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The function of our brain. The difference between the conscious and the subconscious mind. Some interesting facts about brain science and the patterns in which our world perception is created.
I figured that to understand myself, I need to understand how the brain works and how my mind controls my life. So let me introduce you to all the fun facts I discovered during my years of research.
“Your Mind is a Garden, Your Thoughts are the Seeds. You can grow Flowers or Weeds...”
― Osho
It is important to understand how the mind functions to bring some changes in your life. Our mind is in control of our mental abilities, perceptions, beliefs, understandings, thoughts as well as the physical functions of the body. In general understanding, the mind can be compared with the computer program while the brain is the computer device. The mind can be divided into two parts: the so-called conscious and subconscious. According to research, we consciously use 5% of our brain functions, the rest 95% is dedicated to the subconscious mind. As the ' hard drive’ of the brain (the subconscious mind) runs the program on autopilot and is responsible for all body functions and it is where all our knowledge, beliefs, skills, and all the information we came across during the lifetime are being programed. The conscious mind is creative mind. It is through the conscious mind that we learn new things, come up with new ideas and mainly by repetition, the new knowledge is being recorded in the subconscious program.
During the first 6-7 years of our life as kids, we absorb all possible information from the environment - so the program is being created or, in other words, downloaded into the brain. At an early age, a child's brain is in a hypnotic state so it absorbs (records) all information without filtering it, this way a human learns to become a member of the family, community, and society, to follow the accepted rules, standards, and generally to fit in. Most of our beliefs are formed at this age. Unfortunately, many of them are paradigms that do not serve us in our grown-up days. You can imagine the importance of the first 7 years of your life and how every event or experience has shaped your understanding, beliefs, and perspective in life.
The process begins with the thought that biologically is a bunch of neurons firing and wiring together by electric impulse, that triggers the chemical reaction in the body which makes us feel emotions, positive or negative. Emotion is a result of a thought, but with the consistent thinking of the same thought the body can be trained to feel the emotion (to trigger the same chemical reaction) as a habit and in the same way, trigger back the thoughts and so it becomes an endless loop. Then the person lives in the same thinking and feeling patterns pretty much all of the time. Statistically, people over 35 years old think 95% of thoughts exactly the same as the day before. Over 70 - 80% of our thoughts are negative, based on the survival instincts that in many cases do not serve us in today's life.
The caveman's survival instinct that our brain still operates on to this day is there to protect us. The caveman needed to fit in the community to survive and protect themselves from danger. Doing what is familiar was ensuring safety - so they learned to eat the same familiar food, to follow the same safe road, to not try new or dangerous things. Our minds were programmed this way to keep us safe and protected from the unknown. Our thinking patterns were based on predicting or imagining the most negative outcome of the situation to be ready for the danger so we could react accordingly. As well, the physical instincts were serving the same purpose - fight or flight response to the real danger was saving lives. Imagine the tiger suddenly chasing you - the adrenaline kicks in and you run at the ''speed of light'' or climb the tree that normally would seem impossible for a human to do. So the function of our brain and mind is amazingly important and protects us from any danger so we can live happily ever after. But does it, really?
The problem occurs when we change the environment, but the brain function stays the same. Nowadays when we are not being chased by tigers or not fitting into the community is not a death sentence - our minds still come up with the ‘’ dangerous scenarios’’ and makes us react as if it was the real danger when it is not. I assume many of you reading will be familiar with the scary feeling in the stomach when you look down through the window of a skyscraper, giving a speech in front of the crowd, getting on the flight to another country, or even asking your boss for a raise. None of those things are a direct danger for your life but your body reacts as if it was and it is your mind that controls the body. Here we go, we react to the false triggers and often it affects our lives in a mostly negative way. So it leads to more stress and anxiety in our society these days.
And here again, the flow of thoughts in the brain is massive - on average, humans think 60,000 - 80,000 thoughts per day. Thoughts are energy vibrations or electromagnetic waves. Thinking a thought per second there is a lot of vibration happening in the brain. By the way, the calculation of thoughts per second is done based on the assumption that a person thinks consistently at the same speed (equal amount of thoughts per second). It is not very likely to be - some moments we think few thoughts per second and some just a couple of thoughts in a minute. So during the more intense thinking, the brain is in Beta wave state - normal daily activity (13-40 Hz). In the relaxed or meditative state, the brain is in the Alpha wave level (8-12 Hz). Hypnosis is possible in Theta wave state (4-7 Hz), the same that we go through every time we fall asleep or come out of sleep - in this level conscious thinking is being passed, the active thought is stopped so the subconscious mind can be reached and the magic is happening. Children's (up to 7 years) brain, as I mentioned before, are constantly operating in the Theta state, so we can say they are under hypnosis all day long. Delta waves (0,1-3 Hz) takes over the brain in a deep sleep phase (it is considered to be the state of no thought - super-consciousness - that’s where the REAL MAGIC is happening in no time) and can be achieved by some great monks during meditation in an awake state of mind. So conscious mind operates in Beta and Alpha frequencies, subconscious - Theta frequencies, superconscious - Delta.
This information helps to understand that all our habitual thoughts that control our behaviors are taking place in the subconscious mind and most often we are not aware of them. We do the same things throughout the day, drink the same favorite morning coffee, go to work the same road, meet the same people, follow the same daily routines. We don't even notice most of the things we do or thoughts that we think, everything runs by habit and the subconscious mind takes care of that. But how can we change our reality, our routines, our behaviors, thoughts and in the process - our achievements in life?
By conscious awareness of your thoughts and willingness to change habits, it is still possible to affect the subconscious mind. If you are not satisfied with your life, you need to be aware that it is your thinking that causes the results you get. Meaning that you need to ‘’step outside of yourself’', observe your thoughts and understand that you are not your thoughts so you have the power to change them. It requires a lot of awareness, focus, and willpower to catch yourself thinking a habitual thought, stop there and change it to a more pleasing thought - not easy, but possible. New and different thoughts will trigger different patterns of neuron connections so it will fire and wire together, triggering chemical reactions to give a person a different feeling and emotion. And with all that - different results in life as manifestations during the time. The key is to catch yourself doing things ‘’on autopilot’’, things that you no longer think or focus while doing. Try to do things differently, try new things, learn something every day. In the process, the new neuron connections will be created and the old ones that you want to change will get weaker. It is all about where your focus goes.
Well, this is quite a process considering that a person thinks 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day, that’s close to one thought per second. How many thoughts can you catch yourself thinking?
The good news from this perspective is that 95% of the thoughts are the same… so in a while, one can begin to see the patterns of thoughts day in and day out.
There are better ways of dealing with subconscious programming, paradigms and limiting beliefs that stops us from becoming the person we want to be. I have discovered some of the mind hacks that would help get much faster results if one is willing to go out of their comfort zone and finally change their life for the better. Techniques like hypnosis, RTT, NLP, Psych-k, EFT, Quantum Healing that can reach the subconscious mind and flip the beliefs or mind blocks in a very short time. Brain hacks are powerful tools, but for that information, my friend, you will have to check my other posts :) I hope this information so far was useful and you enjoyed reading. It was my pleasure to connect!