If I tell you the probability of failing nine thousand times, you and I would prefer not to pick that goal. However, Thomas Alva Edison had failed nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times before he could succeed once. But what made Edison achieve his goal, and what allowed him to keep going till the end? We know the answer, and there is a brain part that enables this performance, and the functionality is scientifically proven.
What made Edison continue his goal and succeed is more related to the brain functionality, which is called the Reticular Activating System. I am a big fan of three points, so this article will cover three parts to understand the reticular activating system, which is the core of our brain and every action that we take as part of our brain. The three parts are,
- Conscious and subconscious parts of the brain
- How the Reticular Activating System works
- How to reprogram your reticular activating system
Let’s go through the first point of the article.
Conscious and Subconscious parts of our brain
You are in front of a mirror and see your face. Everything that you do is reflected in the mirror. It would help to change your actions when you want to change something in the mirror. You cannot change the mirror view without changing your actions. If we understand it as a concept, You are the conscious, and your mirror is the subconscious. Your conscious mind acts as a filter and allows you to see yourself in the mirror. however your subconscious mind reflects you and your feelings. The Reticular Activating System acts as a conscious part, and it works 24/7 and all the time.
If you have a negative feeling, then you have allowed the negative feeling pass through your conscious filter to your subconscious. Similar way, if you have positive emotions, your filter changes the subconscious feelings to positive ones. A mirror does not judge your emotions; similarly, your subconscious mind does not judge your thoughts or feelings. What you pass to the subconscious through your consciousness will be reflected. Hence, to make your subconscious your good friend, you must work with your Reticular Activating System and be careful with your filter system. Now, let’s move to the second part of the article.
So, How the reticular activating system works
The Reticular Activating System is a network of neurons that helps your brain and allows you to focus. The neurons in the Reticular activating system are looking for evidence all day. The RAS (Reticular Activating System) is trying to save all your energy. It allows you to focus on only the most important things to you. Remember, when you are at the airport, it is crowded, and there is an announcement with your name, and you are alerted and running towards the gate.
For example, if you always feel you are not having success, your Reticular Activating System will allow this through a filter. The brain then tries to confirm your statement by picking the past events that suit these statements and giving more information about the news. The brain will attempt to verify your message. It will point out and confirm every piece of negativity shown, and it will be an infinite thinking pattern of all the insufficient information.
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and all Social Media applications work based on the Reticular Activation System – filtering concept, which can be positive or negative. However, the algorithm works based on your conscious preference. Once you visit someone fighting, your views are burned with 100s of fight-related messages. Now, let’s go through the third section of the article.
How to reprogram your reticular activating system
When you don’t give your brain the feed, your brain will start acting with all the negativity. Scientists discovered that ninety percent of our thoughts are aimed at things that are not working, and we can generate only ten percent positive thoughts as our default mechanism. When we watch news channels, our brains are overloaded with stuff that gives a subset of problems aligned with that news. If you want to validate the above information, sit for 10 minutes and watch your thoughts after watching a news channel. By default, your brain would pick all the news-related problems in your life and throw them at you. How do you get away from this default mode?
So when we work with our good friend, a.k.a goals, our brain works based on these goals, and it does not wander or pick unrelated problems. Having goals allows your reticular activating system to focus on your goals, and your brain will become occupied with achieving the goals. The only way to reprogram your brain is to consciously remember your goals, Make them as statements, Write them down, and repeat them many times as part of your daily routines. Now, let’s go through the summary.
Summary
In this article, we have seen how the brain works. In the first part, we have seen the mirror example and understand the conscious and subconscious parts. When we think positively, we give positive thoughts to our subconscious. The second part of our article explains the working nature of the Reticular Activating System. Thinking about problems and negativity is our default mode of the brain. Our reticular activating system acts as a filter to our brain and allows information based on our interests. Our subconscious mind does not know our interests and validate the claims, and it works based on an input to our Reticular Activating System(RAS). In the third part of the article, we talk about reprogramming our RAS. You can become what you want by focusing on reprogramming the RAS and giving relevant thoughts to RAS. Therefore, every day, you can repeat, “Success comes to me easily and effortlessly.” You will not only feel good about yourself; you can reprogram your brain by using such statements to achieve your goals and become the next Thomas Alva Edison. Believe in that and have a happy goal setting.