Reticular Activing System

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast. If you're tuning in for the first time, so happy to have you here. So happy to have you join. If it is your first time here, um, we talk about a lot of things on here. We try to talk about how to use our most powerful tool, which is, in my opinion, our our mind, our brain, to help us navigate life, you know, deal with life, live the best version of our life possible, and just be mentally healthy versions of ourselves. And we we do that by covering a lot of topics and a lot of things. Um today, I actually thought about talking about the reticular activating system, which uh is a part of our brain. Um, it's a part of kind of the deep uh what I would call the subconscious part of our brain, kind of that uh that that deep part of our brain that we really aren't aware of, but is there in the background all the time doing all these certain things, and it's just so responsible for so much of the way we behave and the way we think. And anyway, um, you know, manifestation and visualization has become kind of something that you hear a lot about. People are always talking about oh, if you want something, manifest it, if you want something, visualize it, if you want something, you know, tell yourself that you can get it. And you know, goal setting also has been something for a very long time that people have recognized is beneficial. Like when I say goal setting, I mean not just thinking about what you want out of life, like making a concrete list of you know, definable milestones, definable achievements, definable goals that you want to accomplish within a definable time frame. And you know, usually people say write them down, like write them on paper, say them aloud, things like that. And like, you know, it it is a that's a form of manifestation. Like you will manifest essentially that life that you want more so than if you if you didn't do those things, you know, like maybe you you think about your dreams and your long-term dreams, but you don't you don't think about them in a concrete fashion, you don't write them down, you don't write down the steps that are required to get to those goals, like that sort of thing. And um, you know, and like I like I've said on here before, and I'll say on here again, I am not an expert in mental health, I am not an expert in how the brain functions, I'm not an expert in neuroscience, none of that stuff. Um, I do work in healthcare, but not in that field. So I do not claim to be an expert in any way, shape, or form. Everything I talk about on this podcast is because it's stuff that has been told to me by experts, is stuff that I have read, you know, written by experts, and there's a little piece of my own journey and my own experiences kind of mixed in there. So always, always, always, always go to people who are experts in this field for all the information and also read up on stuff yourself. I mean, we we live in a world where information is literally at our fingertips when it comes to the internet and it comes to smartphones and computers and all that stuff. And yes, you gotta, as I always say, you gotta cite your source. You know, you don't want to go to um bad sources that have misinformation because there's a lot of that circulating around in the internet as well. Like you gotta do your due diligence and you gotta make sure you're going to um, you know, a website or a source that is validated, is certified, is qualified to be giving you information. Obviously, that's part of it, but the information is out there. So don't sit back on your couch and wait for people to come to you with information or wait for people to deliver to you information. There is a vast amount of information out there on living better, doing better, being better, and you you should tap into that because investing in yourself, investing in your own well-being is the best investment you'll ever make, and the best use of your time you'll ever you'll ever make. You know, I am still I'm still doing more of a deep dive into this because it is important to me, even though I put that disclaimer out there, it is important to me to to do these podcasts and deliver useful and real information. I have no desire to do this and give anyone bad or wrong information. So I do try to research and look into the things I talk about on here. Um, and I do plan on definitely doing a deeper dive into this and maybe doing a deeper podcast about this in the future. But based on based on what I understand now, based on what I've read, the lectures I've listened to, this, that, and the other, the reticular activating system is really pretty cool. And when you talk about manifestation, when you talk about visualization, when you talk about writing your goals down and how big of a difference that makes, all that stuff, you know, it all of it is it can be brought, it can be tied back into the reticulating activating system. And basically, so in in the simplistic sense of explaining this, you know, based on what I have read and what I have lectures I have listened to, and this, that, and the other. So the reticulating activating system is a system, so it's you know, it encompasses multiple parts of our brain, and it is kind of the subconscious part of our brain. So we talk on this podcast a lot about you know what I call the conscious part of our brain, and then what I call kind of the animal, subconscious, primal part of our brain. So the reticular activating system lives in that subconscious part of our brain. So it's there, it exists. We don't really know what it's doing, you know, in our conscious mind, but it's very much um a part of what drives our emotions, our actions, our thinking, you know, every part of our being. So essentially, you know, the this part of your brain takes input mostly from your ears and your eyes, and basically takes a perception of something. So that's the other that's the other thing to note here. The reticular activating system is not really that great at really getting down into the details. Like it can't, it doesn't take really detailed impact input. Um, what it's better at is kind of like this generalization of how you perceive something, how you feel about something, how something makes you feel. You know, it's kind of it's kind of a generalization. Um, but it it takes, it combines your perception and then tags those perceptions to what we call neuromodulators. And uh, you know, there's there's multiple neuromodulators in our body, but there's four what they call like primary ones. And out of those four primary ones, you have serotonin, which is kind of the neuromod, and neurom so neuromodulators, imagine them, they're kind of like a blueprint, they're kind of like a a pathway, so to speak. So what's interesting about the this part of the brain, the reticular activating system, is it it takes things you're seeing and you're hearing, it takes input and your perceptions and then links it to a neuromodulator. And vice versa, it will take a neuromodulator and link it to a perception or an input. So it's kind of a a snowball cycle, but essentially, like I said, there's multiple neuromodulators in the body, but there's four primary ones: epinephrine and acetylcholine is kind of like the energy and the focus ones. And then you have the two that I'm sure most people have heard of: dopamine and serotonin. So serotonin is the neuromodulator that kind of sets the pathway for feeling content, feeling