Mysteries of the New Battlefield – Part II

What happened when Ram Sharma, who never believed in mythology, found himself diving deep into the mysteries of his own mind, while recalling the specifics of ancient epic battle?

This is Part II of the article – Mysteries of the New Battlefield. Click here for Part I.

Meeting the Wise

He was driving towards Vishnu’s place the next morning. He had told himself that he wanted change and a light-hearted talk with his old friend. He brushed away the fact that Vishnu was a leading psychologist and he had wanted to meet him for long. He couldn’t accept the fact that he needed a psychologist*.

With old friends, time just flies and words just flow. He didn’t realize how much he had shared with Vishnu, including yesterday’s tryst with mythology. Vishnu had smiled on his analogy of belly button.

“So do you think your villain has a belly button?” Vishnu asked.

“On no”, Ram laughed in embarrassment. “It’s just random overthinking”, he settled with a smile.

The Traffic of Life

“How was the traffic today?” Vishnu asked.

Ram felt relieved with the change of subject. “Horrible. It’s so irritating to drive with all the morons around. I was about to get out of the car and hit one.” He blurted out, while regretting at the very next moment.

“Do you remember what were you doing on the Red Square?” Vishnu asked.

“What do you mean I did? I had nothing to do, but to wait for that long signal to go green. The two minutes felt like two hours.” Ram replied.

“Could you have stretched your hands and neck? You must have been tired driving all the way. Remember 30-second desk workouts we talked about last time we met?”

“Hey not possible to remember all that when you are surrounded by noisy chaos”

“Or was it that your head was in noisy chaos?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you still want to beat that guy”

Ram didn’t realize that Vishnu had registered that passing remark. “No, of course not. It was just the momentary shot of anger. It’s not a big deal. And I don’t know, he might have had some urgency or even emergency”

“You didn’t think like this at that time”

“Yes, that’s strange. Looks like I have two minds” Ram laughed as he said that.

“Yes, you do. In fact, all of us have two minds.

The Two Minds

Ram smiled, trying to decipher if his friend is continuing the joke or putting him on to a puzzle.

Vishnu seemed serious. “We all have an instinctive mind and an executive thinking mind. In fact, two different parts of the brain govern each of these two minds**.

Ram felt curious “Are you serious? Two minds? Never read about it anywhere.”

“Is it so surprising Ram? In traffic, you were a different person altogether, ready to hit someone. Just after a few minutes, you are now a forgiving personality, regretting what you wanted to do earlier. A couple of hours ago, one mind made you stare angrily at the traffic signal countdown. Now, another mind reminds you what all choices you had that time.

“It’s all about which mind is dominating us in the given moment. If it’s the instinctive mind, you will ‘react’ with what Sigmund Freud called ‘fight or flight response’ – you will be angry, upset, frustrated, sad or afraid." Vishnu continued.

Ram could recall many of his reactions in the past, including the fights he had with his loved ones. He felt as if he just had a glimpse of the evil belly button he wished to find yesterday.

“If it’s the executive mind, you will ‘respond’ with awareness of multiple choices available. So even in the heavy traffic, you would make a choice to relax your shoulders and fingers.”

Ram could recall his earlier days, when he dealt with challenging situations with stable responses. It all seemed so distant and unimaginable now.

Let there be Light

“You said dominant. How does any of the minds gain dominance?” Ram asked.

“Overall the repetition gives strength to the mind. So the part we use more becomes stronger. Guess that’s true for most of the things in our life.” Vishnu replied.

Ram could realize how his inner devil continued to become stronger over the years.

“But how does one even activate the executive brain which has become too weak to fight the dominance of much stronger instinctive brain?” Ram’s mind was now focused on finding the right arrows to hit the belly button.

"Good question. Here comes the most interesting secret of our mind. Instinctive brain is the panicky guard, who occupies the head when our awareness is lost. When we are not in the present moment – like lost in thoughts or anxious about future or lost in distractions - the auto-pilot mechanism kicks in. Amygdala rules like a king on the throne of auto-pilot." Vishnu was in his full form.

“But as the darkness disappears when we switch on the light, the instinctive brain also hides back when the light of awareness shines brightly.” Vishnu continued.

For the first time in his life, Ram was mesmerized with the analogy of light and darkness with good and evil.

Equipping with the Right Armour

Vishnu stopped, realizing that he is crossing the line between psychology and philosophy.

But Ram was curious. For the first time in years of his inner ‘exile’, he could see some ray of hope.

“So how does one strengthen the awareness and make sure our mind does not go on a stroll or rampage?”

“It’s as easy as jogging and as difficult as setting discipline to jog regularly”

“I am all ears”

“It’s all about setting the right habits for the mind. All these years, we have allowed our mind to go anywhere it wanted and even drag us along. Now, we need to reverse this habit gradually.”

“As we strengthen physical muscles in the gym, we need to strengthen the awareness muscles by going to the ‘attention gym’" Vishnu continued.

“Attention gym! Interesting.”

“Yes, you just need to build a practice of bringing your attention back to the present activity or experience.”

“It sounds interesting and simple, but I don’t think my instinctive mind will allow me to do that.” Ram wanted to get everything clear.

“Great that you realize this. You can use some of the techniques like mindfulness to train your attention. It’s a powerful tool not only to strengthen your awareness, but also to increase your resilience against emotional attacks.” Vishnu was appreciative of Ram's inquisitiveness.

“Wow. Tell me more about it. I want to hop onto this attention gym from today.”

“I am happy with your openness and enthusiasm. But remember, it’s not like an arrow will instantly hit the belly button and kill your woes. It’s a process which will need persistence and patience.”

I am Ready to Conquer

Ram looked determined. After all, not only he could find the belly button secret, but could also find the right weapons. Of course, the battle is going be bit long.

He couldn’t help recall the statement he heard from his grandfather – “Ram and Raavan both are within us – it’s up to us, which one do we make stronger”.

He heard a loud noise outside. He looked out at the burning structure. Somebody had hit the belly button.

He Looked at Vishnu and said “I am ready”.

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*Meeting a psychologist continues to be a major stigma in our society, depriving people of much needed help. Besides, we all can be much better professionals, family members and humans if we meet psychologists to gain psychological nutrition proactively.

**Amygdala and Pre-frontal cortex respectively

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