Hi Friend,
Have you ever had the experience of learning a new word, and then all of a sudden, that word starts to pop up everywhere?
Or someone tells you about a book, and then the very next day, voila, it magically appears again.
Why does this happen?
One might dismiss it as “just a coincidence,” but the answer is far more remarkable than that, and offers profound insight into how we can catalyze inner transformation and foster Transilience.
There is a part of your brain that plays a fascinating role in this process called the Reticular Activating System or RAS.
Your RAS is a bundle of nerves at the brain stem that filters out unnecessary information so your brain can process “important” data.
How does the brain know what’s important and what’s irrelevant?
Excellent question. Let me explain...
To ensure your survival, the brain is predisposed to:
1. Reduce uncertainty
2. Conserve energy
One of the primary ways your brain achieves this is by looking for information that validates and confirms what you already believe to be true.
As a child, you were taught beliefs by people who essentially said, "This is what you need to know to survive this world."
Every single belief that you acquired became the lens through which you experience reality.
When I say “reality,” I’m referring to the unfathomable amount of sensory information (roughly 4 billion bits of data) that your brain is constantly trying to decode and make sense of every single moment.
But your mind only processes a tiny fraction of that, about 2000 bits of data; or less than 0.00005% of all possible information.
The RAS plays a role in filtering the data, and we need it to survive; otherwise, we would be completely overwhelmed by sensory overload.
If you internalize a story that money is scarce (a common belief) it means you have a neural network underpinning that belief that is so strong that it becomes your brain’s path of least resistance.
It’s more energy efficient for the brain to selectively focus on information to validate an existing belief rather than try to look for new information to reinforce a belief you don’t even have—such as “it’s so easy to make money.”
This is what I meant by “you see what you believe” in issue #2 of Transilience.
Think of the belief as an “attractor state” that acts like a magnet pulling select information toward it, and the more you reinforce it, the stronger the magnet becomes.
Ok, let’s circle back to how new words trigger your RAS and why this is so important.
Who you are and how you experience life (scarce vs. abundant, pleasant vs. unpleasant, etc.) is largely a result of the story you tell yourself, and that story is woven together with words that carry meaning.
Here’s the main takeaway from today’s issue:
If you want to construct a new reality, learn the words, concepts and vocabulary that help you build it.
(I’m intentionally using the word “construct” because that’s the terminology used in perceptual neuroscience to indicate what the brain does – it “constructs” reality…but more about that another time.)
If you want to step out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary, learn the vocabulary of the extraordinary.
If you want to move from scarcity to abundance, learn the language of abundance.
As Ludwig Wittgenstein said:
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
By intentionally expanding your vocabulary, one conscious word at a time, you – the adult you – can start overriding your childhood programming, and offer your RAS new filtering parameters so you can pay attention to the information that supports and reinforces your highest thriving and flourishing, rather than the old trauma bogging you down and holding you back.
And that's what this Transilience series is all about: weaving the power of words—words for awakening—to share a story of our collective transformation and help you become an active participant in the shaping of that story.
Because the stories we weave now, become the future we step into.
When I highlight a word in this newsletter (or on Instagram), I'm essentially saying: pay attention to this word, it carries a depth of meaning and significance that contains codes to support your growth and transformation.
This cues the RAS to be on the lookout for it, helping you pay attention to the signal amongst the noise (words are literally vibrational signals) so you can get better at honing in on the information that supports your highest thriving.
Hopefully, these words for awakening become salient to you, literally jumping out at you in the following days, weeks and months after reading.
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