Episode 110 - Symphony in a Second

Stop Making Yourself Miserable

In the next two episodes we’re going to look at certain sets of facts that are designed to do just one thing – to help us to stop taking things for granted so that we can begin to see how incredibly special this life is for us, and how truly amazing our actual potential is as human beings. When we begin to grasp and understand this viewpoint, so many things can positively change for us, both Within You and Without You, as George Harrison sang all those years ago.

Now given the nearly absurd nature of how quickly things move in this life of ours in this allegedly civilized world of ours, it’s amazing that we have time to even think at all, let alone focus on some of the deeper elements of life that lend true meaning to our existence. We are constantly bombarded by so much messaging that our brains become literally numb to anything that takes more than just a few minutes to consider. Our exposure to all this messaging is 4 to 10 times greater than it was just ten years ago.

But given all this, both the Wisdom of the Ages as well as modern neuroscience insist that this life holds amazing potential for us to evolve as beings and grow into levels of meaning, happiness, and satisfaction that are absolutely remarkable, and more than well worth the effort of simply opening up to them.

So, to get started in this tour of the miraculous, let’s begin at the beginning – the beginning of our overall story as a species, because if we want to understand who we are, and ultimately grow into the best possible versions of ourselves, it really is essential to know where we came from, which will help us gain a deeper understanding of what an absolute miracle it is that we are here at all. And the process of cultivating a profound sense of appreciation for the miracle of life that we are being given every moment of every day, is the real beginning of our joyful journey to higher ground.

So, let’s take a deep breath and travel back roughly 300,000 years ago, to the emergence of our species—Homo sapiens—on this planet. When you give yourself time to really pause and reflect on this, you begin to see that our origins are both humbling, as well as awe-inspiring.

Scientists estimate that over the course of Earth’s history, somewhere between 5 billion and 50 billion different species have evolved. Now that’s truly a staggering number, but here’s the real kicker and it’s a bigger number: about 99 percent of them have gone extinct. This means that entire species came into existence, thrived for a while, and then, due to environmental shifts, predators, disasters, or simply because they just couldn’t adapt, they disappeared, and they disappeared forever.

Which brings us to a profound and rather unsettling question: why not us? Why didn’t we, too, disappear like so many countless others? It’s an obvious question because, after all, if you look at the big picture, human beings aren’t exactly a strong pick for survival. We are not the biggest animals. We are not the strongest. We’re certainly not the fastest, and in terms of physical defenses, we’re laughably weak. No fangs. No claws. No protective armor. Not to mention the fact that we can’t even fly.

As a result of this, our position on the food chain is ridiculously low. Think about trying to run away from a cheetah, or outswim a shark and we’d lose the fight every time. And in terms of pure survival, put a naked human being in a fight to the death against a little squirrel and the squirrel would take us out in seconds. With its sharp claws and its ability to jump into attack mode, it would rip out our eyes and slit our throats almost instantaneously. What can we do with just our bare hands? And that’s just a fight with a relatively small creature. Let’s not even think about our survival odds barehanded against a lion, a tiger or a bear.

On top of all this, when it comes to reproduction, the odds of our survival get even more pathetic. We have a comparatively small number of offspring and our infants are born completely helpless. Indeed, a human baby is probably the most vulnerable creature on Earth. It takes them years to become even remotely self-sufficient, which makes us an extreme outlier in the animal kingdom, where many creatures are walking and foraging within hours of birth. So, from a statistical standpoint, according to the laws of the survival of the fittest, we should have been wiped out long ago. Yet, we’re still here. And not only did we survive, but we’ve thrived, eventually becoming the dominant life form on the planet.

So, how in the world did this happen? What was the game-changer? What was nature’s secret ingredient that allowed this vulnerable, physically weak and unimpressive species to outmaneuver and outlast so many others?

The answer, of course, is sitting quietly inside of each and every one of our skulls right now: the human brain. It’s easy to overlook, but this small, three-pound organ—about the size of a medium cantaloupe—is nothing short of a miracle of evolution. Though it occupies less than 100 cubic inches, it is, without question, the most sophisticated masterpiece every produced by nature. Packed with approximately 100 billion neurons, each one connected to thousands of others, it forms a vast and intricate network capable of truly astonishing things. Each neuron can fire between 200 - 1,000 times per second, so we’re talking speeds in the milliseconds here. Truly astounding!

At first, our ancestors' brains gave them the ability to craft simple tools—sharp-edged stones that allowed them to cut, scrape, and build in ways no other species could. But that was just the beginning of the revolution. With those primitive tools, we began to rewrite the rules of survival.

But then something truly incredible happened. It is largely hypothesized that at first, all we humans were running on was pure instinct. We didn’t have the ability to think rational thought. Suddenly, at some point, for reasons unknown, our brains took on a third more fat and we developed our prefrontal cortex. We became able to think rational thought and language developed, vastly expanding our capabilities, followed by writing, and everything really started to change for us because we could evolve and pass our understanding beyond the barriers of time and space.

