of 13.5 hours. The results showed that her alpha/beta2 increased over sessions, and her behavior performance including short-term memory, mood, and speech pattern was improved at the end of neurofeedback training. Importantly, a 22-month follow-up found a dramatic improvement in both positive and negative symptoms. These positive outcomes suggest that such intensive neurofeedback training may provide new insight into the treatment of schizophrenia and thus deserves further study to fully examine its scope.”

Neurofeedback is not a cure-all, but it is, indeed, a powerful tool.

Want to See, Touch, or Hold a Brain?

Posted on by:
Brain Science No Comments

If you’re like me and find brains fascinating, here are a few places to see, touch, or even hold a brain.

India’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences maintains a brain museum and brain bank.  A fascinating article on the Atlas Obscura website notes that visitors can view preserved specimens of brains and learn about their diseases and damage. For years, only medical professionals and students were allowed to see the many specimens, but in 2010, the museum was opened to the public, and the many thousands of visitors are encouraged to touch and hold actual brains that have recently been dipped in a liquid preservative.  You can read the article and see some fascinating images at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nimhans-brain-museum

Although India’s museum is far superior, there are also museums closer to home that you can visit. The National Museum of Health and Museum (NMHM), once also called the Walter Reed Army Medical Museum, is located in Silver Spring, MD. It is a small museum, but it does have a display of brains and spinal cords. Of particular interest is that they usually have plasticized body parts on display, so you can touch and hold a human brain that has been preserved with plastic. Because of the plastic, its texture will not be as realistic as those of the brains that you can hold in India, but it is still an interesting experience. Their website is here:  http://www.medicalmuseum.mil/ My family found that it took under an hour to see the whole museum.

A larger brain exhibit is a bit farther away at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. The Mütter has slices of preserved brains, including several from Albert Einstein’s brain. The entire museum is quirky and engaging all at once. If you go, be sure to check out the wet specimens collection.  Muttermuseum.org

If you’d rather see a brain online than in person, check out this short excerpt from Jill Bolte Taylor’s famous Ted Talk.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbhwbzuK6OQ  Or, to get a better sense of what a human brain really looks like before hardened with preservatives, check out this video from the University of Utah’s neuroscience initiative. I hope you’ll look, because despite the medical terminology the doctor uses, it is impressive to see just how soft the brain really is. Be forewarned, though, that this is real (think watching a surgery), so only go there if seeing a human organ doesn’t bother you.  https://www.sciencealert.com/what-human-brain-really-looks-like-video-incredible