Entrainment
When we think about the things we do every day, we think about the actions we do. Like eat food, brush our teeth, go to the bathroom, go to sleep, exercise, sit on the couch, etc.
When we think about these daily things, we rarely think about it from the perspective of what’s being done to us. We are continually on the receiving end of things being done to us. We are surrounded by air, we have sunshine hit our skin. We are spoken to, we have animals look upon us. We have electricity in our field. We have media broadcast. We are entrained.
Of all the things I mentioned above, you can clearly visualize and explain the acts. For the most part you can explain the effects on you. How’s your ability at explaining your personal experience with entrainment? Have you tried to explain this? Does it matter to you?
If you live within mainstream society, if you watch tv or consume some form of media, you’re continually being entrained. If you engage on social media and browse online, you’re being entrained. From overt instances like advertisements and commercial messaging, to more subtle effects as design, inclusion, omission, and intended bias, there are rhythms created and maintained.
What is this process like for you? What are the effects you sense? For instance, when having the sunshine hit your skin, there’s a feeling of warmth. In many instances it feels good. Occasionally it can feel harmful if too hot or too long. There’s a synthesis going on in your body as you process Vitamin D. There’s an aspect of that experience to which you don’t see or have sensory awareness of as it’s happening? Yet it happens.
Can you dissect your entrainment in such a way? There’s no Vitamin D being produced. There are neurological effects, like increased levels of serotonin or dopamine. What feelings come along with excessive entrainment? Are we ever fully capable of dissecting the factors contibuting to feeling anxious, depressed, stressed, overwhelmed or apathetic. How do we determine if these things are related to our entrainment?
