MIND POWER
BRAIN PARADIGMS
Archana Law knows how to reorganise one’s thinking
Aren’t there moments when we feel truly inspired and uplifted because we’ve made some progress in climbing to get a better world view? And the next moment, when obstacles stare at us, we wonder if we’ve even made a difference. Like the birthing process, creation comes with labour pains and complications, as well as anxiety about the future.
Questions about our personal abilities – what we know or don’t – continuously haunt us. And yet, it’s almost natural that we fret because somewhere inside us we know that the only terrain we’re overcoming is our limited view of ourselves. It’s a process and most certainly, there are speed bumps along the way.
CHANGING What we have discovered is by no means complete but there’s evidence that science supports our ability to change. And as human beings, we have great potential. These are only doorways to greater understanding.
Our consciousness or awareness is the primary reality and all matter (including our brains and whatever we observe) exists within this framework as ‘possibilities.’ This realisation enables us to transcend barriers and exercise the power to choose from among possibilities.
Since our emotions aren’t attached to us because we’re not our brain, we don’t have to identify with our existing brain circuits. So how do we achieve the crucial challenge of accomplishing – and fulfilling – the meaning and purpose of our lives?
THINK Even as you sit casually reading this page, your body is most likely undergoing a host of dynamic changes triggered by your most recent thoughts. Like a sudden thunderstorm, different areas of your brain can surge with increased electrical currents, releasing a deluge of neurochemicals – and several different gastric juices can start flowing as your liver begins processing enzymes that weren’t present moments before. Your heart rate can fluctuate, lungs alter their stroke volume, and blood flow to the capillaries in your hands and feet can increase.
All our bodily reactions occur from intentional or unintentional thinking and repeatedly create this cascade of chemical reactions. Therefore, we can train our bodies to be unhealthy with repeated negative thoughts and reactions on a moment by moment basis, or we can cause our internal chemistry to self-regulate and redefine these abnormal states.
FOCUS As human beings, we have the natural ability to focus our awareness on anything. How and where we place our attention, and on what and for how long, ultimately defines us on a neurological level.
Right now, as you continue to concentrate and read this page, you might have forgotten about the pain in your back or even the disagreement you had with your boss earlier today. Our attention maps the very course of our state of being.
COMPREHEND We need to understand that we’re not the final product; instead, we are a work in progress! The organisation of brain cells that makes up who we are is in constant flux. Forget the notion that the brain is static, rigid and fixed. Instead, brain cells are continually remoulded and reorganised by our thoughts and experiences. Neurologically, we’re repeatedly being changed by endless stimuli in our environment.
For instance, look at your right hand and then touch your thumb to your pinky. Then touch your thumb to your index finger. Next touch your thumb to your ring finger. And then touch your thumb to your middle finger. Repeat the process until you can do it automatically without making a mistake. Within a few minutes of paying attention, you should be able to master the action.
In the next round, instead of physically demonstrating the finger exercise, practise doing that same action mentally. You will notice that while you were practising in your mind, your brain would have imagined the entire sequence exactly as you did it physically. In other words, your brain doesn’t know the difference between your doing something and remembering how to do it.
The act of mental rehearsal is a powerful way you can grow and mould new circuits in your brain. So ask yourself this: what exactly do you spend the most amount of time mentally rehearsing, thinking about and finally demonstrating?
Whether you consciously or unconsciously fabricate your thoughts and actions, you’re always affirming and reaffirming your neurological self as ‘you.’ Keep in mind that whatever you spend your time mentally attending to is what you are and what you’ll become.
By managing our thoughts and reactions, we can intentionally make the right chemical elixir to drive the brain and body from a constant state of stress, to a state of regeneration and change.
This is a difficult subject to understand. I am still confused.
Agreed that humans have potential.
The act of mental rehearsal and focus seem to go a long way in reorganizing our thinking. The question as to whether and why we need to reorganize it may pop up. It is likely that an average human being may limit his or her thinking to money matters and non-money matters, day-to day tasks and perhaps an emergency or two. In that case, reorganizing one’s thoughts seems less important.
Most of us are in the habit of repeating actions without focusing and investing our awareness to it. When repetition takes over, the focus may be weakened or even nil. In such a case, your mind is not giving thought to your actions – you’re just performing the actions with a wandering mind.
Isn’t this a frequent scenario for most of us? A wandering mind is much like the idle mind – referred to as the devil’s workshop.
It is therefore necessary that you keep the wellbeing of your mind and focus on what you want to be. Be mindful and use your mind purposefully. That will eventually elevate it to be who you are!
How do we invest in this when we do not have time for anything? There is too much work, so it is impossible to do this.