Brain Symphony #1

How is it that our minds work? I'm currently studying neuroscience and the subject of how the interactions between two or more cells develops into thought just fascinates me. I think that part of this comes from my background in biology already and part comes from my own struggles with anxiety and depression.

When I struggled with depression the worst, as per par for me, instead of giving up I decided to study and learn different techniques to overcome my depression. I always had this feeling that, if there wasn't a physiological problem, our minds are capable of change. Unfortunately, while studying psychology and discussing these issues with professionals and others who have had similar experiences, all I heard was that it was a chemical imbalance that wasn't my fault, and could mostly only be fixed with medication.

This wasn't what I wanted to hear.

So I kept looking.

Fortunately I found neuroscience and, with it, multitudes of studies that indicate just what I thought--our minds are capable of change and can become healthy again. Now I'm studying neuroscience at BYU and I'm mostly concerned with the physiological process our minds go through when we think critically (cognitive neuroscience), and the study of mental disorders and how best to approach fixing or solving those disorders (the goal being to help a person return to a point where they can stand on their own two feet without a crutch).

Going back to how the mind works though. While going through this time, my dear mother was very concerned for me and researched as well (she LOVES to research the heck out of any problem she comes across, a very admirable trait). Eventually she came across mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness mediation is style of meditation in which a person learns to be mindful and aware of all things and learns to accept current mind/body states or situations for what they are-- and cherish each current moment.

I was skeptical really. Meditation is what old Chinese men do in the movies where they call their student "grasshopper". How was it going to help me?

But I listened to my mother and decided to give it a shot. I was also pretty desperate. I'm naturally a pensive person anyway, so it didn't seem too difficult to meditate.

I was really wrong though. Proper meditation is not a function of intelligence, critical thinking, or raw mind power. Meditation is the simple act of being able to direct the flow of our thoughts. We can think of our minds as a constantly running faucet. Sometimes it runs slower, sometimes faster, but it never stops. In these days of constant information accessibility it seems to me that the water that pours from our faucet often splits into many different streams that all go in many different directions. It also seems that our society doesn't provide many different resources to teach us how to really channel and focus our thoughts in a calm, passive, yet precise manner.

When meditating, you learn to direct the flow of your water so it flows in one steady stream. This isn't accomplished by force, actually, trying to force your mind to focus will keep you from truly focusing and will be counterproductive overall.

Our minds are not so naturally scatter-brained, but they also aren't so great at focusing either. When we sleep at night our brains do perform a little "cleanup" that allows us to be less scatterbrained during the days. It also preserves memories that are important to us (this is one of the reasons good REM during sleep is essential). But also, animals only really learn to focus under intense stress and loads of chemical response. The challenge of humans is to promote focus and relaxation within given guidelines without inducing major stress response or going into a coma.

Meditation is a powerful tool to focus our thoughts and calm our minds. I've been meditating for over a year and a half and now it's much easier. It's opened a world of disciplined thought that I've never thought was really accessible or even knew existed. It's also kept my anxiety under control and helped me to understand mindfulness in everyday life. The ability to enjoy and accept every situation and moment of life with love and without fear.

Whether you do suffer from a mental disorder, scattered thoughts, stressful situations, or you feel that you are doing just fine, I encourage you to take at least ten minutes a day to at least just stop and let yourself be aware of your life and accept it with love.
You may just find a new world that you never knew existed before.