grateful, feeling happy, you know, feeling very much at peace with where you are, you know, with what your life looks like, what you have in your life. It's like that, it's the neuromodulator for the feelings and the actions that would link to just being grateful and not needing to change anything, just being very content with where you are. Dopamine, on the other hand, is a neuromodulator associated with pathways for desire, passion, ambition. You know, it's it's the like it's the one where it's like, I want more, I need more, you know, I want more of this, I want to do this. Like, it's the one that drives us to do things and to do something different and to try something different and to be something different. So those two neuromodulators obviously, you know, in a healthy individual balance each other out, um, and they both have their roles to kind of balance contentment and peace versus the desire to do better, to be better, to have more, to have passion for projects and things like that. So essentially, what we can do is we can guide our nervous system by utilizing the the reticulating activating system. We can guide our nervous system to bucket certain things in the pathway of certain neuromodulators, and therefore we can guide our nervous system to parse out resources to those things that we have identified in those certain pathways. And by uh parsing off resources, I mean both attention to what we already know, perhaps deep down in our brain, that we don't even realize we know it, but it's there, like we have the information in the archive, like it's down there somewhere, and all of a sudden now we're we're bringing out that knowledge, we're bringing out that information, like we're bringing out those resources, and then additionally, external resources, like all of a sudden now our focus is shifted, and you you you hear the example a lot about um, so like potentially, this is one example people talk about a lot. Like, let's say you've decided that you want a blue forward expedition, like that's the new car you want, and you've decided that's what you want. All of a sudden, now because you have tagged, you have tagged the blue forward expedition in your reticular activating system, you have tagged that as something that you are now associating with the pathway related to the dopamine neuromodulator. Now, all of a sudden, your subconscious brain realizes that you want a blue forward expedition, and like that is that is the goal, that is the desire, that is what we have to have. So now, all of a sudden, every time you are on the road, every time you're on the interstate, every time you see a forward blue exped, you know, expedition roll by, you take notice of it, and you're like, oh, well, there it goes, there it goes. Like, whereas before you wouldn't have necessarily recognized it as profoundly. And then additionally, you're probably gonna spend a lot of time and energy reading about the Ford Blue Expedition. You're gonna like probably know a lot more about it, you're gonna do research on it, you're gonna, you're going to dedicate resources to now this thing because you have identified this thing and linked it to the dopamine neuromodulator in your reticular activating system, in the subconscious part of your mind that does things without us even realizing it is doing it. So when you think about it in those terms, it's it's actually like such a cool thing. I mean, the the biochemistry of it is just so incredible. The way our brain functions is so incredible. How powerful the brain is is so incredible. And you know, when you think about specifically serotonin and dopamine, you know, one is one is down the pathway of contentment and peace, and I don't need anything else, and one is down the pathway of I need more, I want more, I need better. So, like when you think about those two neuromodulators in themselves, you know, you you have to realize, because it's it's really complex system, but the detail, you know, when you break it down, it's pretty actually simple. The the basic neurological system is always drawing you to something and pushing you away from something else. And once we realize that, that's where we can use it to our advantage, and that's where things like manifestation, goal setting, that all comes into play. And there's nothing magical about it, it's not like there's any like magic craziness to it. You are simply using your brain to do what it is designed to do, which is to recognize that something either brings you peace and contentment, or something you know is lacking and you need to go get more of it, or whatever the case may be. You train your mind to put things in your life in those buckets, so that on a subconscious level, without you even thinking about it, your brain, your neurological system, in the way it thinks, feels, acts, like all that stuff, is all of a sudden on that pathway, either toward a thing or away from a thing. So think about that, you know, and then also I think it's interesting to note that the input to the reticular activating system is most notable, you know, between or uh from the ears and the eyes. And I think that's why when people talk about goal setting, just thinking about a goal in your head is not as powerful as writing it down or speaking it aloud because you want your ears to hear it, like and you want your eyes to see it, like that is how you best harness the ability of these neurological processes that we're talking about, and so yeah, the devil is sometimes in the details, and that makes a difference. Like going to like going home and sitting in your recliner at night and thinking about the life you want for yourself is not as powerful as writing down concrete goals and concrete steps and or saying them aloud so your ears can hear them and your brain can hear them. So think about that as you as you go forward. Again, I'm not an expert, do reading on this yourself because this is a powerful, powerful system, and understanding it is how we utilize it best. So I encourage everyone read about it, become become a pseudo-expert yourself, you know, get all the information, figure out how to use it to the best of your ability to to suit you as well as it can. Because I mean, these are just these are just normal biological things that exist in our body, and we should be using them to the best of our ability to give us you know the best life we can get. Like I said, we'll do, I'm gonna do continue to do more research on this, continue to get more knowledgeable about it. Hopefully, we'll do a deeper dive podcast later down the road and um go from there. And hey, like I said, read about it yourselves. If you find out, if you find out different information, if you find out better information, like drop it in the comments because that would be that would be that interaction would be amazing. And um we we are always learning from each other. So, you know, I welcome everyone's expertise and everyone's knowledge. The point of this is just to get everyone thinking and hopefully doing some reading on your own so you know how to best use your mind to the best of your ability. Alright, I hope everyone has a great rest of your day, and we'll talk again soon. Please tune back in. Please share this with uh with anyone that you think might like it. That would be that would just be that would make me over the moon. The more people that listen to this, like the more excited I get about it. So, alright, we'll talk again soon. Bye.