"Changing the Brain"

Is it really possible to change the brain?

Do I have to learn how? Is it hard? As far as our brains are concerned we do one of two things everyday. We either introduce different data, or we reinforce old data. If we are not happy, not at peace with ourselves, the only thing we need to change is our thinking. It's not hard to be convinced of this. What is the alternative? The only alternative would be to get the world to conform to our presently held ideas. So it's change one brain or try to change a few billion brains. So the choice, in this regard, is simple. But you say, "there is nothing wrong with my brain, it's all the other stuff that goes on. It drives me crazy". Here is the bottom line, if you're not happy, the problem is you. This doesn't mean the problems you see around you aren't there. This isn't a discourse in righting the wrongs of society. There are millions of brains, spinning, arguing, killing each other and plotting the future of mankind. Anyone can join in the fray. It's been the topic of choice for complainers, activist critics, artists, authors and dreamers since the beginning of societies and will go on till the end. None of that stuff out there has anything to do with personal happiness. Happiness is created in you. If you don't understand this, start at the beginning of the site and read up to here. At this point we're focusing on useful exercises and methods.

Although the major neurological pathway construction has taken place it is not necessarily permanent. Although this is an accurate statement, it's not meant to suggest that it's easy. The longer we are unaware of these mental habits the more entrenched they become. While this adds difficulty for us it does not make it impossible. We will want to understand, to some degree, how the brain works. We also want the picture of this operation to be as clear, simple and vivid as possible. Think about all the data we take in everyday. Multiply this by a year and so on. That's a lot of stuff. All that stuff is recorded. It may not be consciously accessible, but its there. The content of the brain is a result of a data entry operation. Largely unintentional. For example, take the thought/feeling of self worth. Feelings like, "I'm not really of much value...", aren't something any of us are born with. It is something we have learned. We don't get to choose the type of data we absorb when we're young and absorbing tons of data. That is really to bad, if you got crummy data. It is also true that during the period we are being flooded with data our discernment quotient is also in the development stage. Passing over the fact that this doesn't seem an ideal system, since it won't help us, we'll just take what advantage we can from knowing it. Doesn't it stand to reason that if all the stuff in our heads got there through the data input method, and if pathways become more entrenched with repeating this data through habitual thinking, that we need different data? First, we need different data. We can't have better thoughts without better data. Have I said that enough?

So the first thing we can do for ourselves is start our own data input campaign. If you want better stuff in your head and as a result, think the best thoughts, you have to find the stuff yourself and control the input. Next we need to identify those ideas which create the negative thought syndrome. For example, low self opinion. If we pay attention we can see these habitual thoughts when they happen. The more we shift our attention to a conscious activity (meditation?) the more apt we are to catch the patterns when they occur. We want to discard any data that produces these thoughts. We want to replace it with something different. It's essential to be rid of any data that doesn't result in our over all well being. Our main asset in this process will be paying attention. Everything we do must become an intentional process. We must become aware, as much as possible, of what we are thinking. Here is another aspect of the self-image we really want to get a handle on. We want to grab on to this and never let it go.

"None of our self-image troubles lie in how we naturally feel about ourselves. It is all in how we think we should see ourselves. It is all one hundred percent learned."

There are only two items that cause us trouble. One is the vision we have of ourselves. The other is the vision we have of the world around us. There is one thing to remember. These visions, these pictures of ourselves and the world out there fall into one of two categories. They are (1) real, or (2) imagined. There is nothing inherently wrong with either. The real vision never gives us any trouble. The imagined vision will cause us trouble - if - we don't know it's not real. This is the blurring of lines that was mentioned as the cause of all troubles, big and small, personal and global. So it follows that if you are unhappy, you have confused the real with the imaginary. That's all. So then, in order to restore the state of happiness we need only to identify the imaginary vision and replace it with one that is real. In order to truly help the global community one must first free themselves. How would we get in this condition? How did we come to believe, or accept things, that aren't real? Learning is just taking in data. Here is just one example of some goof ball data. We're constantly presented with images for the purpose of comparison. It's intentional and any entity that wants something from you uses this tactic. The message may be, you're not quite good enough, but if you do this you can be. Watch for it. You'll see it everywhere. People drinking beer are happier than you. So are people eating tacos. So are people who believe Jesus is there savior. People who work at certain jobs and have a certain status, are happier than you. Conforming to a societal convention creates happy living conditions. People who drive, own, belong to, believe in...It's an insidious assault being waged against us. This mass hypnosis is the dark plague of the century. This is a Key.

