My brain is telling me to start out today’s post with this quote from comedian Emo Phillips:
I used to think that the brain was the most important organ in the body. And then I realized, “Wait…what’s telling me that?”
Because I don’t completely trust what my brain is telling me, I just consulted Google and found out that Emo’s last name is actually spelled with one “l,” not two. Google is also telling me that the quote is this:
I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
My brain was definitely wrong in telling me the spelling of Emo’s last name but I’m not sure it was wrong about the telling of the joke. I used to listen to an Emo Philips comedy album years ago and I can still hear that joke in my head. The only way to discover the truth of what my brain is telling me would be to find and listen to that recorded routine again.
My brain is telling me that is not necessary for this particular blog post, because my brain’s point today is that we cannot always trust what our brains are telling us.
Yesterday, my brain was telling me to watch the very telling and wonderful series How to … with John Wilson. In the episode I watched, John Wilson and others were telling me about the Mandela Effect. Healthline.com is telling me this about the Mandela Effect:
The Mandela effect is an unusual phenomenon where a large group of people remember something differently than how it occurred. Conspiracy theorists believe this is proof of an alternate universe, while many doctors use it as an illustration of how imperfect memory can be sometimes.
Examples of the Mandela effect include how many people’s brains tell them that the Raisin Bran sun is wearing sunglasses on the cereal box (it isn’t and never was), how many of our brains tell us that Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father” when he just said “I am your father,” and how many of our brains incorrectly tell us the safety message that is engraved on passenger side mirrors on cars.
Our brains tell us that our ability to remember correctly MUST be better than it actually is, so that’s why so many people
- refuse to believe facts that interfere with their beliefs,
- are likely to believe conspiracy theories,
- worry about getting dementia, and
- freak out when their memories are proven wrong.
Just last week, even though I’ve seen the first Star Wars movie so many times that my brain has lost count, I told someone “Luke, I am your father” while wearing this mask:

My brain is telling me that I should tell you that I also wore that mask in an online therapy session last week to tell someone that, despite their fears, they were not turning into their father. I said to them, “Luke, you are NOT your father,” even though their name is not Luke and Darth Vader never said Luke’s name in the first place.
My brain is now telling me that I should tell you that my brain told me for a long time that the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters was an actual character from actual bags of marshmallows from my childhood, even though the writers of Ghostbusters totally made that character up for the movie. My brain is telling me how shocked I was when I found that out.
I don’t know if that’s an example of the Mandela effect, because I don’t know if other people’s brains have told them the same false information about the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
My brain is telling me it’s about time to share my other photos for the day:























My brain is telling me that Michael’s meals are always nutritious and delicious, including those fish cakes using leftover salmon and cod.
Here’s the first thing I find when I search YouTube for “what your brain is telling you”:
My “what your brain is telling you” search on YouTube also found this:
What is your brain telling you about this post?
My brain is telling me to thank all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!
