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CONTENTS:
It's just a mechanical process - don't get upset!
It can be altered
A thought is simply a physical thing...
Outdated usefulness
To the rescue!!!
Circuits get misactivated, so we need to...
This understanding "piece" is necessary
Coping statements for untrue thoughts
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Written to address the thought that "sticks" many people in a lower level of their power in life, where the lower, primitive brain runs one's life. It is vital that this misthought be understood and that we buy into its damage and that we can cure it totally, to release oneself totally from the negative effects for the rest of our lives!!!!
IT'S JUST A MECHANICAL PROCESS - DON'T GET UPSET!
People believe that the lower brain "has a mind of its own" and/or that within it we have a "child version of ourself" that exists as an entity.
That's nonsense.
In the real world (the physical world) there is no real thing anywhere that is a real child, or anything nearly as smart as a child. There is only a physical set of programs that automatically run after being "triggerered". It is largely non-thinking!
The truth is that the brain has mechanical, physical circuitry that can be fired off to repeat what is already there (in the physical brain, in the form of neuronal patterns) And if a child-like "record in the brain" gets activated we could "deduce" (wrongly) that it is an indication that we have a "child within". We actually just have some circuits that are no more developed or updated than in childhood and those are accordingly activated when there is a match (association) to the circuitry.
The circuitry is real. (It is physical programming of "neuronal patterns", of neurons linking in a pattern to produce a specific effect/result.)
Note that the primitive mind is not capable of much reasoning. It operates mostly on simple "association", where it coughs up everything that roughly matches some associated pattern that might be relevant to whatever is happening.
Much of the operation of the primitive mind is below consciousness. It is a stupid brain, operating off of programs, in a mostly unconsciousness or low consciousness state, one that is automatic and very machine-like.
It is not a "magnificent powerful (creating, thinking) inner being" or "holder of great wisdom".
It is our higher brain that is the magnificently thinking/creating core of who we actually are. (Read the other pieces on the brain, so that you can become the expert on the brain that you should best become in order to manage your life toward being super great! See Thinking Brain, Contents, Links and then follow links in those pieces to what is of further use/interest.)
IT CAN BE ALTERED
What is fired off is what is on the circuitry for the moment, which is analogous to software programming. Such programming, since it is physical, can be erased by the equivalent of scratching a record’s grooves or recording over a tape that has already been used. New circuits are created for new thoughts, often using material from old circuits that the brain sees are not being used. (If you want to truly understand this, you should read the more extensive piece called How You And Your Brain Operate, a 20 page discussion to nail down your massively important understanding of how this core tool operates and can be used for your great benefit!!!!
The brain’s ability to use old material and transfer it to new places is like the Windows program, which is deeper down, in a sense, into the computer, as it supports other programs and reallocates hardware to different uses.
Old circuits will stay in effect as long as they are used, so the idea is to not use the bad ones by stopping their operation as soon as possible so that they won't get a chance to reinforce the existing poor program in the circuitry.
CORE PROGRAM IN THE LOWER BRAIN THAT HAS TO BE FIXED!
Although we'll not cover it deeply here, a dominant trait of the lower brain is that it is strictly engaged in "survival" and avoiding non-survival - and it overdoes it, based on programs that were aimed at survival in the circumstances of the world of 10,000 years ago. (Yes, they are still in existence, as evolution of the DNA is a very, very slow process, taking 10's of thousands of years to change even one "program".)
Although there are more, it is vital that you reprogram its program to keep giving us negative thoughts until it thinks we've solved a problem (which it doesn't often see as being fixed even for a time after it is fixed). One example of the program and its related program is "worrying", which it does automatically unless we interrupt it. It seems we humans believe, along with that lower brain, that if we keep worrying it will give us the incentive to fix our problems that it sees as potentially life threatening - even though far less than 1% of them are!
The problem is that incentivizing the lower brain to keep working on this is mostly useless, as the lower brain does not have the capability to solve problems (the higher brain is needed). But we still believe that if we keep worrying the lower brain will solve the problem/threat - which is an untrue belief. And, unfortunately, what is actually true is that it will drag us down and keep us in fear and stress - and actually disable us to some extent so that we are even less capable. It creates a vicious disabling, downward spiral that ruins our higher brain's ability to function and lowers our ability to function well. See The Fear/Response to know how to understand how it operates and to effectively avoid that killer.
That latter state is one to avoid, so you should install as your #1 priority, restoring ourselves to high functioning homeostasis (a higher state of being and operating) where we use our #1 mode for restoring that, The Life Power Adjusting Tool. Read and learn these two as a core for your life, without which you cannot create a great life!
You must, must, must eliminate the process of worrying/fearing/ruminating where we keep on reinforcing how badly we feel by constantly repeating it on our minds creating a lot of damage to our psyche and body. If we do not intervene and stop that process early on, it will spiral us downward into worse and worse conditions, where it creates burn out, overwhelm, lack of confidence, even depression if you let it go too far.
