Re-boot your brain in five easy steps

Recently I was reading "No Self, No Problem" by Chris Niebauer.

Chris is a professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He specializes in neuropsychology and offer classes on mindfulness, consciousness, left and right brain differences.  His other books include "The Neurotic's Guide to Avoiding Enlightenment" and "Catching up with the Buddha".

In this article, I am happy to share my learning from "No Self, No Problem" around the ideas that shape us and how we can use our left and right brain to live in harmony with all beings. I hope these five points will help you reshape or reboot your brain.

1. The left brain is an interpreter and a story maker, and not all interpretations or story are always true

The right side of our body is controlled by the left side of the brain and vice versa. In one of the most famous split-brain experiment, the researcher showed a patients left brain (right eye) an image of a chicken foot and right brain (left eye) an image of a snowscape. Then they showed a collection of images to the patients including the one which they already have seen. When they saw the matching images, they pointed the chicken image with the right hand which is controlled by left brain and when they saw the image of a snowscape, they pointed it with the left hand which is controlled by the right brain. When asked by the researcher why they pointed using their left hand. To their surprise, their left brain cooked an answer in-spite of no clue about the answer. That's where it was concluded that the left brain always provides an interpretation, even if it has nothing to do with reality. So next time, if some right-hand person is lifting their left hand to answer something, then understand, the answer might not be 100% true!

2. The left brain is the centre of language - a kind of mind-mapping tool 

Did you ever think about how we navigate in reality? We use words to navigate the world of reality. The name and abstraction of objects make the navigation easier for the mind. If I ask you to sit on a chair, you will definitely look for an object, having a seat, 4 legs and a backrest. In this way, language is a very useful and handy tool. The writer puts a very good question in this perspective - he asked -  are we using the tool or tool is using us. Imagine, after sitting in that chair, you asked what a chair really is. We are told that a chair is a man-made object having a seat, backrest and 4 legs. But you still think, it is fine but what a chair really is? What natural quality makes it a chair? There is no innate quality possessed by the chair. People have simply agreed to categorize an object which fulfils certain criteria - suitable to sit on, having four legs, and so on. The word chair has fooled us into believing in some abstract quality of chair-ness. Using language to categorize reality in this way is extremely useful as long as we know that these categories only exists in mind and not in reality. The same also holds true when we categorize people based on race, profession, job title, marital status,  gender, religion, rich, poor etc. If we understand that category exists only in mind and not, in reality, our world will be much better placed. Since the left brain specializes in language and categorization, it is also the centre of pattern recognition or creation. Our brain sees patterns in everywhere and in everything, sometimes, even when they are not there. Have you ever done the inkblot experiment and asked yourself and friend what they observe. Each person must have seen a different pattern -  from faces to flower to bat etc. The problem is not with ink pattern, the problem is with you. What do you find when you see inside yourself? You find memories, beliefs, judgement, quality (as told by someone). You find the pattern which is being referred to as "I".  We constantly seek patterns that seem to explain reality. There’s nothing wrong with it. But, to reduce mental suffering, it’s important to remember that these patterns only exist in our minds.

3. The right brain is the spatial centre, and movement-based activities are one way to tap into it  

Discussing the right brain consciousness is impossible. This is because to explain right-brain consciousness, we have to use language which is the domain of the left brain. The only way to know right-brain consciousness is to experience it and not to express it. While left-brain is the language centre, the right brain is the spatial centre. When you grab your pen or book, your right-brain is in action. It determines, how to accurately navigate the space, put the right finger position to hold the pen or book. We eat accurately, we run, we drive and many movement-related activities, we do all such complex things without thinking or unconsciously. All non-language related activities are right-brain function while language-related activities are left brain functions. Our Indian ancestors were all aware of this science and hence, yoga and meditation were developed to make more use of our right brain and only use the left brain when it is necessary. When we do Yoga, there is movement and not much thinking, same goes with Meditation where we stop thinking and try to be present at the moment.

4. Intuition is a crucial part of right-brain intelligence

The intuitive right brain is better than the left brain in taking certain decisions. Neuroscience does not know much about intuition as our world does not have a category or word (left brain) to describe it.

5. Practice Compassion, be grateful, do yoga and meditation to strengthen your right-brain. 

You can start by showing compassion to others, stop complaining and be grateful for everything in your life, understand other people opinion, stop judging people, keep a smile on your face, learn yoga and meditation.

In our daily life, it’s all too easy to over-identify with your left-brain interpreter. When someone cuts you off in traffic, you probably immediately feel a surge of anger. But remember, “bad” feeling or interpretation is generated by your left brain, and this interpretation causes you to suffer.

By feeling more compassion and gratitude – and by realizing that the suffering “you” is just a construct of one half of your brain – you’ll be able to live a life that is less full of stress, anxiety and mental pain.
Please comments and share if you like my article. Sharing is caring!