This data, that makes me feel I should be something, or that things should be this way, has to be replaced. This unconscious responding to programming is creating whatever unhappiness we're involved in.

Myself: as a case scenario. I had one of many possible reactions to peoples constant attempt to shape me. I was at my wits end sooner than most. I started getting in fights in grade school and by the time I was in middle school I was fairly certain that I wasn't going to make it in the world I saw (society and it's demands on me). More and more as I slid away I was told that if I conformed everything would be better. I would be better. Eventually I got so full of being told what to do that if someone raised there voice at me I'd just lose it. I really couldn't take any more. I didn't want to think about anything. I was done thinking. I didn't have any satisfactory stuff to think about. All thinking did was lead me into a deeper state of bewilderment. Other people will stop thinking and just conform. We are all assaulted with a bombardment of data. It is much like finding ourselves in a never ending hailstorm. One way or another we have to survive it. We all start with a brain and data. This, reacting instead of thinking, is far from an isolated case. Most people are simply reacting. There are a lot of people in prison who aren't able, in a given situation, to think. They aren't sure what happens but situations arise and they snap and its over. The deed, whatever it may be, is done. It could be said this reaction comes from the primitive part of the brain. That these peoples brains didn't develop normally due to catastrophic environmental events or a genetic defect. Or we've stunted the natural brain development process with drugs. That using drugs altered the brain chemistry. Well, that's true. It's just not exclusive. Neither is the condition confined to any of the previously mentioned scenarios. This being the case what tools are available for rewiring or augmenting the system? What will help reengage the frontal cortex in the reasoning process. What would that tool look like? A molecule? Can adding or subtracting a chemical change us into a thinking, reasoning creature, instead of a crocodile? What if I stop taking the molecule?

Was my anger a product of my genetic brain structure or data? What if a person never takes enough drugs? What if a person doesn't take any drugs. I know that's hard to imagine but it's possible. Are they susceptible to the condition? Of course they are. Differences in brain chemistry cause people to behave differently. This is not a mystery or cause for debate. What are the environmental factors in brain chemistry? Something that most people don't want to talk about? What are the probable causes for chemical alterations in the brain? Whatever they are and they are many we have to find the ones we can deal with and deal with them. We can all control, to some degree, the ingesting of toxins. Chemically toxic environments cause us a tremendous amount of mental and physical suffering. Stressful environments at work and at home are also causes we can do something about. If we dealt with all this stuff and we still had visions of ourselves and the world that were fictitious we would still have the same problems. On the other hand if we rid ourselves of our "unrecognized fictitious believe systems" we could be happy as we were slowly poisoned and worked to death.

Back to the kooky reactions and recognition. Whether its a violent act or one where you find yourself sitting on the bed looking at a pile of purchases you couldn't afford, its all the same. Maybe you could afford them. Maybe you just didn't need them or had decided to stop spending money so you could save some, its all the same. Things happen and we don't know why. This is no way to live. The source of this trouble, whether you're in prison for assault or sitting at work unable to stop thinking about all the things that annoy you, it's the same. Therefore the solution is the same.

First, we need to catch this stuff in the act. We need to start acting instead of reacting. Or better put, become our own bosses. We will, when we are ready, get started on a self determined path. At some point we realize there is no point in blaming anyone.

