Challenge Day 8: Understand the language of your Brain

Most people, and I was one of them, try to change their conditions or problems by focusing on the external aspects of their lives, but they rarely question the beliefs and thoughts that caused those problems.

Understanding the brain will enable you to learn about the language of your brain and how you can use it to the fullest. Mastering this language will teach how to think and not what to think. It will make you more conscious of the patterns of your thoughts or the set of programs that you had during your childhood, education and experiences.

95% of the human behavior comes from these programs that have been downloaded at an early age. We often think that we are humans and not robots, but in fact most of our behaviors are repetitive if not mechanical. Most of us wake up every day at the same time, do the same things, eat the same breakfast, meet the same people, make the same choices, take the same decisions, and end up having the same experiences.

How can you make a change in your life and expect different results if you keep doing the same thing over and over again?

 If your goal is to become more positive but your mind has been programmed to see only the negative, criticize, and blame others for your mistakes, then you need first a change of the set of parameters you are embracing. To change these parameters, you need to become aware of them.

Let’s first understand the composition of the brain

 THE COMPOSITION OF THE BRAIN

 The brain is composed of three levels: the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious. Each level is working independently, but it can conflict and debate with the others depending on the priorities and the interests.

1.     The conscious or the logical mind: represents only 5% of our decision making. This part of the brain is objective as it learns through observation, experience, and education and it is in a constant need of understanding, clarifications based on data, statistics, symbols, and language. It is also the center of short term memory.

It is like the captain that leads the ship as it masters the body and even the environment you are in.

 2.    The subconscious or the emotional brain: is in charge of 95% of our decisions. It is subjective as it perceives by intuition. It is the seat of emotions and long term memory. This part of the brain learns through habits and practice.

It embraces whatever you give it as information. It does not question the orders. It performs at its highest levels when the conscious mind is not functioning, in a sleepy state.

 3.     The unconscious or the physical brain: has two distinct functions; it moves towards physical pleasure and away from pain and fear. It is responsible for the fight or flight responses, the physical response when faced with an attack or a threat to survival. 

When someone feels in danger, the physical brain takes control of everything eliminating the functions of the other two brains as the priority is survival.  

A lot of people are unable to think logically during moments of crisis as they are constantly in the fight or flight mode.

5 LESSONS ABOUT THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

 LESSON 1: Your subconscious is a plain garden; you can plant anything within it.

 The greatest discovery of the 19th century according to William James, a great psychologist, was the power of the subconscious. A lot of books tackled this subject, and wrote about the importance of the subconscious mind in achieving success in all areas of our lives.

One of these books is “the power of your subconscious mind” by Joseph Murphy who said “When we sow positive thoughts, imbued with the vision of the person we wish to embody, we can “reap a glorious harvest.”

Whatever you plant, you get it back; you get flowers only if you are planting the right seeds.

If you are searching for love, start planting love around you. If you are seeking to be trusted, start trusting others. If you would like to be happy, think of making others happy. If you are stuck and need help, you may need to help those who are more in need of help. But the big question: are you really planting something? or are you just waiting for something to grow from within you? Think about it

LESSON 2: The subconscious mind follows the law of belief

Whatever you believe is true. If you believe that you can, then you can, the placebo effect. If you believe you don’t deserve it, how can you approach it? If you think good, good will follow; if you think evil, evil will follow.

Understanding the functioning of the mind will enable you to stop blaming situations and people as the only thing to blame is your mind, and your thoughts. You have more than 60 000 thoughts per day to handle, and 80% are repeated negative thoughts. If you do NOTHING about them, your mind will be your greatest enemy.

 LESSON 3: The subconscious mind does not distinguish between the positive or the negative, and between imagination or reality

When you say “I don’t want to have pain”, “I don’t want to suffer” the brain will remember only pain and suffer and will create more opportunities in your life that reflect these emotions of pain and suffering.

 A lot of troubles come from the words we are using every day. 

The subconscious mind does not distinguish between imagination and reality, that’s why when we create negative stories or movies in our minds and start catastrophizing, we end up attracting more of these events.

Whatever you fear, you will attract it in your life.

Don’t focus on what you don’t love, the things that hurt you and create tension within you as you will be duplicating these emotions. Focus instead on what you love, what you would like to achieve, and what makes you happy.

When you focus on solutions, you will see open doors and great opportunities.

LESSON 4: The subconscious mind functions more with emotions and pictures

Visualization is not about lying on the grass and imagining your dreams coming true. It is not about dreaming neither or creating vague mental thoughts to escape from reality. Visualization is a conscious act with clarity and a sense of purpose.

It is about creating visual images of the outcomes you would like to achieve. It is about a vision that reflects the life you want. It becomes effective when fueled by strong emotions that can help you turn your thoughts into reality.

LESSON 5: The subconscious mind can be reprogrammed, how?

To reprogram your subconscious mind, you need to look at where you are struggling: your relations, career, confidence. You need to identify the limiting beliefs that are holding you back from achieving your goals (Challenge Day 3) and turn them into positive affirmations (challenge day 4)

Going from the old self to the new self requires a change of thoughts and patterns

There is nothing more powerful than the power of the mind.