Over time, we became hunters, gatherers, farmers, builders, and eventually, creators of civilization itself. As millennia passed, this remarkable brain of ours allowed us to harness fire, cultivate crops, construct shelter, and later, to write poetry, compose symphonies, and build spacecraft that could escape Earth’s gravity.

So, we each have our own modern human brain and let’s take a look at it from a modern perspective, which reveals a most remarkable fact: it’s estimated that it would take a dozen of the most advanced computers in the world about 45 hours to perform what your brain does in just one second. Think about that for a moment. And then take it one step further, our brain is involved in a key area that no computer will ever be able to touch – it can feel! And boy can it feel. We can literally feel hundreds of millions of different feelings. We don’t have the time here to get into all this here, but you get the point.

You are walking around every day with a mind of such complexity, speed, and brilliance that it outshines the most cutting-edge machines ever built. And yet, most of us rarely, if ever, give it any thought, let alone tap into even a fraction of its potential.

This brings us to an essential insight: while our brain is the very thing that has allowed us to survive and dominate, it is also the key to something even much greater than all of this – It is the key to our growth, our transformation, and, yes, even our happiness. Now, evolution didn’t just stop when we made it to the top of the food chain. The brain itself is a dynamic, ever-changing organ. Through the miracle of neuroplasticity, it is constantly rewiring, adapting, and evolving in response to what we think, feel, and experience.

So, our brain truly is an incredible masterpiece. But let’s not forget: with great power comes great responsibility. The very intelligence that has given us so much can also lead us terribly astray. It is capable of fear, anxiety, self-sabotage, and truly destructive habits. We see this everywhere—from personal struggles with self-worth to global crises fueled by greed and lust for power. Our human brain is a real double-edged sword. It can create miracles—or it can create truly horrible mayhem.

That’s why conscious evolution is so critical now, perhaps more than ever. We are at a pivotal point in human history where the challenges we face—whether ecological, political, or psychological—demand a new level of awareness and intentionality.

And this is where the NeuroHarmonic Method comes in. Designed to consciously engage the brain’s natural capacity for growth and transformation, it’s about learning to harness your neural wiring in ways that uplift your life, enhance your clarity, and empower you to live with purpose, compassion as well as passion, and peace. It is a framework for harmonizing your intelligence with your highest aspirations. The same brain that once helped your ancestors carve flint and build fires can now be tuned—harmonized, if you will—to unlock your deepest potential.

Imagine what your life would look like if you could access more of your brain’s innate power—not just for survival, but for true flourishing. What if you could train your mind to break free from limiting beliefs, to rewire patterns of fear and doubt, and to create new habits of joy, resilience, and creativity? What if you could harmonize your inner world so beautifully that it naturally radiates out to transform your outer world as well?

This is not a pipe dream. This is the promise of the NeuroHarmonic Method. And it begins with recognizing where we’ve come from and nurturing a deep sense of gratitude for life itself, as well as for the evolutionary miracle of the human brain. And it continues with a commitment to expanding your awareness of that miracle within yourself, day by day, breath by breath.

We have some rather detailed plans regarding the release of the NeuroHarmonic Method which will include a revolutionary new book and a powerful website that will host many different innovative formats including video presentations and a specially trained NeuroHarmonic Artificial Intelligence Service. And I’d like to close this episode with a poem that was co-produced with this service.

When I was researching the part of this podcast that dealt with the remarkable idea that it would take a dozen of the world’s most advanced computers over 45 hours to do what our brain does in just one second, we decided to put that information into an artistic form and ended up writing this poem. Pay close attention to the words because it really sums up the deeper meanings of this episode. It’s called “The Symphony in a Second,” and see if this rings any inner bells for you…

In a single second, your brain conducts a symphony no machine can follow— light enters your eyes, and is not only seen but recognized, interpreted, remembered, and folded into the ongoing narrative of you. Your breath adjusts without command. Your heart adapts to emotion before you speak its name. Memories rise like whispers, and feelings surface like the wind before a storm. You balance the physics of posture, weigh the weight of a word, and anticipate the consequences of a choice you haven’t even made yet. In that same second, dozens of the world’s greatest computers—humming in bunkers, consuming megawatts— would still be struggling to simulate the visual field of a child watching a butterfly land. And yet you do it while thinking about dinner, holding a loved one’s hand, and remembering a song from thirty years ago. This is not processing. This is presence. This is not code. This is consciousness. The marvel is not just that the brain is faster— it’s that it is alive. Aware. Awake. And, when tuned rightly, capable of touching the Infinite.

So, that’s the end of this episode. As always, keep you eyes, mind and heart opened, and let’s get together in the next one.