For now we might not want to refer to these processes as thoughts at all. Its not as if there was a identifiable thought process. We don't examine an emotional state-put on our thinking caps-and decide to go shopping. We don't shop because we find the acquisition of things healthy and therapeutic. With this type of stuff it just doesn't go like that. We're usually: just there. At the store, at the fridge, wrestling on the lawn or whatever. We only have, at this point, two options. We either run the show, or read the lines we're handed. I, speaking only for myself, want to have absolute dominion over my brain. I don't want it to take me places. I want to decide what I want to do, how I'm going to feel, choose what thoughts to think and gain as much autonomy as possible. Don't you? In order to start the process of changing the brain we first have to decide what we want to be. We have to understand why we want to act different than we are. We don't look at who we want to be. We're good there because "what" we are defines and creates the "who". The what involves action. We must see a what that is real.

When is anger good? When is it best to worry? Why am I in a hurry, where is it I feel I need to be and where did that idea come from? Who made that decision? Am I supposed to be somebody? These are questions I put to myself. I decided I would put an end to the entire, out of control, reactionary syndrome. It was a good decision. It didn't stop the same goofy thought/emotion stuff from happening again but that's not the function of a decision. If we have practiced meditation and discovered something of paying attention we will start to be more aware of what our brains are doing: as they do it. Again, this will be key to our success. If we don't remember anything else, remember "pay attention". We see this, its happening, now we have it, it no longer has us. It won't necessarily feel any better but we have assumed the primary role. We are in a position of power. Power to decide, power to control our own lives. This "paying attention" is where the action is. This is where the fun begins.

Now this may sound like somebodies mommy but one the "must dos" in this process is that we eat and sleep as good as we can. We'll want to take advantage of all the easy stuff. We will want to eliminate as many causal factors as we can. Diet and sleep are major causes in brain health. It won't do us much good to work at something all day and sabotage ourselves through something as simple as eating and sleeping. This is the best site I've ever found - natural health techniques for diet and health...ever. It's run by the little goddess of goodness. If you have questions, ask her. She is living among us in her human form (just so we can talk to her). Watch this video on "Nutrition and Behavior". We have to keep in mind what we're trying to change. The brain is a chemical. Under that it's energy. If we approach it in this way we can do a lot to help ourselves. The chemical balance we treat first and foremost by regulating our eating and sleeping. What do we do about the underlying energy?

Watching and spinning thoughts

We keep an eye on the brain. We keep it in our sites. We examine it. We sense the feelings associated with it. We want to become familiar with those feelings. Here is a little trick that will let you get a picture of the structure of feeling. Feelings spin. Everything spins because everything is energy. Energy has a structure. The whole structure is connected. So we can effect it because we are connected to it. Not magically. Physically. If we focus on the feeling we can sense the spin and if we stay with it we can sense the direction of the spin. Now reverse the spin. It's not a requirement that you be any good at this. There was a time you couldn't get an ear of corn to your mouth without hitting your forehead with it. We just see what it might look like. We feel where this spinning energy is happening. Then we interfere with it. See if when you do get it spinning in reverse that it feels different. Spin it sideways if you don't like reverse. Keep playing with it and see what happens.

These brain/thought processes are producing the chemicals we call feelings. These feelings are why we go shopping, why we are scared or stewing or worrying or trying to get somewhere: anywhere but here. Our path to freedom is two fold. We need to know what we do and why we do it.

Staying

When, through paying attention, we see a thought/emotion in action we are now looking at the condition of all suffering. Now, we are looking at the directly connected cause of discomfort. This we can observe from our new vantage point. Now we just stay put. Don't move or follow your brains directive, which is always move, run, get away. We will breathe and pay attention to our breath as the feeling runs through us, we will not try to fix it or analyze it we will just be there and feel it and breathe. Aware of both at once. Now you are in charge, you've made a decision and are following your own course. We don't defeat anything. Its not through force that we claim dominion of ourselves. It is recognition. We will recognize that its not going to kill us. It may be uncomfortable and even painful but we will suffer no harm. The harm comes from running: we run into things. When you go through this: when you know you can stay through the whole onslaught; this is what you are. You are the thing in charge. At this point you have changed the brain. This new memory is now logged. No doubt there is more to be done but if you can get to this point you can continue to do anything you want.

