Mind
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"The price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts."
- Winston Churchill.
My favourite brain structure...the thalamus.
The thalamus is the most mysterious of brain structures; most people don't even know what it looks like, or where it is located. Anatomically, it is a double-lobed ovoid structure that vaguely resembles a giant walnut. The word thalamus means "inner chamber" in Greek, which is apt considering that the thalamus lies occupies a central position within the brain, perched atop the brainstem like a king or queen atop their throne.
The enigmatic thalamus is the most misunderstood brain structure; even reliable sources of information continue to describe its primary role as a sensory information "relay station" to the cerebral cortex (1), a thin sheet of 30 billion neurons that envelops the brain. Yet such comments do a grave disservice to the thalamus, missing the point of the workings of the inner chamber, for they ignore the simple anatomical fact that although there are many nerve fibers running from thalamus to cerebral cortex (thalamocortical fibers), there are ten times as many nerve fibers running in the opposite direction, from cerebral cortex to thalamus (corticothalamic fibers).
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The thalamus...the brain's monarch. |
This is not to say we should ignore the thalamocortical fibers; they are clearly vital. Certain types of thalamocortical fibers are responsible for mediating our state of arousal, telling the cerebral cortex when to awaken, and when to sleep. The critical role of the thalamus in mediating arousal is exemplified by a number of brain disorders, particularly strokes that involve the thalamus; in such cases, damage to the thalamus produces a lowered state of arousal, and if the damage is extensive, a person may even be unarousable. Moreover, it is certainly true that other types of thalamocortical fibers do in fact relay sensory information from the outside world to the cerebral cortex; it's just that there's a whole lot more to the destiny of the thalamus than mediating arousal and relaying sensory information.
The main purpose of the thalamus has to do with the corticothalamic fibers, which as we stated earlier outnumber the thalamocortical fibers by ten to one. The reason is that, using its constructed inner model of the world, the cerebral cortex likes to tell the thalamus what it thinks will happen - rather than what is actually happening - in the outside world (children are different; they the real world much more clearly, as the cerebral cortex need a few years to fully develop its inner model of the world). The cerebral cortex consistently chats up the thalamus, bombarding it with predictions about the world, and the thalamus listens and replies, sometimes modifying the predictions here and there, but not getting too excited about any of them. However, when a topic that is novel, unexpected, or particularly interesting dominates the conversation, the thalamus fully activates, binding disparate regions of cerebral cortex together and stimulating a state of attention that forces the latter to stop talking and start learning about what is actually going on.
Essentially, the thalamus and cerebral cortex have a running two-way conservation with each other. However, the cerebral cortex does a lot more of the talking; the thalamus prefers to listen.
The Garden
Throughout history, people have tried to identify the brain structure responsible for what we call the mind; the obvious problem with this approach is that philosophy, religion, and cognitive science still have not figured out what actually constitutes the mind. Most likely, the mind does not derive from any single brain structure. Most likely, its ethereal qualities arise from the aforementioned conversation between thalamus and cerebral cortex, emerging from the conversation itself, as opposed to the structures involved in that conversation.
This conversation, this mind, can also be perceived as a garden (2). If we care for our mind, protecting it from all negative thoughts, it can blossom beyond all expectations. Unfortunately, abundant negativity is generated by mass and social media, both of which excel at relaying negative information about people and places personally unknown to us; the thalamocortical fibers relay much. Yet media sources are not the worst offenders; recall that most of the mind's information feed comes from the cerebral cortex via the corticothalamic fibers - thus, the most negative thoughts, those we must staunchly protect our garden from, arise from our own cerebral cortex. Recurring thoughts from our past and future, many of which are contaminated by the master of negativity - worry. Worry about a past long gone...worry about a future yet to be.
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The mind is like a garden; take care of it. |
The mind is more important than any physical thing that we could ever own; it is our most prized possession, and the only one that cannot be taken from us (not by another person, anyhow). Therefore it is critical that we only permit the very best information to enter our mind, shielding our minds from negative thoughts...especially those relating to our buried past or unwritten future. For even one negative thought can insidiously spread, discolouring our entire perception of our current reality, diminishing that which is truly important - the now.
There are several ways to guard against negative thoughts. One obvious method is to minimize our association with mass media, and with social media. However, to guard against negative thoughts from one's own cerebral cortex, different techniques are called for. One of these is called Opposition Thinking (2) - whenever a negative image or other sensation appears inside our mind, we can take immediate action to replace it with a positive image or sensation. Persistence at doing so allows us to weed out a substantial amount of negativity.
Keeping the mind free of negative thoughts certainly maintains one's mental health. However, there is more. It is not enough to guard against the negative; we must also accentuate the positive.
The Roots
Arguably, the quality of one's life comes down to the richness of one's thoughts; to improve those thoughts requires the effort of concentration. Recall the conversation between thalamus and cerebral cortex. When the conversation between them heats up, forcing a state of increased arousal and attention through a discussion of a topic that is novel, unexpected, or particularly interesting, the result is a phenomenon called thalamocortical resonance, a prolonged and amplified state of mutual activation between thalamus and cerebral cortex in which both are highly activated, culminating in a state of focused concentration. The highest form of this state of focused concentration is called a flow state, in which a person is so focused and immersed in a topic that they ignore everything else, even their own bodily needs (3).
If we return to our analogy of the mind as a garden, it is concentration that constitutes the unseen roots of that garden, concentration that feeds the growth of all the plants that comprise the garden and make the garden healthy. Conversely, a lack of concentration can also make the garden sickly. By concentrating on our most positive thoughts, we can grow them, making them even larger than they already are - sometimes, with incredible results. How much positivity can one's mind muster? Yet such a question implies a limit, where perhaps none exists.
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Concentration grows the mind. |
There are several ways to concentrate our positive thoughts. One obvious method is to maximize one's association with people, places, and subjects that we enjoy. Yet to truly amplify our positive thoughts, other techniques are needed. One such technique is the Secret of the Lake (2) - to know what it is you desire, and then to envision yourself doing it. For example, if a person desires more joy, they could envision themselves sharing a laugh with a beloved member of their family. The Secret of the Lake can be practiced for several minutes on a daily basis.
The mind can be a tremendous servant. It can also be a horrendous master. We must control it, by preventing negative thoughts. We must also cultivate it, by reinforcing positive thoughts.
Take care of your mind, for it is nature's greatest gift...protect it, and manifest the glory of your positive thoughts!
Solace.
References
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamus.
(2) Sharma. 1999. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. HarperCollins.
(3) Csikszentmihalyi. 1990. Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper and Row.
