.3 Icons and Rituals of the Brain

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Another thing that people suggest is the real importance of icons and symbols. Peripheral events in a learning environment are important; brain research is now suggesting that some of these things we sometimes laugh at (i.e. inspirational posters on the wall) have a good effect on the brain. The brain really likes to have inspirational posters, and other kinds of icons around.

Then there is something called reactive responses, which is also known as a survival response, or simply as a "hot button." Hot buttons are topics or behaviors that make us respond in a knee jerk way, something that teachers need to learn to control in themselves, but also something that they need to teach other people to control. These survival behaviors of the brain dominate and influence us in more ways than we think.

Brain research also suggests that all of our emotions need opportunities for expression. If you bottle them up, then you are shutting your brain down. Another way that the brain expresses itself is by following its privately developed rituals. For example, your daily routine is a ritual that your brain exercises because it has to. When you break your routine, you limit your brain's expression that shuts it down a bit. We all tend to put on one shoe before the other, and we all tend to dress in a specific order. Some people but their pants on first, while others put their shirts on first. These rituals turn out to be important parts of the way the brain function.

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