Filtered Reality

Right this second as you read this, you are only aware of a fraction of your reality and you are missing lots of information that can help you achieve your goals. Why? Because our brains have a filter called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) that selects what sights, sounds and other signals from the real world we are going to take notice of. The more limited your view of the world, of yourself and your potential, the more your experience of the world will confirm your limited view of reality. Mindfulness training wakes us up to the real world where anything is possible.

Alter Your RAS – Tune In To Your Goals

What we are talking about here is a system for cutting out unnecessary distractions. Most of us have experienced the ‘cocktail party effect’. You have entered a busy cocktail party and there is lots of chattering, so much so you have to raise your voice to talk to the person next to you. Suddenly somebody on the other side of the room says your name and you hear it straight away. Sub-consciously, you have a pre-set that says “alert me if somebody says my name” and so your filter, your RAS, lets that signal through while cutting out all the other conversations.

Your Reality Is What You Believe It To Be

What if somebody told you that you could alter that pre-set so as to be alerted to all the information necessary to help you achieve your goals? Wouldn’t it be great? Well it is possible and if there is a divinity that answers prayers, altering the RAS is the mechanism that is used.

Your RAS is busy every single moment, ensuring that you can focus on the things that are important to you. That means that if something is seen as beyond the realms of possibility, it will be dismissed by the RAS without question. You will not see any evidence of its existence because your RAS will be programmed not to deliver the message to your conscious mind.

Conviction Is Essential

If you really believe that you can achieve a goal and decide in your heart to make it happen, your RAS will alter its settings. Like a magic eye that has been activated, a whole new universe will be revealed to you; one that is filled with everything you need for your mission. This universe was there the whole time but you were choosing not to see it, at a subconscious RAS level.

How To Tune The RAS

This concept probably seems easier said than done. After all, in our infinite wisdom and using our logical minds, we have convinced ourselves that we can’t achieve certain goals. We are too old. We haven’t got the money. Who will mind our children? That goal is for clever people. That goal is for people with rich parents…there are dozens of these things floating in our minds, impairing our vision, stopping us reaching our potential. If we are hearing these negative statements from our inner voice and we are convinced that we cannot achieve certain goals then how do we trick the mind? How do we believe the unbelievable?

Mindfulness Is The Key

Conscious thought can reset the RAS but, as discussed, if you don’t consciously believe you can reach the goal you will not create any change at the unconscious level. The solution? Go straight through to the unconscious mind, bi-passing conscious thought. This happens to be how hypnosis works. The first step is to still the mind using ‘meditation’ or ‘mindfulness’.

Every moment of every day, without being aware of it, we are bombarded with ‘mental chatter’. This chattering prevents us from being truly present and engaging with reality. It twists our perception of reality and brings irrelevant emotions to the fore.

When we practice mindfulness or meditation we choose to face this internal chattering head on. By facing it, we become more detached from it. That means we can view IT as another part of reality instead of trying to look THROUGH it. While we are in this state we are able to make positive suggestions to our subconscious mind without interference from negative thought. Remember, negative thoughts are part of the chattering that we have put to one side. Mindfulness brings our consciousness to who we really are; the watcher beyond the thoughts.

For further guidance in ‘mindfulness’ and specialist training in moving meditation using martial arts weapons, get in touch.