Did you ever see a clown throw a pie in another clown’s face, and have a strong urge to get a pie and throw it in another clowns face?
Did you ever see a clown squirt seltzer down another clown’s pants and wich you had so seltzer so you could squirt in a clown’s pants?
If so, it’s the fault of your mirror neurons!
When a clown, or monkey, sees another being do something, like squirt seltzer down pants, the mirror neuron in that clown’s brain fires in the same way that it fires when it does that act! (Don’t ask how they know this!).
FlowingLove admits that neuroscientists are still learning about these mirror neurons, but suggests they may play an important role in empathy and may be related to mindsight (and Micko adds, lovesight).
FlowingLove says this only happens when there is an intentional act that the perceiver understands, not, for instance, a wave of a hand, the mirror neurons figure out the intention before that act is done!
Furthermore, mirror neurons seem to resonate with the feelings involved! This is called “emotional contagion”, like when the emotions and internal states of others directly affect our own state of mind.
When Micko wrote his big paper at Clown College on Upward spirals of positive well-being Micko talked about several spiral dynamics, one of which was emotional contagion.
FlowingLove believes that mirror neurons are part of the process of us feeling like “we” and not just “me”.
LoveBlossoms (Barbara Fredrickson) also talks about mirror neurons, relating them to micro-moments of Love, which she describes as a single act performed by two brains.
LoveBlossoms also relates this to how our habitual focus on “me” expands to a more generous focus on “we”.