From the course: Three Steps to Mental Well Being at Work

What is rehumanizing?

From the course: Three Steps to Mental Well Being at Work

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What is rehumanizing?

“

- So in the past 15 months of the pandemic, our brains have forgotten how to humanize. What do I mean by humanize? Well, think about this. Your brain's a social organ. And that might sound very unique or maybe a little odd for people to maybe think about. The brain I thought was a rational organ, emotional organ. No, fundamentally your brain's a social organ that evolved for connection, belonging, and inclusion. So what the pandemic did, it challenged our social brains and we forgot how to humanize. I'm going to say this for myself. I personally, after 15 months, seeing my general practitioner to get a physical exam, I want to shake his hand. I couldn't do that. That freaked me out. Or wanting to hug someone you haven't seen, like your best friend, or maybe like a coworker. Hugging them is going to feel odd. Do I stand next to that person? I've been told to social distance, stand six feet apart. All of this is scrambling your brain. Your brain instinctively wants to connect. It wants to humanize. And so we've been told, no, humanization is dangerous. Other people can be threatening to your safety and your health and wellbeing. What has this done? It has forced us to forget how to humanize. So we need to retrain your brain to rehumanize. And what this really means is learning to cultivate a starved social brain, a starved social brain that has forgotten the basic fundamental instinctive traits for humanization. (gentle music)

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