Knowing how the brain works is one thing – knowing how your mind works is quite another!

In an earlier blog, I suggested, or rather advocated getting to know the brain a little, just to have a sense of how it works before you decide, if you decide to indulge yourself with a plethora of self-help books, or just continue with the various trains of thought you have been unconsciously subjecting yourself to for some time. That recommendation still stands but in this blog, we go a little further and I suppose inevitably a little deeper.

One of the challenges of any human is to achieve a greater sense of self-awareness, for example, to know when your mind is playing tricks on you, or when you’re talking bullshit, or when you have just embellished a story, or perhaps re-created a memory, but in a slightly different way because it fits to a particular conversation you are having, and so on.

In the past when I was recollecting from memory, a story to someone (or some people) about a previous funny incident for example, but hadn’t noticed it wasn’t as accurate as my previous telling of the story, I am now more conscious of ‘the voice’ in my own head telling me so. Unless of course, I’ve had a few beers or I’m in a ‘mood.’

Joking aside, this is perhaps a result of my confusing said story with something closely resembling it (and not a deliberate attempt to distort it), but at least these days I’m much more aware of it, and more importantly can rationalise why I might have confused the two.

There are specific ways in which the brain works that unless we are aware of it, we don’t even realise it’s happening, and recalling a story from memory is one of those occasions. Try it – next time you’re reciting a story to someone about a situation, think about whether or not you told it exactly the same way the previous time you recalled it.

Equally important as this kind of awareness, is the knowledge of the kind of mindset you possess. This is where you are perhaps more acutely aware of how your values and beliefs inform your outlook, i.e., the opinions, ideas, questions and thoughts you might have, and where these are drawn from.

As someone who describes himself these days as being secular-humanist, I’m acutely aware of the thoughts that gather in my own mind when I hear the views of Evangelicals on TV or radio or when I engage directly in conversation with Christians. Whilst I might disagree fundamentally with them or anyone from any religion on a particular issue, I also observe and uphold the ideas of freedom of speech and individuals having entitlement to their opinion, such is my conviction.

Of course, given the strength of belief I hold against any sentiment, words or deed that might contravene basic human rights, for example, discrimination against someone because of the colour of their skin, or their ability, or their sexual preference, I also have to be aware of my frame of mind when an Evangelist might articulate something like, ‘it’s against God’s law for two men to love one another.’

At one level I couldn’t give a hoot if two men shack up with one another as long as it’s consensual, but at an emotional level, I do care fundamentally that the basic right to love whom you choose to love is upheld, irrespective of anyone else’s view or declaration.

The importance of knowing not only how the brain works (which I was proposing earlier) is pretty important, but to know how your own mind works, is without sounding like stating the blindingly obvious, invaluable.

The problem is that until most of us don’t make time to consider how our own mind works, be it how we reach the conclusions we do, or perhaps articulate the beliefs we have, or even offer our ‘tuppence-worth’ when called upon, most of us really don’t know how our brain works. Here’s an example, how many times have you suddenly offered an opinion on a subject you know little about until it came up in conversation and then suddenly you sound like an expert – where did that come from exactly?

It stands to reason that if you know how you think and why you think what you think or where your thoughts might emanate from then you’re better able to cope, better able to deal with ‘shit’, better able to control your responses and reactions, and perhaps, ultimately outcomes in a particular situation.

For example, to know your triggers and stressors, or how you perceive the words or actions of others can change the complexion of any situation. Or, perhaps knowing that we are ‘hardwired’ in particular ways and that we inevitably categorise things to ease our understanding, or we fill in missing information we’re not even aware of is one of the many ‘blind spots’ we possess.

We evolved from an environment when things were scare over centuries and millennia so we were able to keep ourselves in check (so to speak) but now we can massage our ego and exercise our desires without needing to think about our actions or even account for its impact on, or outcomes for others.

We have evolved to not only desire but pursue status and social standing among our colleagues, friends, family, neighours and wider community and view this as a sense of reward or entitlement for our efforts. We struggle to detach ourselves from people who affect our emotion yet equally we only feel a sense of assurance when we know or think we know exactly how those same people feel about us.

As we have evolved over time, so too has the size and capacity of our brains, but whereas in the past survival was our priority in addition to being able to function co-operatively within small groups of people, our capacity to think has also evolved and that has brought with it its own challenges, e.g. motivation, perception, decision-making, etc.

Knowing how the brain works is one thing, knowing how your own mind works is another thing, but a good thing!