NEUROSAINS DAN MASA DEPAN

“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it” – Ernest
Holmes

You are always creating your future. You bring it forth through your thoughts, actions,
feelings, beliefs, values, goals and dreams. You do this regardless of the level of your
conscious awareness. Your present moment awareness coupled with the future that you
create is a deeper reflection of your subconscious programming.

All of your future goals and dreams are not only a reflection of your subconscious
thinking, they are also mediated by your Reticular Activating System (RAS). The RAS is
the part of your brain that serves as a filter between your conscious mind and your
subconscious mind. The RAS, which is located in the core of your brain stem, takes
instructions from your conscious mind, and passes them on to your subconscious mind.

Because of this biological function, whatever you are thinking about or focusing upon
will seep down into your subconscious mind only to reappear at a future time. Have you
ever decided that you wanted to buy a certain car, and shortly there after, you see cars
everywhere like the one you wanted? That is how the RAS works.(1)

Setting your intent plays a key role in encouraging your subconscious mind to bring
forth a desired goal, as well the most optimal future. According to the Merriam-Webster
Dictionary, the word intent is derived from the word intend, which means to direct the
mind and proceed on course towards a goal. The word intent originated from the Latin
intendere, which means to stretch towards.

When you set your intent you are directing your Reticular Activating System to stretch
towards your desired goal and future, and to also enjoy the journey getting there.
To gain an experience with setting your intent and positively programming your RAS, try
saying the following three sentences to yourself:

“I hope to enjoy my dinner tonight.” (Notice how you actually think about this – your
internal pictures, voices, and feelings.)

“I want to enjoy dinner tonight.” (Notice how you actually think about this – your
internal pictures, voices, and feelings—what is different from the first question?”)

“I intend to enjoy my dinner tonight.” (Notice how you actually think about this—your
internal pictures, voices, and feelings—what is different from the first two questions?”)

Pay attention to how each of these simple changes in your language creates a very
different experience. For most people, the first question will produce some doubt. In
other words, multiple images will appear in your mind representing different
possibilities—one is that you may enjoy dinner and the other one being that you won’t.

The second sentence should produce a different representation. When you say, “I want
to enjoy dinner tonight,” you will typically see what you want in the future, but you may
not see yourself having it now. The future then may feel compelling because you see
what you want. But there is still some room for doubt because it is more difficult to put
yourself into the actual experience of achieving it.

The third image of intending to enjoy your dinner should put you into the act of fully
enjoying your experience and being present to it. Intending for something to happen
will generally associate you into the experience of achieving your goal and all the
feelings, images and sounds that go with it.

When you set your intent, you are marrying your subconscious mind with your
conscious will to make something happen. It is like you are sending your Reticular
Activating System a message that you are “expecting” the event to happen, and there is
absolutely no room for uncertainty.
Setting your intent is a way of preparing your subconscious mind and RAS for the kind
of journey that you will have in achieving your desired goal. While setting your goal
represents the end result you want to achieve. For example, Sir Richard Branson set a
goal early in his career to create one of the most successful business empires in the
world. He also set his intent to have as much fun and adventure as he could along the
way. By staying focused on his goal and staying true to his intent, Branson achieved
great success in the business world while having a lot of FUN along the way.

We originally learned about the idea of setting intent from a Peruvian shaman who we
worked with years ago in the deserts of Southern Utah. We were with a group of NLP
Practitioners who were modeling the healing powers of the shaman. One of the men in
the group, Charles, had the beginning symptoms of early Multiple Sclerosis, and asked
the shaman if he would do a healing with him.

The shaman said, “Yes,” and laid Charles down on the ground, and engaged him in a
rather unusual healing ceremony. He first got a rattle out, and shook the rattle over the
Charles’s head, and chanted and sang for a long time. He then picked up the Charles’s
arm and gently spoke to it. He kept doing these kinds of activities for almost an hour.

Finally, the shaman looked at Charles and told him to stand up. He reached out his hand
to help. When the shaman was finished, Charles, stood up and proclaimed with
excitement, ‘I feel a lot better!”

We were all impressed by this, and asked the shaman, “When did the healing actually
take place?”

