Which brain listens? Right or left?

Some of the literature on right and left brain suggest that while the left brain processes things serially, the right processes things as a whole.

Looked interesting and also convincing, but for quiet sometime I could not really figure out what it really meant.

But then I had this interesting experience that simply but in a profound way showed me this. As is my usual practice, I was listening to a talk as I was driving home yesterday. Though it was the second time I was listening to it, I was listening intendly. Suddenly there came a moment of laughter, where the speaker explained a point with a joke. As I burst out laughing, suddenly I became aware of the surroundings; and where I was at that point. But what was also interesting was that I remembered exactly the location where I listened to the same joke earlier. I rather remembered it like a picture.

I was amused and when I shared this incident with a friend, he too agreed to have had similar experiences. I think this is what happened: When I was listening to the talk, it was my left brain who was ‘listening’ (predominantly) making sense of what is heard in an incremental way. But when the moment the joke came, suddenly the right brain kicked in and the whole thing including the surroundings is perceived as one shot.

I think the reason why the shift to right brain was so visible, is that a joke is not serially processed, mostly you laugh at a whole joke. So you wait till a joke is complete without logically processing it and when it is done, the whole thing is just processed in one shot as a whole.

And I think this is the essence of mindfulness…

Past and the future…

Sometime back I wrote about our anticipated future being actually our negated past. Here is something interesting that I came across which in a way supports this point.

I was watching a UKtv video series on brain and mind. One of them had this interesting experiment. There was gymnast attempting to perform what is called Gienger saltos; which involves leaving the high bar, performing a back summersault and a half twist before re-caching the bar again.

It begins by the coach slowly taking her through the steps to get her mind accumsted to the sequence of movements. Then she goes on to attempt it. But she fails repeatedly. She couldn’t re-catch the bar at the end of the sequence.

She had to take a different approach now and she does something interesting. She sits down with eyes closed and visualises the the whole saltos in her mind (that she is performing it successfully), slowly, as detailed as possible. She does it over and over again. After this she goes on to perform the saltos and gets it right in the very first attempt.

What happened here? As she was visualizing the whole sequence in her mind, she was creating a pattern in the brain as if the event had already happened. So when she did this at last, she actually was doing something that she was already accustomed to –at least that’s what her brain thought.

I think this is the crux behind visioning, where in you convert a future event to a past event in the mind, so that brain can perform it automatically.

I came across another very interesting study that clinically proves that it is the same part of your brain that is activated both while you remember something from the past and while thinking about the future. (See this blog)

So I guess the future does not really exist, except in the mind; that too as past. But if we can master the art of converting the future to the ‘past’ (before it happens in reality) may be it is a great tool for changing our lives.

Of course the next question will be: does past exist except in the mind?

The problem of ‘interpretation’

Continuing the thoughts from the previous posts: A thought formed…. ,How the mind associates thoughts….

After a few more experiments with how the mind associates/connects different thoughts, I think I was not completely right in saying that our past experiences are interpreted and stored in the memory in ‘text like form’. I think it is slightly different. It is rather like the “interpretation” coming between you and the experience. These interpretations could be emotions (I like him, this is bad, horrible, I can’t take this pain…) or some priorities that we assign (I need to pay attention to this, there is an opportunity in here, this is what will make me successful…). During our thinking process, connections between thoughts are formed based on these ‘interpretations’

I tried to visually represent a thought train that I had. See below. This was a thought (thought train) that passed in my mind and I caught it after a while.

 

This is what happens. Because we have become dominantly logical people, the logical mind comes between us and the experience- judging, categorizing, analyzing. It is rather like trying to understand the ‘meaning’ of an experience, rather than the experience itself. Perhaps both the interpretation and the experience get to the memory, but our mind is more concerned about the ‘interpretation’. So, many a times, the experience fades away in memory and what remains is the ‘interpretation’.

