Understanding The Brain

Understanding the Brain Better
The human brain is a remarkable organ. I have thought long and hard that one day a human brain can be harvested out of a dying body and made to think and communicate
in some form. Many experts say that the brain is one of the most complicated things available to mankind. So, little is really know, even to this day, about the real workings of the human brain.

It has been estimated that the brain can process information in speeds as fast as 268 miles per hour.

Researchers have found that those who are clinically depressed have abnormal levels of serotonin and norepinephrine, important brain chemicals. It is noted that flaws in serotonin levels have been linked to suicide attempts and aggression.

The human brain produces over sixty different kinds of chemicals, and there are about 100,000 chemical reactions that happen in the brain every second The important thing to remember is this: the thoughts we have, the food we eat, and the drugs we take all have an effect on the chemicals in our brains.

There was a study done on the brain and pain by a dental university, where volunteers were subjected with jaw pain, and carefully monitored for release of brain chemicals,
and then measured for pain relief.

Those volunteers who had pain introduced to their jaws, were shown to have released chemicals in response to the pain. The brain chemistry response to the subjected pain was strongest in the brain regions where sensation and emotion are rooted.

So, then, why can’t we control pain more easily with the power of our subconscious minds? Why can’t we train our brains to turn off the pain receptors in a given part of
our bodies?

What if we try to feed the subconscious mind instructions and commands, on a consistent and believable basis, to improve chronic pain? Is it possible? I say yes!
Let’s try a few self-suggestion statements I would use: “My mind controls the body, so I know my mind can control my pain, therefore I command you to stop the pain in my
knee by releasing the proper mixture of chemicals.”

This was just a sample that I would use in my own case. You can use something like: “The pain in my back can be relieved by my brain, and I am asking my brain to release
the pain relief that will help my back.”

I believe that if one were to work on it long and hard, they could control most, if not all of their chronic pain. I wish there was a current study that we could review now.

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into
his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is
a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent.

Depend upon it—there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
—Arthur Conan Doyle

“The companies that survive longest are the ones that work out what they uniquely can give to the world—not just growth or money but their excellence, their respect for others, or their ability to make people happy. Some call those things a soul.”
—Charles Handy

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day
are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.”
—T. E. Lawrence

Life with No Regrets
Each morning, I awake to the light that shines through a large six foot Palladian window in my bedroom. While in my bed and slowly waking to the new day, I repeat the same
following statement,
“Thank you, Lord, for this glorious and new day. I don’t know why I have been given this gift of a new day when others, far smarter and more gifted than
I have been taken away from this world. Others, who have contributed much more to mankind than I have not been offered this precious day.

“I vow to make the most of this new and exciting day. I will not waste this special gift you have given. I vow also to be kinder and gentler to all I see today. I will do more today
than yesterday. I know that tomorrow is not guaranteed to the richest king, so I must work with what I have. I will not let you down, Lord, in giving me this new day of life.
This will be the best day of my life. And, if I’m fortunate to have another day, I vow that it will be even better.”

There are more positive self-suggestions for your subconscious. Always try to keep your brain working on the positive. Never stop the positive statements. The fear of wasting my God-given talents drives me forward and keeps me wanting to be productive and successful.

Mitch Albom wrote a wonderful non-fiction book called Tuesdays with Morrie. It touched me very deeply, so much so, that I had to reread it several times. I learned so
much by delving into the mind of a 78-year-old professor, Morrie, dealing with the death sentence he faced, fighting ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Morrie, in the book, explains life and its wonders to us as he faces death with dignity.

In the following excerpt from the book, Morrie is asked about dealing with growing old:
“Weren’t you ever afraid to grow old, I asked.”
“Mitch, I embrace aging.”
“Embrace it?”
“It’s very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you’d always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s
growth. It’s also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.”

“Yes,”, I said, “but if aging were so valuable, why do people always say, “Oh, if I were young again.” You never hear people say, “I wish I were sixty-five.”

He smiled. “You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning. Because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back.
You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.”

What a wakeup call after reading Morrie’s words. I also saw the movie about Morrie.
My neighbor, directly across the street from me, died from ALS disease. The man was in his sixties, and worked tirelessly around his home. When I insured his life with a
life insurance policy he was given the best rating for health that anyone could receive. So it was a complete shock for me to find out years later that this man had a death sentence of ALS. I watched him slowly die, and his body parts stop
working one after the other.

I could see him being wheeled in and out of his home daily from my office window across the street. Within two years he passed on. The only thing that he could do in his
last days was to speak. It woke me up to appreciate life as a blessing, not a right. It made me accelerate my efforts towards writing, business, life, and vacation time.

No matter what medical procedure they tried for my neighbor, nothing ever worked. I witnessed the destruction of a very strong man, slowly wasted down to nothing.
Life, I believe, shows us these sad things, as a way to wake us up, and motivate us to act now. My goal here is to motivate you to act now, help yourself, and help motivate
others. I feel that enthusiasm is contagious, and when you work at motivating someone else to help themself, you actually help yourself.

So try to help someone in need today, someone who may not be able to easily help themselves at that particular moment due to many reasons.