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Where I Try to Make Your Brain Tickle! The ten-minute Newsletter that will change your life. IF THINKING FEELS HARD, YOU CAN FIX IT When things are too hard to think about we would rather not do it. Usually, we will engage in cognitively soothing activities. To increase intelligence and reduce emotional-based choices (cognitively soothing choices ARE emotional choices) we need to practice hard (tough) thinking. Critical thinkers can manage difficult thoughts. That’s the CRUX. When do our synapses fire up and work at their best? In terms of neuroscience and cognitive functioning, our brains tickle when: Encountering novelty → The brain is wired to detect new patterns and process unfamiliar information. Cognitive dissonance & discomfort → When we hear an idea that challenges what we believe, the brain’s conflict detector—fires up. This tension feels uncomfortable, but working through it helps the brain form new connections. Making associations → The brain thrives on pattern recognition—when two unrelated ideas connect, the brain’s reward system releases dopamine, giving us a sense of satisfaction and motivation to keep thinking creatively. Emotionally charged learning → When an idea is tied to emotion—especially surprise, curiosity, or fear—the brain strengthens its neural pathways, making the memory last longer. These feeling-associated memories are responsible for our biases or critical thought blockers. We automatically avoid these types of feelings.
Reflection exercise: "When was the last time your brain tickled?" When it does, these are your synaptic moments. WHY SOME PEOPLE STRUGGLE WITH HARD IDEAS Think of a friend or family member or someone you know who seems to have a particularly and consistently psychologically hard time in life. You may have noticed: They are highly emotional. Their feelings often take over their thinking, and they blurt out things based on subjective feelings in the moment. They avoid cognitively difficult ideas. Engaging in deep reflection or problem-solving feels overwhelming. They avoid it like the plague. Their unresolved history gets in the way. Past hardships keep interfering with their present—whether through triggered thoughts or by continuously engaging with unhealthy people and patterns that keep the cycle going. They reject discomfort. Instead of working through difficult emotions, they push them away. They prefer comfort over challenge. They seek familiar situations and avoid intellectually demanding spaces, like choosing soothing movies that feel good or spaces that make them feel very comfortable, rather than engaging with more complex ideas or people who challenge their thoughts. They also may get offended easily as they react to their feelings as opposed to taking the time to think about what was actually meant.
But we all do this sometimes!After a mentally exhausting day, we choose easy experiences—a light-hearted movie, hanging out with a fun and easy-going friend, or a modern-day one that delivers its own serious cognitive threat… mindless scrolling. Some people, particularly those overwhelmed by unresolved personal history, may take it further—drinking too much, avoiding responsibility, or engaging in destructive habits to escape the discomfort of constant mental strain. This has a wider social and psychological impact and can affect family, friends, and general life. This behaviour is often seen in high-cognitive-load professions, such as medicine and law, where the mental demands of the job make escapism more tempting, especially for the unwise and inexperienced. Over time, these patterns affect both mental and physical health—because everything is connected.
As you can see, the biological, psychological, and social aspects of
life are interconnected. One thing for you to try this week🔹 Step 1: Identify a problem in your social world. Think of one issue that’s currently affecting you.
🔹 Step 2: Consider biological factors that might be influencing the situation. These are physical, bodily, anatomical, or neurological aspects—maybe they play a role, maybe they don’t but take a moment to reflect.
🔹 Step 3: Ask yourself how this social issue is impacting your psychological state—or how your psychological state might be impacting the issue. A reminder🛑 If these exercises bring up psychological distress or trauma, you may not be ready to work through them alone. Seek professional therapeutic help. ⚡ Key tip: A good therapist will use evidence-based practices, meaning they will prioritise building a strong TA with you—this is the foundation for any successful therapeutic intervention. If you don’t have a strong TA, progress will be difficult and slow. If the TA is weak, do not continue. Your cognitive revolution starts with youOver time, as you begin to face off with difficult thoughts over and over again to try and understand them, they become less threatening. The trick: you have to be honest about why they exist and how they are impacting the way you interact with people and the world. For example, logically, people who are in healthy familial relationships may be pro-family. Logically also, those who had unhealthy family relationships and had to rely on others as “a family” may be less likely to think of the nuclear family as important. Critical thinking means you will tell yourself these types of truths. How you feel internally will dictate how you behave externally. Critical thinking insightNo sugar-coating it—if something is weighing on you, deal with it. Join the Thought Revolutions section!Starting next week, I’ll be featuring personal stories
section in this newsletter called Thought Revolutions. ✅ Want to be included? Just reply to this email and let me know! I will not use your name or the content of your email unless you specify that you’d like to be considered. Why this matters for critical thinking When we know others will read our words, we naturally become more careful and intentional. This is how we hold ourselves objectively accountable—by stepping into spaces where our ideas can be evaluated. Placing ourselves in positions of judgment is the only way to realistically and radically view ourselves objectively. The more you hide from the world the less you are judged. We need a certain level of judgement. We also build intellectual empathy by listening to the stories of others.
How critical thinking is blocked using Maslow’s hierarchy of needsHere is a visual from Abraham Maslow, a psychologist best known for
developing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a theory that explains
human motivation, from basic survival to self-actualisation. Self-actualisation is the highest stage, where a person reaches their full potential by engaging in deep thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and intellectual/cognitive growth. It’s the state where individuals pursue meaning, truth, and self-improvement, free from external pressures or unmet basic needs. It is seminal and has lasted through time. Take a close look:
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