But when it comes to the events that have not really happened (they exist only in the mind), the interpretation might have not yet happened. That’s why day dreaming still is an enjoyable thing to do..

But, why do we have to interpret things in an almost compulsive manner. This is because it is this interpretation that connects you to the world to create your sense of identity (of course a false one). We believe that our existence / identity depend on the world and what world thinks of us and there is a constant attempt to ‘prove’ to the world around who we are.

Most of the ancient religious traditions lay a great emphasis on ‘silence’. This is the key. Stop talking, and then the compulsion to express your feelings / experience as words will come down. And so the compulsion to interpret.

Another brilliant way to stop interpreting is to be with nature. As you might have observed, our need to interpret is much lesser when we are with nature, than with other human beings. Though there might still be some attempts like: what a lovely voice that bird has. But it is still infinitely better if you think of the complex process of interpretation that you need to undergo on meeting another human being…

When you were a child and probably you looked at a tree with wonder, not knowing what it is, your father told you – this is just a tree. And soon you learnt the trick. When you see a tree now, there is an immediate compulsive thought that comes up in the mind ‘that is just a tree’…

The Zen master, in the morning describes a dream that he had to his disciples.

The first disciple says ‘Master, hot water is ready; you can have your bath’.

The second says “Master, The meditation room is ready’.

 And the third asks “Master, What would you like for breakfast today?”

No one seems to pay any attention to the dream that the master described.

The master smiles: ‘If any of you had attempted to interpret my dream, I would have thrown you out of here’

A thought formed….

Of late, I have become curious about mind and the brain and have been reading about it and also trying to reflect on the working of my own mind. And every time it’s amusing how the mind works.

One thing I have been attempting of late is to ‘catch’ some my thoughts (the compulsive ones). I become aware and observe any thought that’s going on in the mind and then try to trace that thought back to its origin. I failed mostly except on very rare occasions, one of which I am about to describe here. This gives a glimpse of how mind uses associations / connections to form thought trains.

Saturday evening, I was sitting for a meditation session. I was sitting quiet, relaxed and aware, when this sequence of thoughts flashed in my mind. It began when I realized that my spine was not erect and I had to adjust my posture.

This reminded me of one of primary school teachers who used to say “those who sit with bent backs are idiots”

….Next I am driving to my hometown where I meet this teacher on the roadside and I get down to greet him…

….My car is a skoda..

.. white skoda..

….No. It’s a red Sx4

(*Skoda and Sx4 are two car models..)

At this moment I caught this thought train (observed it) and it stopped. All this happened perhaps in a fraction of a second or so (or may be much less than that…). Since I was very aware (I assume), I could trace back to its origin and see how the thought train formed. As I retraced it back, the complexity was really amusing.

 Here is a brief description of how it happened.

To begin with, the whole thought train began with a bodily sensation (feeling my back). As I translated that in to a sentence in my head, it connected it with another related thought that ‘a bent back is not good’. This thought immediately formed a match with a sentence in my memory which in turn took me to the teacher who used to say it.

Till this point, it was all textual. Now comes the visual. I roughly knew the place where the teacher used to live. The next thing in the mind was me getting down from the car, to greet my teacher as I passed him.

Now here is a twist. Naturally the thoughts should have gone with me meeting the teacher. But the above visual was bit complex as it also had a car (a white skoda, not the one I drive currently). A few weeks back, I was talking to my wife about buying a bigger car and I told her that may be a skoda is a good option. I didn’t mention white to her, but that was my preference.

 So the thought now moved to the car- a white skoda. Immediately there was a new visual – a red Sx4.Recently, as I was driving I happened to follow a red Sx4 and I had a feeling that this was a better car and should perhaps consider this.

Here I caught the thought train and it stopped…

It is amazing how complex such a seemingly simple thought train can be. Mind connects memories, facts, emotions, text and visuals so effortlessly and spontaneously to form one of the millions of thought trains that pass through the brain.

No wonder we believe in God.