The shaman looked really confused by our question and replied, “The healing took place
took place when I set my intent. The rest was ceremony.”

What the shaman meant by this comment is that when he was clear on his intent, it
made it easier to achieve his goal of healing the man. Hence, the shaman recognized
that if he and Charles entered into the same system, any change he made would be
reflected in the bigger system including Charles’s health.

In Systems Thinking, there is a presupposition that if one part of the system changes,
then the rest of the system has to change. Anthropologist and systems thinker, Gregory
Bateson, metaphorically addresses the power of intent from a systemic perspective in
his book, Steps to Ecology of the Mind.

“When the phenomenon of the universe is seen as linked together by cause and effect
and energy transfer, the resulting picture is of a complexly branching and
interconnecting chain of events. In certain regions of this universe (notably organisms in
environments, ecosystems, societies, and computers), these chains of relating events
form circuits which are closed, in the sense that causal interconnection can be traced
around the circuit and back through to whatever position we chose as the starting point
of the description. In such a circuit, events at any position within the circuit may be
expected to have an effect on all of the positions at later times.” (2)

Setting your intent is a powerful way of directing your conscious energy and attention
towards your future goal, which in turn helps your subconscious mind and RAS stay
focused on the desired outcome. Your subconscious mind and conscious mind are a
system that co-exists within a larger system that we call reality.

How we think, act, and behave has a direct influence on the greater system of our
external reality. When we set our intent, we are influencing both our inner reality, and
our outer reality in a way that sets a chain of events into motion. We are bringing forth a
new chain of events that are directly related to our deeper subconscious thinking, as
well as our overall intent for the desired outcome and journey that unfolds.

Hence, the shaman was clear on the fact that the actual “healing ceremony” offered
Charles’s subconscious mind something to wrap this process around. The healing ritual
or ceremony was a way to comfort Charles’s subconscious mind, but the action took
place systemically. You can’t change one part of a system without impacting the entire
system. So, when you set your intent, not only are you sending a positive message to
your RAS to create what you want– you are also influencing the greater system around
you.

Not only does intent setting work well with goals and creating your optimal future, it’s
also extremely useful to do throughout the day. For example, you might set your intent
to find a parking space quickly and easily when trying to park your car in a crowded
area. Or perhaps you have a big meeting with your boss and you want the meeting to
run smoothly and effortlessly. You could then set your intent to be calm and to speak
clearly throughout the meeting.

Here is an easy process for setting your intent around certain goals and your future:

Think of the goal or situation that you would like to set your intent for.

Set intent for yourself in terms of the experience that you want to have in that situation,
or in achieving your goal.

If there are other people involved, then set your intent for the kind of interaction that
you would like to have with them. Perhaps you would like to have fun, learn something
new, be productive, feel peaceful, be happy or loving, feel respected, be calm and
helpful, or feel connected with others.

Create a mental movie of what you will be like in that optimal, future situation. Notice
what you are experiencing in the situation once you have set your intent. What are you
hearing? What are you saying to yourself? What are you seeing and what are you
feeling?

How the RAS can help you create the life you have always wanted.

In today's video, I will be sharing with you how to achieve amazing goals in your life, by
teaching you all about your Reticular Activating System (we'll call it RAS for short), and
how to switch it on.

What is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)?

Well, the RAS is a bundle of nerves at the base of your brain stem and its function is to
act as a filter between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. It filters the
millions of pieces of data that the brain is processing per second, and it only allows what
is important and of interest to the conscious mind into its awareness. Our conscious
minds would not be able to cope without this system in place as it would not be able to
compute all the information that surrounds us on a daily basis.

How does the RAS work?

Let's consider the following example:

You have decided to buy a new car and you have even chosen the color - it is going to
be a bright red sports car! You have made that decision and it is now in your
subconscious mind. The next time you are on the road, all you seem to see are red
sports cars!! As you are driving along you notice all the red sports cars - and find
yourself saying, 'oh look there's a red sports car over there' and then you'll see another
one, and another one...because you have now become aware of 'red sports cars' and it
has been filtered through the RAS filter and as this is what is important and of interest
to you today the RAS is filtering out all other colors and types of cars.

