Did you know that you have your own personal Google right inside your head? It’s called the Reticular Activation System or RAS.
Situated at the base of your brain, this little bundle of neurons acts as a filter system for up to 2 million pieces of information and data that in this modern world, we are constantly inundated with at any one time. Now I don’t know who actually came up with that number but even if you figure on only 10% of 2 million pieces of data hitting your brain through your five senses at any one time, I’d say that’s more than enough to overload it.
The RAS filters out the stuff your brain doesn’t need to operate or focus on in order for you to live your life. As an example, right now as I’m writing this, I am sitting on my deck enjoying the morning. In the background there are the sounds of cars, birds, music that is piped through our outdoor speakers and my husband sitting across from me offering up comments as he reads the news on his iPad, yet I am able to concentrate and focus my thoughts on what I am typing for this blog.
Now some might call it a skill, or even selective hearing, honed over many years of being a mother and wife and developed in aid of my mental sanity and that would be true, but it is through my RAS that I am able to filter out the white noises of life and focus on my task.
Here is another example of how the RAS works. You’ve just bought yourself a shiny new car. You are so proud of this sexy machine but as you begin to drive it around, you notice your new car everywhere. Who knew there were so many cars exactly like yours out there. The fact is, they were always out there driving around on your local roads but you just never noticed them. Now that your focus is on your new ride, your RAS has filtered out the other cars on the road and targeted your attention on what you’ve been currently thinking about – your bright, new, shiny car.
Think about Google. When you type in a search word, it comes back with suggestions that includes the key word. I once was interested in learning to make soap, so I typed in “soap” into the search and what came back was eye opening to say the least. Who knew there were sexually explicit, gay “soap” operas on the internet. Not me. Apparently, I would have had better results if I had refined my search to “soap making”.
And that little lesson leads us to the Law of Attraction. This spiritual law states that what you focus on, you attract. So be aware of your thoughts. The RAS filters data based on what your thoughts focus on. So if you focus on good things, you notice good things. If you focus on negative things, you notice negative things.
If you’re always thinking that you have no money for example, the universe will provide experiences to support that thought and your RAS will filter out opportunities to the contrary, leaving you with more negative examples than positive examples which in turn strengthens your belief that you are poor. This cycle will continue until you decide to focus on more positive money stories.
To put it another way, the universe responds to energy vibrations. You send out the vibration of lack – I have no money – and it responds in kind and sends back the energy vibration of lack. Your focus is on being poor so your RAS also filters out anything that does not support your current frame of mind and focus.
Now what happens if you change your focus? This is were affirmations can be so powerful. Affirmations are specific statements designed to change a belief. So if you continually repeated, “My life is abundant in every way.” the universe would soon match that vibration with opportunities of the same vibration, and if you continually repeated that affirmation, your RAS would filter out data that does not support the statement and focus your attention on those energy matching, abundant opportunities the universe is providing so you would actually notice them. Your only action then, would be to take advantage of those new opportunities and soon your life will match the affirmation and a new and better belief will have been created.
Helpful tip: Take a picture of your new affirmation and download it as your smart phone’s opening screen wallpaper. Every time you click on your phone, you will see the affirmation and be able to bring it into your consciousness.
I have said it time and again right here on this blog, the universe is constantly communicating to us through signs, symbols and synchronicities. Our job is to pay attention so we can notice them when they occur. But if you have set your personal data filter system, or Reticular Activation System, in such a way that they are blocked out, how will you ever achieve the life that you truly desire.
Change your thoughts. Change your life.
It really is as simple as that. Your thoughts get filtered through your RAS to help you focus on the data you need that relates to, not only the current task at hand, but in what you believe to be true. So if you change your thoughts to more empowering ones and then consistently think them, you will begin to filter better data into your 5 senses. Once you begin to see proof from that new data, you will also begin to change your beliefs which in turn, changes the energy vibrations you sent out to the universe. Before long, you will be attracting opportunities whose vibrations match this new data and soon a new, and better life will be within your grasp.