Tell stories to overcome the logical barrier in the mind

(Continuing from my pervious posts on Right Brain and Left Brain and a technique for coordinating them)

In my view we were all creative and imaginative as children and as we lost it to a good extend as we grew up. Thanks to our education system and the demands (at least as we perceive) of the world around us. 

Look at this scenario. You are in a team meeting in your office where your boss presents a problem and asks you for ideas to solve it. There is silence for sometime. Suddenly you have an idea. You are about to open your mouth and then you hold back. Because you are not sure if it is ‘not illogical’. What happens if others laugh at my idea? You decide to wait. Others start giving their ideas. All of them making perfect sense. The boss doesn’t seem to be happy yet. Then suddenly a colleague blurts out exactly the same idea that you were pondering on. The boss is jumping up in excitement and your mediocre colleague has stolen the show. You feel a lump in your throat as you leave the room and you are asking you this age old question- why did I hold back? I just lost an opportunity.

Reason is simple. As we become more logical, we are so particular that everything that comes out of our ‘mouth’ (I wouldn’t say mind) has to make sense for us as well as to others. Which is like the logical brain putting a gate or a filter for any information that comes in or goes out. It’s then, you look at a great painting of Salvador Dali and wonder – what’s this stupid thing all about?

So, the point is you need to re-train your brain to overcome the logical barrier. Here is a simple technique to do that.

If you have a small kid at home, start telling him/her stories. Not the ones you have read or heard. Create stories for your own. Make them as illogical as possible. Don’t have to worry; your kid is not sitting there judging whether you make sense. He/she is enjoying every ‘illogical bit’ of it. The more ‘weird’ the story is, better they enjoy.Don’t hold back your imagination and don’t try to make sense of what you say. Add effects by appropriate postures, gestures and sound if you like. Do it whenever you find time to spend with the little ones.

Two things will definitely happen:

• Your  rating as a parent will shoot up
• You will soon have someone making a comment on you that ‘you really have those out of the box ideas’

Playing with Perceptions

We all form perceptions. We categorize and label people, situations, places and objects continuously, based on some cues that we pick and interpret. They are positive, negative or neutral and are generally harmless in most cases (except that it triggers a pre-conditioned approach or response). When we have formed a strong perception, we tend to avoid situations involving that anyway.

Why do we form perceptions in the first place? I think our minds are trained to logically analyze things around us and this ‘ability’ gets better as we grow. Lot of the work that we do demand this; be it analyzing a requirement or assessing a person. And before we know, it is our personality, and we conveniently label it as ‘sense making’. Even the tools that we use help us reinforce this behavior. Look at this blog itself; I have to categorize every post and add tags and build a meta-data around it.

When do perceptions become a problem? I think, in relationships which are egoistic and demanding in nature. The two most obvious are romance and work. The moment perceptions are taken over by mind and ego, there is trouble. Some times real serious trouble. I think in romance (marriage included) the impact is not that bad because there is some thing called ‘belongingness’ which at times can overrule all such negative tendencies.

So let’s look at work. Typically in Indian companies, managers are supposed to assess the employees not just based on the work done, but also the behavior, attitude and other soft skills. Perfect setting for forming perceptions, which are ‘professionally right’. I think this is one of the prime reasons for stress at workplace and people leaving jobs.

As I said, mostly perceptions are typically formed based on ‘cues’ and is not substantiated by evidences mostly. How the cues are interpreted depends on the person (and I think where is processed – ego or mind)

Look at this illustration that I think we all can relate to:

Alex is a manager in a company and Erich is a team member reporting in to him. There is another manager David who, Alex suspects to be working against him. All of a sudden, Alex finds that Erich and David are hanging out together often. He is curious but decides to wait and watch. Sometime later, in a meeting David brings up a particular point against Alex, one which Alex thinks is not possible for someone outside the team to know. Now Alex’s perception on David that he is working against him is reinforced, and Alex forms a new perception that Erich is actually bitching on him to David. (Alex’s ego takes over here). Alex gives a feedback to Erich that he is not seen at his desk often and has been taking too many breaks these days. Erich if offended. (His ego takes over). He is now wondering why Alex is trying to find fault with him, while he has been delivering what is expected on time. Erich forms a perception now that Alex is trying to intimidate him. (Why? May be my ideas are better than Alex’s).

