I/O for Your Cerebral Cortex

Your brain is a magical thing. It is the computer that is you, that defines your world, and creates the interface for which you interpret “reality.” Technology and culture are starting to make us aware of just how machine-like we are. In the movie “Ex Machina,” Nathan, shows Caleb the artificial wetware brain he crafted out of an exotic gel, essentially distilling our consciousness down to just a very expensive piece of tech. (Apparently you can build one if you are so inclined.) Treating your mind like a machine is an approach that is logical and highly beneficial.

My Mom’s Desktop on her MacBook is a mess. I just counted and there are over 8,000 files sitting there just on the Desktop. But, she gets a lot done. She runs a youth theatre, is CFO and COO for my Dad’s business, and despite my bias, is genuinely one of the most productive people I know. But, back to the subject, her Desktop on that MacBook gives me instant anxiety. It’s a clusterfuck. So, every 2 or 3 years she gets a new laptop and I end up cloning her old computer onto her new one, except I always put her Desktop folder into a sub folder. At some point, I delete the old ones. She never notices.

Many times, when working on a collaborative project, I hear someone say “I just didn’t have time to get to it,” or “I was distracted.” 9 times out of 10, their life is just too busy, their office too messy, and they watch The News every night before bed.

Our minds (most of them) can’t deal with a Desktop like my mom’s. Our minds need clean input to obtain clean output. Our brains take in everything, and we are very much at the peril of the world. But, we have mechanisms to clean our mind’s Desktop.

Reduce Distraction

There are lots of things I do to reduce distraction: I don’t have sounds on my phone. If you call me, my phone doesn’t ring. If you message me, my phone doesn’t even vibrate. In fact, there is only 1 person that my phone makes sound for. This reduces distraction. But the most important piece of the input puzzle is not the amount of input, but the quality of the input. Even just a little positive input in a crowded life can completely change everything.

We have deliberate input sources, like TV, books, and other media. I stopped watching TV for years. I don’t read Facebook, and my Twitter usage is limited. I read books with purpose and intent, and try to only interact with positive people. But there is so much input you receive without consent.

Reprogram

To combat the input you receive without your consent, you need to employ some reprogramming techniques.

Can you remember the last time you had such an amazing day, that you went to bed, slept like a baby, and woke up the next morning feeling deep love in your heart? It would be amazing if we could operate this way, almost irregardless, every single day. We can’t always feel good, but we can rewire our brain to function more positively.

The 2 biggest ideas for reprogramming your mind are:

1. Mind follows body. If you start moving your body, your mind will follow suit.
2. Subconscious programming through self hypnosis is real, it works, and you can change your life with it.

The aim is to reprogram our brain more positively. Think of someone that makes you extremely happy and picture the essence and joy they conjure in your mind. They aren’t around right now, but you can still feel that happiness. All of that wonderfulness was fed straight to your brain, and you can recall it. People subtly feed you information about who they are and their intentions. How people sit in our minds has a lot to do with the subconscious information we’ve gathered on them, and how our brain processes it.

People are hypnotizing. They work their way into our minds through very hypnotic, subconscious methods. We can also program our own vision of ourselves, the outlook we have on the day, and the perspective we take on life in a similar fashion through self hypnosis.

The Hypnosis Experience

I was laying in a chair, feeling my body floating perhaps 4 feet in the air. Colors of yellow were washing over my eyes and words being echoed through the air were entering and exiting my mind simultaneously. I saw a version of myself that I had not seen in a long time. Waves of energy pulsed through my body. And, then a finger snapped… I was awake and I felt “good.”

What I experienced was similar to meditation experiences I had in the past, so I didn’t think it was absolutely crazy, but I was bewildered. I didn’t think I would see a dramatic change in my life by listening to this hypnosis session every day, but I continued to every day since that day. In 3 years, there is not a single thing I can contribute to my health, happiness, and success more than self hypnosis.

I was told many years ago by my father that self hypnosis is something you are doing whether you think you are or not. You can be in control of the content your brain receives, or let the world decide for you.

Hypnosis is real and it works.

What does it mean?

Mental health is something we don’t talk about enough. It’s not just about beating depression, but about finding ways to optimally live in the moment. There are wonderful things out there, like hypnosis, meditation and exercise. Take control of your brain’s input and output, and do everything and anything you need to attain the optimal life you desire.

Originally published at https://noeljackson.com/io-cerebral-cortex/

Noël Jackson is an engineer, designer, and hacker working on the web since 1998, with a focus on optimization through thoughtfulness and logic. He currently works at studio.zeldman as director of development.