Recently, I bought a new book called Breathe. And although it hasn’t arrived yet, I’ve already become more mindful of breathing…
…the brain is a mysterious thing.
Here’s what happens – when we put something into our conscious awareness, without even trying, our brain becomes more aware of THAT thing…whatever it is. It’s our Reticular Activating System (RAS) that goes into overdrive on our behalf.
Our Reticular Activating System is a small but critical part of our brain (brain stem, actually).
The RAS melds our conscious awareness with our subconscious awareness. It’s like when you consciously decide you want a new car, and you’re going to get a blue Audi with the Black extra trim package because it will look sweet and you haven’t seen any white ones like that around. BUT – as soon as you pull off the lot, all of a sudden, there are blue Audi’s with the Black extra trim package driving all over town! This is your Reticular Activating System at work. You put a specific thought into your conscious awareness and now, subconsciously, your brain is on overdrive looking for that specific thing.
I share this because you can use it to your advantage.
You can consciously become aware of something you WANT (a thing, an outcome, a significant other…whatever it is), and put your Reticular Activating System to work looking for it. It’s your neurology saying, “I’ll keep an eye out for it.”