Another example is that of a pregnant woman. As soon as she's pregnant she starts to
see and be very aware of, a lot of other pregnant women out there. They were there
before, but until she was pregnant, and it was of interest to her, she just wasn't aware of
them.

Getting the Reticular Activating System to work for you!

Well, let's say that you've decided you want a new career and you've decided where you
want to work and the type of people you'd like to work with, and the type of work that
you'd like to achieve.

You set that intention, and you make that your goal... and so that filters through your
RAS and then into your subconscious mind. So your subconscious mind now lets your
conscious reality become aware of all the people, all the opportunities, all the
experiences that are of importance to you. All the ideas will suddenly come rushing
through, of exactly what it is that you want.

When you make that conscious decision and that goal, and write it down and speak
about it and feel very passionate and emotional about it, visualizing it and dream about
it....well, that is how it goes through your RAS filter....of exactly what you want, and then
your subconscious mind will then bring that into your reality.

Changing negative thoughts to positive ones and making the RAS work for you.

Now, this is all great if you're thinking positive thoughts and you've set that intention in
the positive. But what happens when it is something that you're feeling negative about?
When you say things to yourself like "I am never on time"; "I am stuck in this job and I
don't like the people I am working for" - all of what you are saying, thinking and feeling
will be even more prevalent as it goes through your RAS filter. The RAS does not
distinguish between what you 'want' and what you 'don't want' it simple filters out
everything else that you are NOT focussing on. So negative thoughts are filtered
through the RAS and your attention and subconscious mind will continue to focus on
these negative thoughts and feelings drawing more of that into your consciousness and
reality!

Change what you say to yourself! When you catch yourself thinking of what you don't
want - change it to what you do want. It is as simple as catching that thought and
repeating it in the positive.

One of the best ways to change negative thought patterns is to write them down and
then rewrite them in the exact opposite. For example change "I am never on time" to "I
choose to be on time" and change "I am stuck in this job and I don't like the people I
am working for" to "I am open to new job opportunities and possibilities and I look for
the good and the positive in everyone I work with".

The RAS will get to work and focus in on the positive experiences, thoughts and feelings
that you DO WANT. Then the RAS, instead of the filter being focussed on negative
experiences and realities it is switched to looking for and focussing on the positive and
uplifting experiences.

Whatever we focus on we get more of! Wherever our attention goes, energy flows!

Be aware of your thoughts and how they affect the RAS.

So, be mindful of making your intent 'positive'. Become very much aware of, 'what I do
want", and "what I do want to experience" and "what I do want to feel". Write it down,
put energy and passion into it. Speak to people about what you do want because you
are now aware of your Reticular Activating System and how it works all the time.

This filter will bring you what you're focusing on into your reality, so make sure it's
positive and make sure it's something that you want, so then you can control the reality
and what happens to you in your life, which is very, very powerful!!

I wanted to share this with you today, I hope you enjoy and let me know how it helps
you, on your journey x

If you want it, you might get it. The Reticular Activating System explained

by Tobias van Schneider

I’ve always been fascinated with superheroes for the same reasons kids are: They wear
costumes. They beat bad guys. They have awesome powers. The older I get, though, the
more I realize how amazing real human beings are.

Our brains are incredibly complex. We can sift through billions of bits of data at any
given time. And somehow, so we don’t short circuit, we have to organize that
information. The Reticular Activating System helps with that.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters
out unnecessary information so the important stuff gets through.
The RAS is the reason you learn a new word and then start hearing it everywhere. It’s
why you can tune out a crowd full of talking people, yet immediately snap to attention
when someone says your name or something that at least sounds like it.

Your RAS takes what you focus on and creates a filter for it. It then sifts through the data
and presents only the pieces that are important to you. All of this happens without you
noticing, of course. The RAS programs itself to work in your favor without you actively
doing anything. Pretty awesome, right?

In the same way, the RAS seeks information that validates your beliefs. It filters the world
through the parameters you give it, and your beliefs shape those parameters. If you
think you are bad at giving speeches, you probably will be. If you believe you work
efficiently, you most likely do. The RAS helps you see what you want to see and in doing
so, influences your actions.

