READ TIME: 10m
DR JOHN DEMARTINI - Updated 1 month ago
You might have heard of 'neuroplasticity’ and already have an understanding that your brain is incredibly adaptable, constantly adjusting to the stimuli it receives via your incoming sensory neurons. But have you ever wondered if your brain continues to evolve throughout your life and if you can influence its adaptive evolution consciously?
The short answer is yes.
Every time you experience your world through your senses, your peripheral and central nervous system embarks on an extraordinary process. The information you receive through your transducing receptors and their sensory neurons travels first into your spinal cord and then second up your spinal cord, through your brainstem, and into your thalamus before reaching your somatosensory cortex where scientists believe you become consciously aware of it.
That being said, the data your receptors receive and what your cortex perceives can often differ. Your subconscious associations can reshape your interpretation of reality, blurring the line between reception and perception.
In other words, the journey of sensory information to your conscious awareness isn't as straightforward as some may think. As it passes through the thalamus, which acts as a relay station up into the cortical conscious awareness, much of the information is filtered, allowing only specific details to reach your conscious mind.
Simply put, your perceptions are just that – subjective perceptions and not necessarily objective fact. It’s for this reason that two people can be in the same place at the same time, and have two very different perceptions of what took place.
When your perceptions are BALANCED, this information tends to transition seamlessly into your prefrontal cortex, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex, allowing you to respond objectively and neutrally.
If your perceptions are IMBALANCED, usually during times when you perceive that something or someone is either a threat (something to avoid) or a reward (something to seek), your brain's equilibrium is perceptually disrupted. This imbalance mostly results in the redirecting of information from the thalamus to your subcortical areas, including the amygdala and hippocampus. Here, a positive or negative charge (valence) is assigned, prompting a motor response to either impulsively SEEK or instinctually AVOID the stimulus.
In other words, your reaction is subjectively biased, often shaped by your previous associations, prejudices and judgments.
To clarify further:
- When you predominantly use your lower, inner and more primitive subcortical area of your brain, you tend to operate in SURVIVAL mode.
- In contrast, engaging your executive center and higher, outer prefrontal cortex of your brain often propels you into a state of THRIVAL.
The brain's functionality is directly influenced by whether you're operating in a state of survival or thrival.
When you're in survival mode, the development of your forebrain tends to be hindered or held back. In contrast, when you're in thrival, your forebrain tends to take the lead, calming and governing the more primitive and reactive subcortical areas of your brain.
This distinction is crucial: you evolve and grow when you maintain a centered and balanced state of being.
Conversely, when you exist in states of imbalance, you tend to merely survive and exist in a fight or flight state, limiting your brain's potential for growth and development.
For your brain to truly evolve, it is wise for you to cultivate centered and balanced perceptions. When your views are imbalanced and subjectively biased, you might find yourself stuck in primitive reactions of seeking and avoiding. However, with a balanced perspective, you have the opportunity to evolve with reason and objectivity, continually growing and advancing.
When unbalanced, you might react to misperceptions. However, from a balanced state of mind, you are more likely to become a more masterful individual, capable of governing your responses and evolving beyond your primal instincts.
In my signature program, the Breakthrough Experience that I teach most every week, my key focus is on teaching you how to identify and live congruently with your unique set of highest values. When you align your life with these values, you tend to operate more objectively and bring your blood, glucose and oxygen into your forebrain, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex. This increases the likelihood of you engaging in strategic planning, clear vision, and effective execution of your strategically planned, goal driven, actions.
Living congruently with your highest values means that you are more likely to govern your life rather than merely reacting to circumstances, thriving instead of just surviving.
Conversely, attempting to live according to your lower values will trigger a blood flow shift to the amygdala, more likely leading to impulsive (seeking), instinctual (avoiding) behaviors, including the tendency to seek the unobtainable and avoid the unavoidable.
True growth requires a balance between opposing forces – support and challenge, or the proverbial prey and predator. Solely pursuing 'prey' can often lead to complacency, while constantly attempting to evade 'predators' can leave you feeling drained. By maintaining balance and objectivity, you are more likely to enhance your growth and development, while also propelling your brain and life forward in a meaningful and more executive direction.
One of the key distinctions between humans and other species is the further development of the telencephalon or forebrain. By consistently engaging your forebrain, also known as your ‘executive center’, you can continue to evolve, and expand your capabilities beyond basic survival impulses and instincts.
It’s yet another reason why I am so inspired to teach the Breakthrough Experience most every week, because it introduces the Demartini Method, a tool designed to balance your perceptions and awaken your forebrain, thereby facilitating further evolution and mastery.
When your forebrain is in governance, it sets you on the path of mastering your destiny, as opposed to residing in your subcortical area, which can leave you feeling like a victim of history.
This is why I advocate the use of the Demartini Method. By applying this method, asking insightful questions, and holding yourself accountable to see both sides, the up of the down and the down of the up, you learn to bring your unconscious thoughts to the surface so you can become fully conscious. This process helps you to see BOTH sides of any situation, fostering a balanced perspective and activating the thriving potential of your forebrain over the survival-focused subcortical regions.
For instance, if you're infatuated with someone, focusing only on their positive aspects, the Demartini Method encourages you to question and recognize their downsides. Once you balance these upsides and downsides, your infatuation is more likely to transform into genuine appreciation and love. Why? Because this shift moves your brain's activity from the subcortical amygdala to the forebrain, allowing you to govern your reactions and be driven intrinsically rather than by external impulsive and instinctive motivation.
