Summary of Oprah Winfrey's What Happened to You (Unabridged‪)‬

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A few key insights from Chapter 1.

1. Every person is born in their own unique set of social, economic, and cultural circumstances. We come into the world feeling whole, but life eventually begins to take its toll. Traumatic events, abuse, or neglect can cause children to ache and follow a pattern of frustration, self-sabotage, violence, and addiction. 

2. The brain is like a four-layer cake. The cortex at the top is responsible for speech, thinking, and planning. The bottom contains the brainstem, which controls less complex functions such as body temperature regulation, breathing, and heart rate. The complexity of the brain's structural areas increases from lower to higher.

3. The middle layers consist of the limbic region, which is under the cortex and responsible for reward, memory, bonding, and emotions. The diencephalon region, above the brainstem, is responsible for arousal, sleep, appetite, and movement. All experience is processed starting from the brainstem up to the cortex.

4. The question “What happened to you?” is key to understanding someone and their brain. Personal history affects the brain and its development, shifting the organization and function of key systems, which makes every brain unique. Our external senses monitor what is happening outside the body, connecting actions to feelings.