Gyri & Sulci

The hills and valleys that are a part of our cerebrum are referred to as the gyri (hills) and sulci (valleys) of the surface of large expansive outer layer commonly called the cortex.  It is responsible for the majority of our higher level thinking and reasoning skills.  The amount of folding (the gyri and sulci) are thought to be related to how much higher level thinking ability a species has.  Humans have an extensive degree of folding.  When you look at mice and rat brains, the cortex is relatively smooth, indicating less higher level thinking ability.  Paradoxically, both elephants and dolphis have MORE relative folding of their cortex than we do as humans suggesting that they may have even greater higher level thinking ability that we humans have.  This part of the lore associated with classic films like "The Day of the Dolphin" as well as others. 

Well, I am in a bit of a melancholy state today.  I think I am staying too long in the hills and valleys of my mind and getting into a kind of funk that I do not want to immerse myself into.   It was about 4 years ago that I first began to realize that it was easy for me to begin ruminating about crap too much and that my ruminations about lost time and missed opportunities and death and the loss of loved ones..... DO ME NO GOOD.  I am sorry to say that the time spent in the hospital on Monday with my wife, and the day in bed on Tuesday (with my thrown out back) gave me time to ruminate again and I have been feeling rather listless and emotionally sad since then.  Yesterday (Thursday) was somewhat better, for I had a nice morning and early afternoon with my wife, but the sadness and ruminations made their presence known as well yesterday. 

Because this meloncholy mindset caught me a bit off guard, I wasn't preparing myself to keep it at bay and now that I realize it for what it is, I have to summon up the courage and energy to fight back against it.  I will fight back to get back to the state of contentment and general happiness I had prior.  It will be a bit of hard work, but I have done it before and had kept the sad feelings away.  I will try to put most of my energies into that again today. 

If I can get some of the mood to dissipate, I will also probably head over to my elderly in-laws home to have some pipes and libations with my father-in-law. 

PipeTobacco