TWO BRAINS / ONE EMOTION

Many tend to think of the mind as operating similar to a camera or computer. Indeed, these models are so inviting that we too have used the bio-computer analogy. Still, the mind is not a camera and its computer similarity is far from the operation of any computer yet developed. The mind sees what is not there, makes up what it expects to see, modifies what was seen each time it is recalled, flavors, exaggerates, interprets, judges, dis-misses, ignores, and so forth, all of the data processed by it. One might say, it's as if the mind had a mind of its own.

Observations regarding the minds unwillingness to step up and conform with conscious desires have led to the establishment of all those heuristic terms employed in psychology. In fact, if the mind were readily transparent and cooperative, the discipline of psychology would have never come into existent. The intrigue of the mind is due to its irregular and sometimes eradicate behavior. Yet, there is predictability in the inconsistent. . Mathematics and physics teaches the regularity of chaos and its resultant system order. Just as with the world, the mind's need for system order provides the very foundation for its reliability. Some of said, especially of things like eye witness accounts, that the reliable factor is the unreliability of the testimony. We'll see that this so-called unreliability is not bad, and in fact can be used in very empowering ways, both to train and develop mental skills that will faithfully report factual information while generating positive characteristics that all of us desire.

The brain is often thought of in terms of two brains. That is, the brain is divided by most into the left and right hemispheres. These two hemispheres operate like mirrors to each other with differing specialties. One hemisphere (the right for most right handed people) is the spatial center, the origin of creativity, art, music an so forth, while the other is the center of logic, reason, literalness and so on. All of these specialties are set out in the appendix of this book. Still, of importance to us in this chapter is the cross wired nature of the two hemispheres.

The right brain is wired to the left side of the body and the left to the right. It is possible to voluntarily control which hemisphere is dominant during different needs. Let's say I'm the typical right handed person, then my dominant hemisphere is my left. That would mean my proclivities run toward the hard sciences, mathematics, logic and reason. It may be harder for me to be creative in the form of art or music due to this dominance. Let's assume that I wish to try writing some music. If I use a math scale in a computer, I may have some success. If however, I try to sit to the keyboard, my success will probably be greatly reduced. Now, I can alter that switching hemispheric balance. I can do that by placing my weight on my left side, by using my left hand more, by moving the toes on my left foot while working, etc.

The opposite is also true. I can intention the hemisphere I wished to have a primary role by simply sitting to a task that requires the appropriate hemisphere and "turning it on" so to speak, by using a different side of my body.

The same is true with my thoughts. If I wish to picture something in my mind, and we'll go through some exercises to do this later, I can involve the appropriate part of my body to enlist the chosen hemisphere. So, if I wish to the picture of a lemon, I will hold it in my left hand.

If I wish to uncover emotions, I will call on the right brain. If I wish to recall numbers, I will call on the left brain. If I am truly desirous of accelerating my learning and abilities, I will call on both simultaneously. This procedure has been called Superlearning. In other words, let's say I wish to remember some artifact of knowledge like the title to a book. Seeing the cover of the book in full color, holding it in my left hand while reading the words, the title, aloud will sufficiently impress both hemispheres that the recall will be much easier than if I chose some other way to remember.

We tend to see the world according to one or the other bias. It is either logical or poetic. Our feelings are often divorced from the logical and enmeshed with the poetic. Indeed, the majority of researchers think of the right hemisphere as the seat of the unconscious for most. It therefore gives permission to the left hemisphere to think what it might think.

My research with the difference in brain hemispheres has led me to work with languaging these two brains from a priming perspective. In double blind studies we have been able to alter belief systems and change the course of terminal disease, increase learning abilities, reduce stress, alleviate the symptomology of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, reduce test anxiety and more. And all of this has been accomplished by delivering brain friendly information out of the so-called zone of awareness.

Some have called this subliminal technology, some have called it un-subliminal, I call it shadowing, and it is know as Innertalk. The mirror on the mind is our self talk. Our self talk is linguistic when we listen, but it is also emotional when we feel. Self limiting thinking is always emotional in structure and linguistic in communication. Our stream of consciousness is full of limiting notions. These limiting notions literally become our maps for life. We live, act, think, speak in accordance with our self talk---and/or in the alternative, lie!

Often we lie to ourselves. It is known clinically as denial. We use some interesting mechanisms to deny. Sometimes we project our feeling on others, sometimes we believe the actions of others to have terrible motives that are really our own worst fears, thoughts, etc. The important point is this: every thought we have in our stream of consciousness has an accompany emotion.

Change is emotional. In order to enjoy emotions that we have too little of, we must relinquish emotions that are counter productive to this aim. It is one thing to monitor self talk, the inner talk of our minds, for semantic discoveries. It is quite another to get to their emotions.

It is emotion that plays the dangerous tricks on the mind. Emotion that is the substance of our life, not words, that underlies the foundation of self limiting belief. In the chapters that follow, you will find many exercises designed to assist you on your path to self actualization. All of these exercises can been seen and experienced from an intellectual perspective. If that is done, without the accompanying emotion, the gains will be but mere shadows of the possibilities. It is for precisely that reason that I introduce the idea of the two brains at this time. When you entertain the thoughts of the mind, jot them down. Listen to what they say and then go for the feeling behind them. They are not always what they seem to be.

When you use the techniques in the coming chapters, remember to incorporate the emotional hemisphere in your practices. Our world is all too full of events without feeling. Knowing and doing ar not the same thing. Feeling is a level of memory like that of riding a bicycle. Once you know how, you never forget.

I can use my knowledge and computer to calculate the angle of thrust, trajectory, optimal human speed, flex in a pole, and so forth, creating moving graphical interfaces, and assert that I know how to pole vault. Well, guess what---that will not be sufficient to get me over the bar. Doing is knowing. Feeling is what doing is all about. Remember to keep your feelings at least on par with your thoughts and self discovery, self empowerment can and will be realized.