This image illustrates your nerve cells transferring information. The number of boutons each nerve cell has varies, but the more it has the better equipped it is to transmit messages. Think of the axon-bouton / neighbor-nerve cell connection as a passenger boarding bridge poised before the door of a jet when embarking or disembarking. The bouton arrives, "docks" onto its neighbor (without ever really touching) and releases its passengers to a welcoming committee. The passengers with their information luggage (scientists call them neurotransmitters or 'messenger molecules' - shown here as golden circles) "jump" across the (synaptic) gap and are welcomed by receptors. They have no time for tea - these messengers are on a mission. They are your repeated thoughts, words, and actions being transmitted from cell to cell on purpose and with the precision of a machine. The Wikipedia post here will tell you more about nerve cells, axons, boutons, incoming/outgoing electrical charges, the synaptic bouton terminal, and much more. If a behavior takes 21-31 days to form the infant thread of an automatic reflex, it's easy to see how a thought pattern or behavior that has been with us for many months or years has developed into a familiar path. The intention to form a new behavior path and abandon the old takes some serious NERVE ... and BOUTONS. We've got both. We've got nerve. We've got boutons. |
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