Similarly, when you resent someone, acknowledging the benefits of the behavior you're judging can help bring you back to a state of balance. This balanced state activates the executive function of your brain. Within milliseconds of achieving this balance, your forebrain actually begins to rewire itself – a testament to its neuroplastic nature.
So, by consistently using your forebrain with a balanced and objective view, you develop new neural networks and pathways, mastering your life through proactive action and foresight.
Conversely, if you allow imbalances and misperceptions to dominate, your amygdala tends to take control, keeping you in a state of subjective bias and reactive living. In this state, your brain strengthens the pathways associated with the amygdala, limiting your potential and making you more reactive to external circumstances, effectively keeping you as a victim of history rather than a master of your destiny.
This is where the Demartini Method can help you transform your life – quality questions that help free you from emotional reactions that are impulsive or instinctive and keep you trapped in the subcortical area of your brain. These impulses and instincts act as distractions, pulling you away from what is truly meaningful.
If your day isn't filled with high-priority, inspiring actions, it will likely become cluttered with these lower-priority distractions, leading you away from mastery and in the direction of unfulfillment. The choice is yours.
By clearly defining your highest priorities and focusing on them, you are more likely to steer your life towards what you value most.
In the Breakthrough Experience, the emphasis is on mastering your life by prioritizing your day. This begins with identifying your unique hierarchy of values and aligning your life accordingly. By dedicating yourself to what matters most and delegating lesser priorities, you are more likely to move closer to a life of true mastery.
The Demartini Method plays a key role in this process, helping you dissolve emotional baggage stored in your subcortical subconscious mind that may trigger reactions – from elation to depression, impulsive behavior to resentment, and feelings of pride to shame. These emotional distractions can detract from your authenticity and centeredness.
Prioritizing your perceptions and actions can be pivotal in living the life you would love – one where you are thriving. The Demartini Method doesn't just unburden you of emotional baggage; it helps you transform your challenges into fuel for your mission and journey.
It is wise to remember that your brain is continuously evolving. You have the power to direct this evolution through prioritization and application of the Demartini Method. The Breakthrough Experience is more than just a seminar; it's an opportunity to gain tools and skills that are transformative and original. I invite you to join and learn these life-changing tools, stepping into the role of a master of your destiny, instead of remaining a victim of your history.
If I can leave you with one thought today, it’s this: the evolution of your brain and the fulfillment of your life are within your control. By understanding neuroplasticity, living congruently with your highest values, and asking quality questions to balance your perceptions, you can transcend survival impulses and instincts and embrace a life of mastery and purpose.
To Sum Up:
Your brain is constantly evolving and adapting, influenced by the incoming stimuli and your resultant perceptions of it.
It is wise to recognize the difference between reception and perception. In other words, to be
aware that what you sense and what you perceive can differ. Your subconscious influences can alter your interpretation of reality.
It’s for this reason that I teach people how to have a balanced and objective perspective. When your perceptions are balanced, information transitions smoothly to your prefrontal cortex, allowing for neutral and objective responses. Imbalanced, subjectively biased perceptions, on the other hand, result in reactions based on survival impulses and instincts.
Living in congruence with your highest values stimulates your forebrain, enhancing strategic thinking and decision-making. This alignment is more likely to lead to thriving, as opposed to surviving, marked by a life of purpose and intention.
The Demartini Method that I teach in the Breakthrough Experience is a powerful tool to help you dissolve emotional baggage and balance your perceptions. This technique helps you neutralize emotional reactions, shifting from a reactive to a proactive state, and moving brain activity towards the forebrain.
Filling your day with high-priority actions aligned with your highest values can help you become more empowered and masterful. However, succumbing to low-priority distractions more likely results in disempowerment, stagnation and frustration.
It is wise to learn to balance your perceptions so you can govern your responses and evolve beyond your primal impulses and instincts.
You have the power to direct your brain's evolution by prioritizing your life and focusing on your highest values.
I often speak about using your challenges as fuel for growth. By maintaining a balanced view and implementing strategic tools like the Demartini Method, you can transform your obstacles into stepping stones for greater achievement and fulfillment.
The Breakthrough Experience offers more than just a seminar; it's an opportunity to acquire transformative tools and skills. I invite you to join me for my next 2-day online program so you can learn these life-transforming techniques and move back into the driver’s seat of your life!
Are you ready for the NEXT STEP?
If you’re seriously committed to your own growth, if you’re ready to make a change now and you’d love some help doing so, then book a FREE Discovery call with a member of the Demartini Team so we can take you through your mini power assessment session.
You’ll come away with a 3-step action plan and the foundation to empower your life.
Book Your TICKET for Dr Demartini's Breakthrough Experience
If you’re ready to go inwards and do the work that will clear your blockages, clarify your vision and balance your mind, then you’ve found the perfect place to start with Dr Demartini at the Breakthrough Experience.
In 2 days you’ll learn how to solve any issue you are facing, transform any emotion and reset the course of your life for greater achievement and fulfillment.
You’ll unlock your true potential and lay the groundwork to empower all 7 areas of your life.
Get ready to take your life to a whole new level of meaning and purpose.
Today is the day you step into your power and value yourself by investing in your inspired life when you sign up for Dr Demartini’s signature seminar the Breakthrough Experience:
Loading...