Workings of the mind

The brain has always been fascinating not only to scientists. It consists of millions of cells and weighs between 1200 – 1500 grams. Information is passed on through chemical transmitters and allows interaction between the brain and body by forming the nervous system. These chemicals are responsible for our mood, for example. The brain is like a computer that manages our entire complex body system. We do not have to worry about our heart beat, breathing, producing hormones etc. In fact these actions are so important that it is beyond our control. Instead everything is programmed in our subconscious mind.

The brain works in four general states determined by the frequency of the electricity generated by the exchange of chemicals in the neural pathways. The four states include full conscious awareness, when the frequency range on an EEG is in the beta range (14-35 Hz). The hypnotic state takes place in the alpha range (8-13 Hz), the dream state in the theta range (4-7 Hz) and during the sleep state the brain activity is in the delta range (0.5-3 Hz).

It is proven that the first 8 weeks are the most important in a baby's life, because during this period the links are set within the brain. Everything that happens to a to a child during the first 7 years determines their behaviour and way of thinking for the rest of their life. Often we do not even remember it, but the information remains stored in our sub-conscious mind and influences us.

Neuro-surgeons found, that the sub-conscious mind can be assigned to three areas in the brain. The first one is the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex. By stimulating nerve cells in this area surgeons could release various memories. The second area is the cerebellum at the back of the brain stem where co-ordination, blending and learnt skills are stored. Injuries in this part of the brain result in jerky and uncoordinated movements. The third area is the hypothalamus, which regulates the endocrine system and involuntary activities, i.e. heartbeat, digestion, temperature etc.

Already Albert Einstein said that we only use about 10% of our brains. The remaining 90% are the Sub-Conscious. Most of the functions controlled by the sub-conscious are done automatically, however, can be influenced by emotions. It is a fact that negative feelings like anxiety or stress for example can cause illness. The sub-conscious also stores everything we catch with our five senses. Unless the brain is injured, this information is restored, although we might not remember it – sometimes for our own protection. It is also the centre of our emotions. Our habits are stored there, so that we do not have to think about things like walking, riding a bike etc, we just do them automatically. The sub-conscious mind allows us to use our imagination, a great tool which we can use for, but unfortunately also against, us. It also gives us the energy and motivation to get things done. The more interested we are, the higher our motivation gets, which is a sign of how much our mind influences our daily lives.

In a way, our minds can hold us captive. Because of conditioning, our beliefs can become set, depriving us of all hope, of even attempting to change our ways. To express how powerful our mind is, we could take an elephant as an example. When a wild elephant is captured in Africa, it is fenced off and left there for a while. After a form of brainwashing, it becomes tame. Then, in a circus, for example, it is shackled to the ground by one leg for long periods. The elephant gets accustomed to it and accepts that it cannot break free from that chain. Since an elephant is very heavy, it sounds obvious to everyone that it should be easy for the elephant to break the chain and run off with one simple tug. But the elephant does not know this, with the image of men being superior, it gives up trying.

We are the same, often tend to give up when things seem fruitless – when we cannot seem to break free from the chain that binds us. That chain can be broken; the chain that holds us down is our belief system.

Negative thoughts cause pessimistic behaviour patterns, just as pessimistic behaviour patterns cause negative thoughts. According to psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz the mind can be at least as powerful as medicine when it comes to remodelling the brain. We can adjust our thinking, which in turn alters our behaviour, which leads to a change in our personality. In order to induce a positive message into the subconscious, the old message must be removed. Since the undesirable old message is not automatically erased by the desired new message, it must be nullified by inducing a positive message. Once we realised that we are creatures of habit, we can develop new patterns by selecting positive habits enjoyable enough to overpower the undesired habits. It is also helpful to "rename" the habits, for example “I am having a nicotine urge,” rather than an attack.

The sub-conscious mind can be compared to a little child. It can only think in pictures. Accepts what is told without rationalising or analysing it. It relates to our beliefs and past experience. Therefore it does not really judge what is good for us. Reason is created by the conscious mind, which forms only 10%. From this we can conduct the rule of mind, that imagination is far more powerful than reason. Imagination is the act of creating pictures in our mind that are not necessarily real. We can use imagination through hypnosis or visualisation to improve our life considerably. However, through constant worrying or negative thoughts we can also use the power to "destroy" ourselves.

With this knowledge it is clear that thoughts are a light form of energy. This means, that we should be careful about what we say or think. Proverbs and phrases like "I am sick to the stomach" etc. used without much thought can in fact direct energy to certain parts of the body and create physical illness because they have become sub-conscious belief through the repetition. Probably one of the best proofs that the mind is stronger than reason are the many successes with placebos. Research has taken place not only in pain relief, but also with heart disease and cancer and it has been found that at least 30% of the patients reacted positively, sometimes even better than to the original medicine. A huge advantage is also that placebos do not have any side effects. Anton Mesmer told already of similar examples in the 18th century, but some doctors still argue these powerful effects of the mind.

In the mid 1800's, James Esdaile started using hypnosis as an anaesthetic during many operations in India and got very positive results, people were less likely to die. Although Mr. Esdaile did not know the exact reason, today we know that the reason was that hypnosis strengthens the immune system. Recent research has proved that emotions or other brain activities influence our immune system.