Do you really want everyone to think and act just like you?  Do you really think it would be an exciting life with all of us the same, eating the same, thinking exactly alike, doing the same exact things?  Of course not!  We are here to experience, and our experiences are all unique.  Two people who are raised the same come out having different perceptions of life.  It’s just the way we are.  Everyone has different thoughts and focus.  It doesn’t mean one is better than the other…just unique.  This uniqueness helps each of us figure out what we want and don’t want in our own lives.  Contrast is a blessing to observe and helps us to fine-tune our own intentional creating.

I learned so much this week about…my mind. :)   I went and had a sleep study done as well as many other tests to see how positive thought can affect the brain.  I didn’t find out anything that I didn’t already ‘feel’ within because I’ve always known ‘within myself’ that being positive and looking through the eyes of joy makes a difference.  The question is…does it make a physical difference within the brain?

I sat through a video of how our brain works which made my brain cringe. (hee hee)  The terminology and all the ‘gobbly gook’ I will leave to the experts so I’ll give it to you in my terms. :)

I went in and put on my stripey green and white pajamas and then they put electrodes all over my head.  Thank goodness I have short hair!  They ‘wired’ up my heart, my legs, my arms, my face, my….everything and then attached belts around my waist with all different colored wires that fed into a tube where all the whistles and bells were on a board.  They had cameras on me while I slept.

They asked me to do my normal routine of going to sleep.  They explained that it may take some time to fall asleep because of the different situation.   So my normal routine of falling asleep; brush my teeth, read a little, do a crossword or two, and then meditate.  So did I have any problem falling asleep?  Not at all…

I went into meditation and over an intercom they ask, “Are you asleep?”  It made me laugh.  Here they have me all hooked up to devices that should tell them and they ask if I’m asleep.  Yes…I then got the giggles and once I start it, it takes a while to get me to settle down.

I found out later that apparently when I went into meditation, I had almost gone into a sleep cycle so they weren’t sure if I had been hooked up correctly.  I guess that’s a good thing.

You would think with all these people watching me, recording me, knowing every little ‘brain wave’ and movement that I couldn’t sleep.  Listen…I’ve had four children and two of those four seriously never slept as babies so I know when to settle in and sleep…I think I could sleep standing up if I had too! lol

So did I have the same vivid dreams I always do in the strange surroundings?  I did.  I don’t remember my dreams every night but I do remember quite a few of them and they can be like mini movies.  My dream cycle changed when I began meditating and changing my thoughts many years ago.  My dreams used to be filled with anxiety and working hard and they changed over the years to what I have today.  Very vivid, clear, and concise.  I dream about kooky symbols just like everyone else but they take on meaning where as before that didn’t happen.

So what did I dream?  I have this spot that is recurring in some of my dreams.  It is a bench overlooking the ocean and people and things come visit me there.  I was sitting on my bench all night long and different images would appear in frame.  Flowers, people that I have and haven’t met, birds, images that represent something to me, words (words show up on the bench and I ‘mull’ them over), and the whole time I can hear a stream of water.

When I woke up, they served me breakfast (bacon, eggs, and french toast!) and then pulled off all the wires and such.  Then they proceeded to hook me up to a completely different kind of machine.  This one was for my waking time.  I sat and talked with the technician about my background and then they began to ask me questions.  They would ask the question, ask me to ‘think on it, and then respond.’  So this went on for awhile.

Questions like:  How do you feel about life?  Are you happy? (Oh pleeeze…hee hee)  Then they began to build scenarios and asked me how I would respond.  This is where it got funny.  The beginning scenarios were easy enough and definitely in a positive frame of mind.  As they asked,  I became more relaxed and went into what I call a ‘waking meditation state.’  That’s when they started to build very negative scenarios to see what the brain would do.  On the first scenario I explained what I would do.  The intercom went off and the technician left the room and then came back in to check all my ‘hook ups.’

He sat down, gave me another negative scenario, and I explained how I would handle the situation.  The intercom went off and he left the room.  He came back and smiled.  “Your readings for your emotional responses to the positive and the negative seem to be the same.  So we’re going to resort to a little bit of dirty play.”

Huh?  Are they going to torture me? No…they brought in images starting with babies and rainbows and proceeded to some sad and upsetting images.  It’s not that I am emotionless…I have just retrained my own mind to respond with compassion, not negativity, and to allow  joy in as much as I can find.  So they noticed when an upsetting image came up, I took a deep breath in, and breathed out heavily, and my ‘waves’ changed to a meditative state.  That is what they saw.

What I do is this…I breathe in, breathe out, and release ‘into’ my eternal self and see the calm, ease, and…compassion.  Compassion is different than pity or worry or fear. It puts me in a state of ease.

I thought it funny what they had written down.  I was a person that was ‘least not to catastrophize.’  It they had known me years ago it would have been different.

So what did they find out after that loooooooooong opus I just told?

My positive thought has changed my brain waves.  Positive thought creates permanent changes within the brain.  It is as if it has been rewired.  My dream cycles, my waking cycles, my meditation cycles are very similar.  Not in the respect of not being awake but in the way of balance.   They felt my ability for going into a meditative ‘ like state’ didn’t slow down any of my actions and that I maintained that state even when not meditating.  They said by maintaining this kind of state leads to increased awareness and perceptions.  Focusing on the positive, in my case, created a positive mood and also affects others around me.

They also did some intuitive testing as well.  The normal, “Tell me what number is on the card” type stuff but they were more interested in the effect of meditation and positive thinking on the brain itself.

Their studies have shown that people who do learn to ‘rewire’ the brain have lives that are more productive, more alert, less tired, handle stress well and tend to not have much stress, and overall enjoy life creating a life they want to live.

So did I need to be ‘hooked up’ to know this?  Not at all…it was an opportunity to meet new people and to see how they go about it.  Taking science and trying to find the cold hard facts on how we ‘tick.’

Science is an amazing tool but there are some things science will never be able to ‘harness’ until the ‘normal’ scientists delve into the mind, body, AND spirit. :)

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