You and your brain: Upgrading the relationship
Although the marvels of the brain as an organ have been wondered at for decades, there’s a risk that science will make us feel like brain puppets. Neuroscience runs this risk by assuming, without any proof, that our brains think, feel, perceive the world, and make choices. In reality, the brain is an instrument at the service of the mind. We cannot live without it, just as we cannot live without a heart, but by promoting the brain into a thinking machine (an M.I.T. professor who championed Artificial Intelligence dubbed the brain “a computer made of meat”), we demote ourselves.
You are much more in charge of your biology than you think. Your experiences constantly change your brain. Much of the time we fail to pay attention to how we relate to the brain, but no relationship is more important. One thing the human brain does, in fact, share with computers: It is programmable. We primarily use this fact the wrong way around. Instead of programming our brains to be open, creative, alert, and quiet, we program it to carry out a hundred shortcuts.
For example, when a server asks you how you want your burger done or whether you want brown, white or fried rice with your Chinese meal, it typically takes approximately one-fifth of a second to give your response. In a restaurant this trained reflex is harmless, but it also takes the same amount of time to shoot back a response if someone asks, “Do you believe in God?” or “Who are you voting for?”
In place of a dynamic relationship, being driven by habits, reflexes, conditioning, and thoughtless opinions gives the brain too much power. In sci-fi a standard plot has robots taking over the world, but right now most people are dominated by a robotic brain. The old view of the brain as fixed for life, constantly losing neurons and declining in function, has been abolished. The new brain is a process, not a thing, and the process heads in the direction you point it in.
A Buddhist monk meditating on compassion develops the brain circuitry that brings compassion into reality. Depending on the input it receives, you can create a compassionate brain, an artistic brain, a wise brain, or any other kind. That’s why your brain is—or should be—your most important relationship.
The agent that makes these possibilities become real is the mind or consciousness. The brain doesn't create its own destiny. Genetics delivers the brain in a functioning state so that the nervous system can regulate itself and the whole body. It doesn't take your personal intervention to balance hormone levels, regulate heartbeat, or do a thousand other autonomic functions. But you can have a powerful experience, such as falling in love, going to war, or winning the lottery, and your experience will alter all these processes.
If you think of the everyday experience as input for your relationship with your brain, with your actions and thoughts as output, a feedback loop is formed. The old adage about computer software—garbage in, garbage out—applies to these feedback loops. Toxic experiences shape the brain quite differently from healthy ones. Neuroscience has joined forces with genetics to reveal that right down to the level of DNA, the feedback loops that unite mind and body are profoundly changed by the input being fed to the brain.
If input is everything, then happiness and well-being are created by giving the brain positive input. Without realizing it, you are here to inspire your brain to be the best it can be. This is much more than positive thinking, which is often too superficial and masks underlying negativity. The input that inspires the brain includes a wide array of things. They form a matrix with you at the center. Here’s what you want in your matrix:
Matrix for a positive lifestyle
Have good friends
Don’t isolate yourself
Sustain a lifelong companionship with a spouse or partner
Engage socially in worthwhile projects
Be close with people who have a good lifestyle – habits are contagious
Follow a purpose in life
Leave time for play and relaxation
Maintain satisfying sexual activity
Address issues around anger
Practice stress management
Your brain will thrive in such a matrix, even as life brings its ups and downs. By the same token, the brain can't arrive at any of these things on its own. You are the leader of your brain. The whole issue of feedback loops turns out to be vital for all kinds of brain functions, including memory and the prevention of feared disorders like Alzheimer's. A healthy relationship with your brain leads to a state of peak living over a long, healthy lifetime. Society failed to teach us this invaluable lesson, but it’s never too late to learn.
DEEPAK CHOPRA? MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. For the last thirty years, Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution and his next book, Total Meditation (Harmony Book, Sept. 22, 2020) will help to achieve new dimensions of stress-free living and joyful living. Time magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
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