The brain takes in massive amounts of information every second through our senses. The exact amount seems to be an object of debate to the scientific community. If you search around a "bit" you will find numbers ranging anywhere from 2 million to 400 million bits of information per seconds. What is a bit? Well the exact "amount" that a bit represents is not important for our discussion, nor is the specific amount of information that the body/mind processes per second. Suffice it to say that our brain handles a MASSIVE amount of information every second... mostly through our visual system. We take in, process, react/act upon, store and communicate as much of that information as possible. We're actually pretty good at it too... That being said, there is WAY too much for us to deal with and store it all... our head would explode... well, not literally but we would lose our cognitive abilities due to "clogging" effects.
This is important to know because in order to effectively interact with and communicate in the world, every second our brains will determine what information is useful and necessary, process and store it and eject the rest. Now lets all agree on one thing, our brains are amazing... You may think that yours fails you here and there, but as an organ, it is second to none. That being said, there are some inherent challenges with our selection, processing and storing regiment that can cause us difficulty in our daily endeavors. In the days to come we are going to talk about what our brain is REALLY working to do on a daily basis, how it does that and then get into the specifics of how these processes show up in our language. By understanding the science and psychology behind this, you will be well on your way to becoming an effective communicator.
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