Update!

oh my, i feel like i've been neglecting this journal :*( i have been so busy! but i have been reading and i am still absolutely loving this book. i am sad that i'm almost done. i feel like i could read another 200 pages!

Chapter 6 (Emotion: the Feeling Brain) may have been the most helpful to me yet. i got really into understanding the different ways women and men interpret emotional behavior, and i have to say, it has cleared a lot up for me. i've been having a particular problem with one of my boys (more about that in class!) and i found myself reverting back to what i read in this chapter to help navigate the sticky situations i've found myself in recently. The thing about gut feeling has really made me stop and try to analyze the situation accurately. i have been trying to push out the "girl responses" that i seem prone to: going over conversations and trying to figure them out, create scenarios in my head to maneuver through, what it means when i talk to him a lot, and what it means when i have been away from him a lot...mostly just my usual crazy ;) i have instead been trying to step back and think, "no, this is just how my brain is trying to interpret the situation. i need to think about the way the boy brain works before i analyze what's going on." i don't know if it's working, but at least i feel like i'm making an effort to retain my sanity.

i really liked the quote on p. 126 where Brizendine says, "If she doesn't get the expected response, she will persist until she begins to conclude that she's done something wrong or that the person doesn't like or love her anymore." Thank you Louann Brizendine for summing up every relationship i've been a part of for the last 23 years. so with that quote in mind, i have been trying to tone down the crazy in my personal life. i don't know how well it's working however!

another quote i found particularly useful is on p. 124: "Tears in a woman may evoke brain pain in men. The male brain registers helplessness in the face of pain, and such a moment can be extremely difficult for them to tolerate." i think this is a valuable piece of information! it would have been useful years ago, but i am glad i have it locked away in my mind now; crying is just one piece of crazy that boys cannot deal with ;)


The Mature Female Brain (Ch. 7) was a little bit hard for me to wrap my mind around, though i still found it interesting. i enjoy knowing that one day my crazy, stressed out personality will probably mellow and that i won't be such a mess after menopause! i really liked reading about all of Brizendine's patients who were fed up with their pushy husbands and decided to just do what they wanted to do! that's how i'm going to be when i get older, a regular spitfire :D my favorite quote of the chapter was: "this change in behavior is actually the most common one i see in women sixty-five and older. Like Edith, they come into my office depressed, anxious, and unable to sleep. I soon find out that their husbands have retired over the past year" (p. 152)! hahahaha this is why i am going to become a spinster with a lot of cats.

just like the women's biology class that Emily and i took, this chapter confused me about the idea of HT. i just don't know what i'm supposed to do about that and how i'm ever going to know if i should take hormones or not. i guess that's why i'm not a doctor :) i did like the sections of the chapter that talked about estrogen making women healthier and stronger. but the whole thing is confusing! i think that that is the main point Brizendine is making in this book: a woman's brain is as crazy as the rest of her!!! :)

-Laura