Some people suggest that you can train your RAS by taking your subconscious thoughts
and marrying them to your conscious thoughts. They call it “setting your intent.” This
basically means that if you focus hard on your goals, your RAS will reveal the people,
information and opportunities that help you achieve them.

If you care about positivity, for example, you will become more aware of and seek
positivity. If you really want a pet turtle and set your intent on getting one, you’ll tune in
to the right information that helps you do that.

When you look at it this way, The Law of Attraction doesn’t seem so mystical. Focus on
the bad things and you will invite negativity into your life. Focus on the good things and
they will come to you, because your brain is seeking them out. It’s not magic, it’s your
Reticular Activating System influencing the world you see around you.
Articles and sketchy YouTube videos suggest many ways to train your RAS to get what
you want, but I find this method to be the most practical:

First, think of the goal or situation you want to influence.

Now think about the experience or result you want to reach in regards to that
goal/situation.

Create a mental movie of how you picture that goal/situation ideally turning out in the
future. Notice the sounds, conversations, visuals and details of that mental movie.
Replay it often in your head.

Of course, in reality these things aren’t as easy as they sound, but I do believe that our
Reticular Activating System (RAS) can be trained. It’s about visualizing what we want,
and then letting our subconscious and conscious work together to make it happen.

The idea is: If I can hear my own name in a crowd of thousands, can I also tune my brain
to focus and attract the things that matter to me? I’m fairly certain I can. This is why I
keep my Big List with me wherever I go, and reread it often. I have to continually refocus
and remind my brain what matters and what doesn’t.

We’re only a couple months into our New Year’s Resolutions (or in my case, Anti-
Resolutions) and it’s easy to quit on our goals. If we set our intent and refocus, though,
our RAS might help us out. Our brains look out for our best interests. Our RAS is filtering
through billions of pieces of data so we can see and hear and be what we want to be.
Sounds kinda like superpower to me.

Have a fantastic week,

Tobias

PS: I usually send out these articles via my personal email list right here. You can sign up
anytime, I won’t spam, promise.
Thanks for hitting the 💙 if you enjoyed this article. This will tell me to write more of it!

Tobias is a Designer & Maker + Co-Founder of Semplice, a portfolio platform for

designers. Also host of the show NTMY — Previously Art Director & Design Lead at
Spotify.

Meet the Reticular Activating System (RAS)!

Reticular means “net or web-like.” The RAS is a net-like formation of nerve cells and
their connections lying deep within the brainstem, between the brain and the spinal
cord.

Importantly, the RAS is not involved in interpreting the quality or type of sensory input.
Rather, it activates the entire cerebral cortex with energy, waking it up, increasing its
level of arousal and readiness for interpretating incoming information and preparing the
brain for appropriate action.

You will notice in the diagram on the right that specific sensory information comes into
the RAS and the outflow goes to the entire cortex of the brain, waking it up and
preparing it for the work is has to do.

The RAS is involved in almost everything we do.

All learning requires at least a minimal level of arousal in order to attend, concentrate,
remember and put learning into memory storage.

The ability to regulate emotions, which often feed into behavioral issues, also depends
upon sufficient levels of cortical arousal to inhibit impulses and to control strong
emotions. Under-aroused children tend to be fussy, irritable, difficult to manage and are
unavailable for learning.

Can iLs enhance the RAS?

The multi-sensory input of iLs has a profound effect on increasing activation of the RAS,
thereby increasing the arousal of the entire brain to function optimally and effortlessly.
A study by Dr. Sarah Schoen measuring the effect of iLs on arousal levels and auditory
processing is currently submitted for publication and provides objective evidence to
support what most iLs Associates are well aware of. That is, the iLs program produces
positive results related to improved attention, stabilized levels of arousal and the ability
to learn and retain information.

Dr. Sarah Schoen’s study on Arousal with the SPD Foundation used both behavioral
measures and electrodermal skin response to measure arousal levels in children with
Sensory Processing Disorder. Her study found that both under-responsive and over-
responsive children achieved normal levels of arousal by the end of a 3-month iLs
Program.

