How to Harness the Power of your Amazing Mind to Make Life More Lovely
Like many homes up and down the country, we’re entering silly season in my household, with all three of my delightful offspring facing a barrage of exams. One of my favorite reminders as they leave the house is to give themselves a “happiness hit” just before entering the exam room - and of course, because they’re teenagers, they often roll their eyes at me.
The happiness hit is based on a study conducted in 1997 where three researchers set experienced doctors the challenge of diagnosing medical conditions in a role play environment. The group that were primed for happiness not only diagnosed more accurately, but they also did so faster than the control group.
But guess how they were primed for happiness? They were given a lollypop! And that’s where the reminder to my kids comes in. Just one small action like that primes the mind to perform faster and more accurately. Why wouldn’t anyone want to take advantage of that?
Positive thinking is powerful, and science is finally catching up to what God put in to play eons ago as He laid the foundations of the world. The way that your mind is wired is not an accident! But I’m not here today to persuade you on the merits of positivity. Instead, I’d love us to get really practical and leave you with something you can put into action in your own day to day life right away.
Yes, today we are focusing on one of my absolute favorite areas of brain science …. the reticular activating system. The reticular activating system is a collection of neurons in the back of your brain and whilst they have a number of functions, including regulating temperature, for our purposes today, their most interesting job is to act as a filter.
Think about the last time you bought a new car. If you’re anything like most people, you suddenly found your town awash with cars just like yours. Or maybe your eldest just started learning to drive and suddenly you can barely travel more than a mile without seeing a learner driver on the road. Or someone you love finds out that they’re expecting a baby and the pavements are awash with pushchairs. What just happened?!
Much like how the Facebook algorithm filters in information based on your likes, comments, and clicks, your reticular activating system adjusts what you notice according to those things it deems important.
New car, learner driver, baby on the way … these are all significant enough events for your brain to start filtering in more of the same. But, just like how you can hack the Facebook algorithm by being intentional about what you engage with, you can hack your reticular activating system. Better than that, your amazing Creator wrote the book on personal development and we have the “how” laid out for us in black and white:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV
Every time you think about, notice, or pay attention to the things in your day that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, your amazing mind logs that information, deems “noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy” as important to you, and starts serving up more of the same.
And yes, this happens more naturally for some than others, but our minds aren’t fixed.
Science is finally catching up to what God knew all along when He created us. Our minds are incredibly wired. We can literally change the pathways in the brain with the power of our thoughts. Much like the dirt track shortcut across a field that gets more pronounced as people use it, the easier it becomes to “think lovely thoughts” the more you practice doing so.
Okay El, I’m sold! How do I start harnessing the power of the reticular activating system?
You start by starting! When you get to the end of this paragraph, stop reading. Look around you for those things in your immediate surroundings that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy”. (And then come back because there’s more!)
Did you do it? Great! Rinse and repeat. Set timers if you find yourself forgetting to play. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. (The very act of doing, signals to your brain that this is important to you. It’ll start nudging and filtering those things in!)
Before you know it, you’ll find it almost impossible not to notice the lovely things around you. Your day-to-day happiness levels will increase, the important stuff will get done, and you’ll find yourself pausing in wonder at the power of your amazing Creator.