your brain is a super computer.
It's able to process a huge amount of information, but how much of this information do you actually get to know about?
It's commonly thought that we only have access to 5% of our brain capacity.
In reality we actually use 100% of our brain!
However only about 5% of our thoughts are conscious, the other 95% of brain activity happens in our subconscious mind, in other words we don't always control it.
At any given time your brain is monitoring your breathing, digestion, temperature, hormones, heart rate and the list goes on.
It's also registering external data, such as body language, colour and lighting, eye contact, T.V/ radio sound, traffic, body language and so much more.
There is no way that you would consciously be able to process all of this data and decide how to respond to it, so our subconscious mind does this thinking for you.
It filters out useless info, stores some info or sends the helpful info to your conscious mind.
The problem with this system is that it can filter out important data or highlight useless data... Changing the way we experience our interactions with the world.
A great example of this is the 'Invisible Gorilla' Experiment
In one of the most striking and well known psychology experiments 'The Invisible Gorilla' [1], researchers Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons demonstrate how effective our processing system can actually be at filtering out information.
Subjects were asked to watch a video of six people playing basketball, there were three players on each team, one wearing white shirts and the other team in black shirts. The video shows both teams passing the ball for about a minute, the task for the subjects was to count the number of passes made by the white team, a seemingly simple task.
Halfway through the video, a woman dressed in a full body gorilla suit walks through the game, pounds her chest in the middle of the play and walks off after 9 seconds.
When watching the video it seems impossible to miss the gorilla, but when asked to count the white teams' passes about half of the subjects completely missed the black gorilla altogether!
The researchers found that we are aware of far less of our world than we think, and that we have no idea that we're missing so much. When you direct your attention to the passes, it leaves out any information that seems 'unhelpful'.
A perfect example of how a primed mindset can be programmed to operate.
Relevance, and application
How to use this information:
What we focus on grows, and what we train our brain to focus on will be what it continues to show us.
We can actually program our subconscious 'computer system' to be more alert to the information that may help us prosper from our experiences.
Or at a minimum we can minimise the amount of negative and unhelpful information that it focuses on.
tools to help train your brain for improved filtering systems:
1) Gratitude -
Teaches the brain to focus on things that can improve the quality of your life.
This creates a higher appreciation and value for experiences including healthy social relationships, opportunities for growth (paid or unpaid, a day off. 2) Exercise -
Wires the brain to see challenge as an opportunity to grow.
Teaches the brain that there's a reward for persisting through pain and discomfort from a healthy source.
3) Daily Affirmations -
In short, this is the practice of saying certain things out loud (especially in the mirror) about qualities you posses or want to improve.
You'll become more aware of when you successfully exhibit those qualities.
You'll also be more likely to realise when you should have utilised those personality traits and missed the opportunity.
This tool will help you develop or remove behaviour patterns more effectively by highlighting them in your filtering system.
Summary
You only retain the aspects of life that your brain has been primed to highlight.
You can improve your interactions with the world around you by programming your subconscious mind to look for particular data that may benefit you.
What you decide to focus on is entirely up to you, either way your brain will continue to show you more of it.
Comentários