The Mind and the Brain

In this podcast, I wanna talk about the difference between the mind and the brain and how to deal with what I call hardwiring problems. So when I talk about the brain, I'm talking about the physical aspect to our brain to gray matter inside the neural networks that we developed through years of experience. And the mind is the the power, the electrical energy that's inside the mind, the life that brings the physical brain to life. I mean, so fascinating life. Right?

I mean, I I was with my father when he passed away. Eighty six years old. I was by his bedside as he took his his last breath, talking to him, you know, 10 minutes before he died, and When he took his last breath, the energy, the life force, it just left. All that was left was the physical body. He was not there.

Him, my memory of him, but there was just a physical clay body there. So when I talk about the physical brain, yep, it's real. It's it's it's what makes us living human beings, but there's some other energy source inside of us, life, the life force, and that's when I talk about mind. That's what I'm I'm referring to. The spirit within within the physical component.

And as we grow through life, this is this is the way our brain works. As we grow through life, and have experiences, the brain learns through association. Our brain becomes there's certain neural networks that are laid down inside of our brain based on our past experiences, and there's a great sensitivity towards those things which are negative, which are harmful, There's a default system inside of our brain and the survival part of our brain, the limbic system that is based on just that. I my job is to keep you alive. And so I don't like anything that creates pain, emotional pain.

Or physical pain. And so if I ever have experiences of those things, I have memories of those. The hippocampus, mainly involved in memory, is attached to the limbic system. That means that at a subconscious level, and the limbic system is more subconscious, It's always scanning for things that are negative. And those individuals that I've worked with through the years who are suffer or survivors of early childhood trauma It's very common for them to to remain in a state of feeling unsafe to to feeling stuck and frozen.

And they become very, very frustrated in life because they don't ever feel they can get out of it. That's what gets them into therapy. Constantly reliving past traumas over and over again. Now here is where the hope in change lies. The fact is that the only thing we ever have is the present moment.

We are rolling through time And if you really think about it, these concepts of past and future, they're just simply that. They're concepts. The only thing the only time we can ever experience the past is now. We can't go back and experience it in another time. It's but because of the way the brain works, it keeps it keeps trying to convince us that that's happening right now.

That's an illusion. It's not It's attempt is to keep us alive, but it it's a wiring problem. I mean, no. It's positive in the sense that we can learn from negative things keep us away from them. But then when it just keeps firing over and over again when we're actually safe, That's that's not healthy.

That's what we need to learn how to put to rest so that we can live more fully in present moment while we're engaged in something worthwhile and meaningful that we've created for ourselves by creating, going into this concept of the future, looking, in our mind's eyes for becoming the person would like to become. Because if you think about it, this is a really interesting thought. 5 years from now, there's a 1,000,000 different versions of me out there and you out there. There's someone who has completely excelled and is is fulfilling all of their dreams to the utmost, and then they're another version of yourself completely at the opposite end of that spectrum and everywhere in between. And that version of yourself 5 years from the future, which is coming, is all based on your experiences and what your choices, what you're gonna do day to day as you continue to move forward.

I love what the playwright George Bernard Shaw said life is not about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself. I am a big believer that we have to take charge of ourselves. Whatever whatever your personal belief is of creation in life, I my personal belief is I believe we're co creators with god in in however we wanna live our life. Because agency and our freedom to choose seems to be the absolute, thing the universe rolls on that we get to choose what we want to become and how we want to become and what we want to let drift away from our life.

But unless you learn how your physical brain works, we can become stuck and frozen and not know how to get out. Of certain patterns. So I'm gonna share with you a couple of ideas that can help in the process of rewiring or setting new neural networks down, but that's what neuroplasticity is called or the term means that we can set new neural networks down that we can start firing different ideas and increasing our joy in life and happiness. So in our brain, the in there's an interaction constantly between electrical signals and chemical signals. The way our brain has been wired in the past is largely due to the chemical signals that have laid down tracks and fired over and over again.

Our brain learns through association with other things, and and everything is associated with everything else. And that's why unless certain pass com as our work through and processed appropriately and dealt with and having a person feel self efficacious, meaning strong that they're able to defend themselves and move forward and take charge of their lives. Unless we can do that and teach that, people tend to stay stuck, whereas Martin Sullivan talked about in his book learned optimism, this pattern of learned helplessness learn that no matter what we do, nothing's ever gonna make any difference. That, we gotta confront that idea because it's absolutely not true if you learn certain certain ways to think. So one technique that I wanna leave with you in this in this brief podcast is is a technique on how to reach the subconscious part of your brain and start rewiring it.

I'm not talking about simple affirmations because they don't tend to be effective. We have to get deeper down to the deeper subconscious part of the brain in a way to do that is to understand, first of all, that there are different brain wave patterns in in in when we're thinking and sleeping and in a relaxed state. First, there's something called beta, That's a very active, brainwave. That's us what we're doing right now. I'm me talking you listening, then it goes into alpha a a little bit more relaxed, theta, deeper relaxation, and Delta deep sleep.

If we can get and this is what research is showing, If we can get ourselves more in in a in a alpha status state, more of a meditative state, this is where mindfulness practice come in and why they've been so effective and why so many people are advocating for them. If you can get in that state and then start asking yourself different questions, your brain will start searching for answers. So simple technique to do this. Go to YouTube. Or whatever audio version you like to choose.

Type in alpha or theta BRAINwave music. Get them music playing in the background, get your iPhone, and the best way your brain responds to changing is by asking certain questions. While that music is playing in the background, you, with your own voice, start asking yourself questions like Why is it that I'm becoming healthier and healthier every day? Why is it that I feel stronger every day? Why is it that I'm finding so much peace in my life?

Why is it that my relationships are getting healthier all the time? Why is it that I'm attracting into my life positive and powerful people. Why is it that I'm attracting abundance into my life? You come up with a list of questions that you want to create for yourself. Practice this meditation before you go to bed at night practice it in the morning, meaning just listen to it.

Put 15, 20 questions if you wanna do 40, but do whatever. How many questions you want to find powerful questions for yourself and, you know, close with the statement. Life is not about finding yourself. It is about creating yourself, and this is a powerful technique that is helping many to feel better and and feel a little lighter and more joy in life. It's working with those that that that I've been working with who actually practice it.

Especially in those moments when they have the negative voice coming in saying, ah, this thing doesn't work. Just keep practicing it and test it out for yourself.