Now Erich is careful and but also uncomfortable that Alex is watching him continuously. In the months that follow, Alex is actually searching for cues to reinforce his perception, while Erich is behaving quiet unnaturally, careful not to give Alex any chance to intimidate him. Alex picks some simple ‘cues’; for e.g when Alex gives a smile to Erich when they meet on the corridor, Erich returns just ‘half a smile’ and turns his face away. Fine, Alex is at least confident that he isn’t wrong. The relationship between Alex and Erich becomes very formal and uncomfortable and Erich is now avoiding Alex as far as possible. Alex is also watching who Erich is talking to in the team, subconsciously looking for any changes in their attitude also.

Now Erich talks to David about this and seeks his guidance and in the process David’s perception on Alex, that he is a man on mean thinking, is reinforced. Talking to David reinforces Erich’s perception on the situation that he is being victimized.

 In the next feedback cycle, Alex gives a comment that Erich is ‘spreading negative energy’. Erich is furious and offended (ego is hurt badly) and wants to now prove that Alex has a malicious intention to corner him. His mind is now sucked totally in to this and is completely disturbed. A week later, they meet up to discuss the feedback and Erich couldn’t hold his emotion back and vents out his frustration on Alex. This reinforces Alex’s perception and now he is more the sure that he was right. Alex tries to portray that he is helping Erich ‘improve’ by pointing out a ‘hidden’ problem and expects Erich to thank him for that. Now Erich’s perception is reinforced that Alex has some malicious motive in trying to find fault with him and brand him. Alex also sense that Erich is forming a perception on him, and this reinforces his perception on Erich further.

It’s easy to assume where this is heading to. But the sad part is that we get in to this trap often in life and it sucks all the creative energy in us and makes our lives miserable. What everyone missed in the above example that there could be a genuine positive reason for the connection between Erich and David. And the existing perception of Alex on David, prevented him from seeing it that way or trying to find it out.

One of the most important outcomes of letting perceptions rule relationships is that it creates ‘false identities’ for us. When someone has formed a perception that you are ‘moody’ (and you know it) you will automatically tend to be moody in his presence.

While I do not think that it’s not possible (and not needed too) to completely stop forming perceptions, I definitely think we can stop it from ruining our lives and the others around.

Here are some thoughts and suggestions:

• I think the first thing is to see situations and people as they are, without the frills around it. Rather easy said than done. But you we are more mindful and understand how ego and mind works, I think you will be able to do this
• Drop the notion that people are out there to get you. This arises out of fear, and leads to the wrong assumptions we make.
• Even if you form perceptions, don’t let your ego latch on to it. Without the ‘ego’ playing our side, you will be able to solve it through discussions.
• Whether you have formed a perception or fighting one, don’t go around discussing with people. It feeds your ego and further reinforces the perception. Seek help if needed from someone who can help.
• If you are discussing with someone on a perception issue between the two, don’t let your emotions to take over. That will further aggravate the issue. Stay calm and don’t lose your balance
• If you try are trying to change a perception someone has formed on you and it doesn’t work, just drop it. Understand that it is his problem and let him deal with it. Stay away.
• Drop the conditioning that everyone has to have good and right perceptions on you. Try to resolve it only if it has any relevance to you. Don’t let your ego chase it.

 

After all perceptions are transient, they are bound to change. No one is going to hold on to a particular perception on forever.

What does yoga offer for right-left brain coordination?

Adding a note to my earlier post Right brain or the left brain? Does it really matter?.