Reticular Activating System (RAS) Helps You Overcome Personal Barriers To

Change

Siong Lai W.

Our brain is a complex organ that consists of many parts and regions. One of them is
the reticular activating system (RAS), which connects the brain stem to the cerebral
cortex and plays a key role in regulating wakefulness and sleep-wake transitions.

The RAS also helps us filter out unnecessary noise and focus on important stimuli.
During the time of change that needs us to learn new skills or adapting to new
situations, the RAS can help us stay alert and attentive. It can also activate our survival
instincts and emotions, which can motivate us to overcome challenges and achieve our
goals. Thus, the RAS is one of the oldest parts of the brain, but it still influences our
cognition and behavior in many ways.

How we overcome personal barriers to change: The Reticular Activating System (RAS)

What is the RAS from the science point of view?

It's good to know about the fundamental first. The RAS is a bundle of nerves at the base
of your brain stem that acts as a filter between your conscious mind and your
subconscious mind. It filters out millions of pieces of data that your brain is processing
per second, and only allows what is important and of interest to you into your
awareness.

A general example of this wonderful function of RAS is if you decide to buy a new car
and you choose a specific model and color, you will start noticing that car everywhere
on the road. That's because your RAS has filtered out all other cars and brought that
one into your attention.

How can the RAS help us overcome personal barriers to change?

We can train the RAS to focus on what we want instead of what we don't want. Many
times, we have negative thoughts and beliefs that limit our potential and prevent us
from achieving our goals. For example, we might think "I'm not good enough", "I can't
do this", or "I don't deserve this", and others. These thoughts create a negative feedback
loop in our subconscious mind that reinforces our fears and doubts.

What if we could change those thoughts into positive ones? What if we could use our
RAS to filter out the negativity and bring in the positivity?

That's exactly what we can do by setting clear intentions, writing down our goals,
visualizing our desired outcomes, affirming ourselves daily, expressing gratitude for
what we have, and so on. By doing consistently, we are sending signals to our RAS that
this is what we want in our life. And then our RAS will start looking for opportunities,
resources, people, ideas, and others that can help us achieve those goals.
Let's say, if you want to change your career and work in a different field or industry, you
can set that intention by writing it down in detail: where do you want to work? What
kind of people do you want to work with? What kind of work do you want to do? How
will you feel when you get there? Then you can visualize yourself working in that
environment every day. You can also affirm yourself by saying things like "I am capable",
"I am worthy", "I am ready for this change", etc. And finally, you can express gratitude
for all the skills and experiences that you have gained so far that will help you in your
new career.

Done regularly, you are training your RAS to filter out anything that does not align with
your goal and bring into your awareness anything that does. Start to notice job
openings in your desired field or industry. It will be easier to arrange meeting with
people who can connect you with potential employers or mentors. Get yourself inspired
by new ideas or insights that can help you prepare for interviews or projects. Overall,
you will start to feel more confident and motivated about making your change happen.

In summary, the RAS is a powerful tool that can help us overcome personal barriers to
change by focusing on what we want instead of what we don't want. It can help us
create positive feedback loops in our subconscious mind that reinforce our beliefs and
actions towards our goals. Probably, you take some time to think about what changes
do you want to make in your life? What are some personal barriers that are holding you
back from making those changes? And how can you use your RAS to overcome those
barriers?

What is the reticular activating system? The reticular activating system (RAS) definition
is: a mesh-like bundle of neurons (reticul- meaning "network") situated in the brain
stem. It goes through the hindbrain, midbrain, and hypothalamus which is a part of the
forebrain. It is about the size of a little finger and two inches long. The RAS, despite
being a small region of the brain, plays a critical role. It ensures that the brain does not
have to process more data than it can handle. As a result, the sensory information is
heavily influenced by the RAS. The reticular activator is a region of the brain that is
always active. Its role is to pay attention to some things while ignoring others. Visceral,
somatic, and sensory systems all provide input to the RAS. Acetylcholine, noradrenaline,
dopamine, serotonin, and histamine are some of the neurotransmitters used in this
system. This lesson will explain the reticular activating system in detail.