A THOUGHT IS SIMPLY A PHYSICAL THING...
A thought is simply an electrical current being carried along a circuit with some readable bits of data that trigger mechanical actions, among them would be chemicals.
Any thought is triggered by something. That something could be a random firing off of danger programming that was useful in caveman days as the equivalent of “time to consider this danger so you’ll insure surviving” , emitted on a regular ‘scheduled’ basis. The thoughts, as such, are not realistic (or ‘real’) – and one must learn how to differentiate, as suggested below. (If one is enmeshed in emotions and beliefs that are victimizing oneself, then one still believes that the thoughts are real. That is like believing the stories of fools. Acknowledging that they are not real and are just mechanical approximations would be very freeing.)
The primitive programming might be fired off by an uncomfortability which the brain associates with danger, so it fires off everything it can to handle the danger and insure survival.
OUTDATED USEFULNESS
Of course, nowadays 99.9% of that programming is out dated, as the only legitimate, actual danger is loss of limbs or life.
We do have an added capability of projecting that something will be a threat in the future, but that is just a projection and not real – but the primitive mind reacts just the same as if it were real, because it cannot differentiate in its simplistic operations and rote (mechanical) rules.
TO THE RESCUE!!!
Fortunately, we do have a higher brain that is capable of screening out what makes sense.
To do that the higher brain must devise a useful sequence (a procedure) to screen out nonsense and to see what is really important.
The well-trained higher brain will indeed be able to discern what is “small stuff”, items that have no meaningful consequence in reality. Indeed, it is a true statement, used in a trite less-deep way, to say “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.” In other words, don’t allocate energy to stuff that has no real substance, as it is a waste of energy.
And it is true that 99.9% is actually small stuff, inconsequential, unless we blow it out of proportion and create it as a problem. (A child, or course, doesn’t know yet how to differentiate and manage. But an adult must learn how to do so, and not keep oneself in a child like condition of knowledge and abilities.)
CIRCUITS GET MISACTIVATED, SO WE NEED TO ...
When we create undesired outcomes or comparisons with others or what we “should” have as being problems, circuits get activated to deal with danger and we get “uncomfortable” chemicals. We think of those chemicals with labels such as anxiety, excitement, etc. We seek to get relief from the chemical discomfort, as the body always seeks to return to its safest most effective mode, which is balanced (homeostatic, rested, centered).
People with poor training do not see that a “discomfort” is just a chemical imbalance and not a threat. They see it as a threat, sending off signals along the danger circuitry, which then fires off more chemicals in an effort to solve the danger.
If one is unskilled in identifying these for what they are, one then doesn’t notice early on what is going on and only ends up dealing with it when it is seriously out of whack.
Panic and depression are examples of what happens when one takes a small, meaningless thought, sees it as a threat, gets more alarmed as all the other threat signals go off and the chemicals accumulate, in an endless spiraling downward to where the chemicals are so strong that “willpower” cannot overcome them.
And those who are unaware say things like “it just happened, all of a sudden”, which is a severe misunderstanding that can hold one in a victim position, when one actually has the power to intervene and correct much earlier in the process.
THIS UNDERSTANDING "PIECE" IS NECESSARY
But, in order to be permitted to do that, one must understand that there is no sudden “stimulus-response”, that it is always a longer causal chain than that, with interpretation and belief filters creating the thoughts and the manufactured, untrue threats that set off the next level in the chain, and then the next, and then the next.
Willpower is useful, but it only sends out a signal of a certain level of electrical strength that cannot defeat the armada of negative chemicals already running wild – physically, it’s no match. You can’t effectively “go to battle” without more weapons and capabilities.
Read and understand how The Mind developed and the Structure of the Brain. And then follow the paths to (related) sections, reading it like a free form book.
COPING STATEMENTS FOR UNTRUE THOUGHTS
Coping statements (and possible affirmations to use) might be something like:
"I am not a child anymore. I am an adult with full power to create what I want. No one else has the power to do that for me, so I depend on no one to provide it for me. Yes, a child would want someone else to do it for him/herself, as the child believes it is powerless and dependent. I declare absolutely that I am no longer powerless and dependent. I have full power, thought there are practical limitations in the real world, to get what I truly want from the abundance of opportunities that are actually available to me. There are more than I could ever possibly get to. I also will not engage in the hopeless thinking that is engaged in naively by a child, believing that what is past will continue and that it has no power to change personal habits – in a version of flailing about in hopelessness."
"I acknowledge that I’ve studied the brain and that the thoughts from the primitive brains are not real and are just mechanical approximations. I no longer believe in the false pronouncements from those relative idiots and I use my higher brain to make all my conclusions. I will train it further to enhance its ability to differentiate better."