The ancient sages of India had explored literally everything that could influence the mind and conciousness positively. Looks like they were aware of the importance of coordinating the right and left brains for better functioning of the mind and better awareness.

There is a simple technique called Yoni Mudra (A mudra is a  posture  that is used to channel energy to a specific part of the body) which is used in meditation, to achive this. Externally this is meant to balance the energies between right hand and the left hand. But interally this helps to balance the right and left parts of the brain. Yoni mudra is performed using the hands as shown below in the picture.

How the mudra meditation done?

Just sit cross legged with the spine erect, hold your hands in yoni mudra (thumbs are facing the ceiling and the hands below your navel with elbows bent outwards) and take deep, joyful ujjai breaths. Do few rounds. This can be integrated with other yoga practices, or can be done alone. Typically a mudra is practiced after raising the enrgy level in the body through yoga or pranayama or even a physical activity like jogging

When do you want to balance your left and right brains? When one of them is really dominant. That is either you are too logical and lack creativity or you are too sensitive and emotional and can’t approach things logically.

Note: In some texts, yoni mudra refers to a different posture. I think just a termonilogy issue.

Also see the post on story telling to make the brain more creative

Right brain or the left brain? Does it really matter?

Science has now agreed that there is a right brain and a left brain and in most of the people one brain dominates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralization_of_brain_function) The left brain is the logical guy responsible for reasoning and all the logical activities and the right one is the creative one. People who are right brainers tend to be more creative, emotional kind.

Recently I was reading something on memory consolidation. Studies reveal how the permanent memory is getting built. For e.g when you are reading an article, it is your left brain who is absorbing it (The right brain can’t tolerate these boring stuff, so it takes you a for a short break; that’s when you day dream while doing something..)But what is absorbed by the left brain is not written to your ‘permanent memory’. This process takes place during sleep and is now called memory consolidation(here also not everything is written, the left brain drops what’s not important, like your lunch menu..). So if you don’t get a good sleep, some of the events of the day might never get stored in your memory.

 On the other hand, what’s absorbed by the right brain directly gets in to your ‘permanent memory’. But the right brain doesn’t really like boring articles, books, presentations etc. It needs passion, colors, expressions, involvement and all that weird stuff you can imagine. Look at the learning pyramid  for eg ; more it becomes right brainy stuff, more the retention.

I think as small children, we were all right brainers. Then the education system started making us more logical (at some point we felt ourselves that every thing needs to have a reson), then the environment around us and finally the job. It is not surprising that a majority of SW engineers in India do not have a hobby (sorry I don’t count browsing, chatting, orkutting…)And we keep wondering what happened to life? Why is it so monotonous ? Why is it so dry?

The good news is that the right brain is not dead. It just needs some attention and pampering. And you can see the creativity (and joy – true creativity is always associated with joy..) coming back again. Start doing something creative – painting , writing, music, crafts, sculpting, dancing..something that you find interesting. This will also give you the High you need  !

Tough now there is a lot of hype about right brain and stuff like intuition , insight etc, I think at a middle management level and below right brainers will have a tough time. Because our institutions demand logical reasoning for opinions and decisions, which a right brainer is very bad at. Partly also because many top executives (who talk of stuff like intuition etc) don’t really understand what it means to have a insight which looks logically stupid.

Now the golden question is – is there a way to enjoy the best of both ? A mind both creative and logical could be deadly; and we have seen people (though rarely) like that. I think the answer is in Mindfulness . When I first tried  to understand Mindfulness, I could make out that it is bringing something together. What was it – I thought it to be conscious and the subconscious mind. But that wasn’t true.  I think it is the left and the right brain that mindfulness brings together.  I think the awareness gives you a choice to get both the perceptions (or the best one) from both the brains on an issue at hand.

I am not really sure at the moment. This is again a hunch. But soon I am going to give it a try, will tell you my experience.

Note : Also see

• the post for a yogic technique for balancing the brains
• the post on story telling to make the brain more creative