Pema Chodrin, who is a Buddhist nun, calls it creating a space around it. This is a perfect picture. To decrease the size of the feeling and the accompanying intensity we move from being trapped in the closet with it to a large open field and we see that, in comparison to all that is, its just a little insignificant...thing.

"Getting the Data"

Why would we need new data? Can't we be OK just dealing with feelings? Not me. I don't want to do that the rest of my life. Do you? We all live in stories. Real or unreal. If the stories were OK, then we'd be OK. The silly ideas and thoughts and feelings wouldn't arise. We would not need to cope. There would be nothing to cope with. All people who live in the unreal stories and seem to be OK? They're asleep. The part of their brains that should be going nuts, is not on. They might wake up. If they do they'll have the same reactions as we trouble makers. There are also levels of awakening. But for now we might want to find some better stories to believe. Or better yet, making our own. You know that saying, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything"? I think that the opposite is true. We need better stories to address our "who am I" trauma. I can tell you now that who you are is good enough. I know this. You and I are good enough. You might need more convincing so you'll want to get some more data. The way we feel about ourselves will change as we replace the false doctrine we have accepted with something sane. Something based on reality. To start with you can get a bunch of data right here on the site. The main cause of all trauma in the world today, is that we have been intentionally hypnotized and traumatized through a kind of force feeding of crappy data. You will, of course, come to believe this for yourself, or not. One can never find out and hang on to the stories that produce trauma. I have heard people, who are in the midst of suffering, say that they "know" that if they keep doing what they are doing it will all work out. Can you think of one reason for this being true? Isn't it obvious that they need to stop doing what they are doing? This happens mainly with people who have unreal religious beliefs. These folks are also the most likely to go on to the bitter end. This is because they are scared and are made to feel guilty. Thoughts about discarding their religious ideas causes more fear and guilt. But I also know people who suffer terribly from not living up to some devised societal standard. Learning the facts about religion and society are the first moves to make in the two cases. We must start with ourselves and the stuff closest to us. What can we see from our window? What is society? Why do we really have huge cities? Where do morals come from? I have provided audio, video, news and other resources to assist you in re-examining the world we live in. I suggest you start your data input course here and absorb as much as possible. Keep in mind that we can benefit from people who we don't really like. If we are Open minded and willing to listen we might take a grain of good away from an hour of paying attention. If we can set aside our brains biases we can learn a lot. I sent some one a CD which had a ton of info on it by a guy who smart people think of as a genius. I ask him what he thought and he said he didn't really like him. There was just something about him he didn't like. I kept thinking, what's that got to do with anything? I didn't want you to date him I thought you might find it interesting. I would suggest if we want to get data and learn about things then that's what we do.

Neuro-feedback
From: healthymind.com

In 2004 a client that I was treating for ADD and anxiety (in the context of a "love addiction") found significant additional help through a form of treatment called neuro-feedback. He discovered it on the internet and had sought out neuro-feedback on his own. His results were so positive that I investigated neuro-feedback and discovered that it not only can help with ADD and anxiety, but in relapse prevention in addiction treatment. As a result I have become trained as a Neuro-feedback provider.

Characteristics of the addictive process are:

(1) salience, obsession, abnormal or pathological importance of the substance or behavior
(2) persistence, rigidity, stereotypical inflexibility and repetition of the particular addictive
(3) relative immunity to adverse consequences and resistance to learned modification of behavior
the invocation of an interrelated system of psychological defenses which, like a string of military forts, function in concert to protect the individual from the full realization and acknowledgment of the self- and other- harmful nature of his addiction and hence provide cover and concealment for the continued expression of the addictive process.

A great tool for me has been the use of binaural beats. I use them every day or so for as long as I feel like it. Check it out on the Audio page. You have to have stereo headphones.

