Do we really use only 10% of our Brain?

It has been proven beyond doubt that above notion is a myth. Our body will not be wasting it’s precious energy if the particular part of the body is not functioning. So why am I still writing this blog?

I strongly feel we only use 10% of our brain, not physically but it’s function wise. One of the most important function of our brain is to produce thoughts. Depending on the feedback from five senses it keeps producing thoughts. These thoughts and our reaction to it decides all our actions. The problem is most of our thoughts are negative and repetitive in nature. If one is not aware of his thoughts he will not realise how repetitive his thoughts are. Now you may ask, “ What is wrong in repetitiveness of thoughts, doesn’t it help in solving problems”? The problem lies in our attention span. The moment you turn your head, hear new sound, feel something, there is new feedback to your brain and your brain starts producing new thoughts. So for few moments you would have been thinking about a problem, before a solution is found, new thought would have emerged. Now when you again think about the problem you would be starting from scratch.

For primitive humans who were living in dangerous environments, this process works. They will always be in lookout for danger. Constant Feedback from five senses and analysis of the same were critical. For modern humans we can afford to relax a bit. Our priority will be to stay with a particular problem and find a solution. The question is how to do it?

Our brain uses one trick to make you think for a long stretch of time. Through Emotions and secretion of hormones our brain helps us in thinking about the same thing for a long period of time. This again has a drawback. Emotions are very taxing on us. Fear, anger, Jealousy, Love, all these emotions makes us think for a prolonged period of time. A person in Love will spend long hours to write one poem to impress his love. Fear helps a person to be on vigil till the danger goes away. As I said before these are energy intensive and not good in long run. So we need to think on productive issues for long periods of time without emotions.

Now the question is can we really think for a long duration of time without emotionally heeting attached? If we do this we will solve the dual problem with our brain, repetitiveness and negativity

Meditation – One of the biggest advantage an meditator will have over non meditator is, he will be aware of his thoughts. Let me explain you how. When you are meditating on God, Mantra, breath, body sensation or nothingness. You suddenly will realise that you have drifted away from your meditation. This is called as “Aha Moment”. When you start meditating regularly you will get this “Aha moment” during your non meditating times also. You will suddenly become aware of your thoughts and sensations of body. This will help you to understand your thoughts. Slowly and steadily you will control the flow of negative thoughts and will you will be able to stay in a thought.

Japa – Repetition of gods name. Many religions recommends Japa. Most religious people do it. What many are not aware of is “Ajapa”, When you do Japa regularly, it becomes Ajapa, meaning it come naturally. When ever you get a negative thought start chanting your favourite mantra (Japa), if you do this consistently when ever you a negative thought you will be starting to chant the mantra automatically (Ajapa). This is the most easiest way to overcome negative thoughts.

Help others – Once a saint told that, When you close your eyes do Yoga (meditate on God), When you open your eyes do Yaga (Help others). Being compassionate, showing empathy towards others, Forgiving our enemies, overcoming guilt, loving all living things are very important to heal our inner wounds. A person who has suffered a lot in his life will have more negative thoughts. When we start doing all these our mind will heal, we will start living a happy life.

Write down your Work and ideas. Everyday morning write down all the work that you are going to do today. Be clear on when you are going to do and how. When this becomes a habit, your mind will stop worrying. It knows that you have taken care of all that need to be do.

When we become aware of our thoughts, analysing it, over coming negativity, finding solutions easily. Only then we will be using our brain to the fullest extent possible not just 10%. You will not only be successful but also a lot Happier.