Synchronized brain waves

Synchronized brain waves have long been associated with meditative and hypnogogic states, and audio with embedded binaural beats has the ability to induce and improve such states of consciousness. The reason for this is physiological. Each ear is "hardwired" (so to speak) to both hemispheres of the brain (Rosenzweig, 1961). Each hemisphere has its own olivary nucleus (sound-processing center) which receives signals from each ear. In keeping with this physiological structure, when a binaural beat is perceived there are actually two standing waves of equal amplitude and frequency present, one in each hemisphere. So, there are two separate standing waves entraining portions of each hemisphere to the same frequency. The binaural beats appear to contribute to the hemispheric synchronization evidenced in meditative and hypnogogic states of consciousness. Brain function is also enhanced through the increase of cross-collosal communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.Investigate all things.

We always look for two things "Is it real? - Does it work?" EFT

"Brain research"

" is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness."

"What we found is that the longtime practitioners showed brain activation on a scale we have never seen before," said Richard Davidson, a neuro-scientist at the university's new $10 million W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior. "Their mental practice is having an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance." It demonstrates, "he said, "that the brain is capable of being trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine."

It seems that science is finally catching up to practices that are literally thousands of years old. It is always amazing and somewhat frustrating that for centuries, millions of people have realized they can rewire their brains; however, science is just now beginning to understand the process and accept that it can actually occur.

Biofeedback

"...and neuro-feedback practitioners use equipment to undergo the same changes that the Buddhist monks undergo through training in the process of meditation. The machines used in biofeedback and neuro-feedback allow the user to move into the same states as Buddhist monks. Sensors are attached to the scalp which permit the neuro-feedback practitioner to view what the brain is doing, called brainwave activity, as it immediately happens via the computer screen. Repeating the practice of neuro-feedback can be very similar to meditation. The Keck Laboratory verifies that physical activities or training can actually rewire the brain and this has been demonstrated for feedback practitioners too."

"The brain uses an enormous amount of the body's energy. Even under normal circumstances it uses about 20 percent of your body's entire energy production. When you work your brain harder, [meditate, use neuro-feedback or biofeedback] you use more. The blood flow goes to the brain and it's really like working out, "says Duke University neuro-biologist Dr. Lawrence Katz.

Executive Director of the Center for Brain Health and professor of behavioral and brain sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, Dr. Sandra Chapman says she wants to dispel the myth that the brain is "an untouchable black box. The brain is highly modifiable by everything we do." Everything we do includes physical exercise, social interaction, meditation, prayer, or playing. Chapman says, "Whatever you spend time doing is what part of your brain is going to strengthen. Don't do random things. Ask yourself if that's the part of your brain you want to build. We see people who lose a lot of their ability, but the first thing to come back is the thing that they did the most."

From our new knowledge of the working brain, it is evident that the opportunity exists to rewire the circuits that are weakest in persons with ADHD, i.e., those circuits that don't allow attention to low-level stimuli like balancing a checkbook, cleaning your room, finishing homework, staying organized, or finishing a project at work. The object is to practice mindfulness and work on the aforementioned specific tasks. I developed Play Attention for just this purpose and science is finally catching up to us.

In referring to rewiring and strengthening the brain, research psychiatrist, Jeffrey Schwartz, of UCLA's Neuro-psychiatric Institute says, "The key really is the refocusing. When you refocus you activate alternative brain machinery... [It] really is like going to the gym; you're strengthening your brain. When you stop doing it, you have a stronger brain... (See: Play Attention.com/attention deficit articles re-wiring your brain meditation adhd a self service guide)

The links below are for use in conjunction with the content of the page...

Information on health and Detoxification at Get a Life.net

Also - Encognitive.com is a "Really Useful Site"

Intuition and the Absolute - Henri Bergson

Henri Bergson defined metaphysics as the science that dispenses with symbols to grasp the absolute.[1] Hence metaphysics involves an inversion of the habitual modes of thought and is in need of its own method, which he identified as intuition.

Henri Bergson defined intuition as a simple, indivisible experience of sympathy through which one is moved into the inner being of an object to grasp what is unique and ineffable within it. The absolute that is grasped is always perfect in the sense that it is perfectly what it is, and infinite in the sense that it can be grasped as a whole through a simple, indivisible act of intuition, yet lends itself to boundless enumeration when analyzed.