“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” – Dr. Albert Einstein
The brain is very impressionable. It can be influenced to accept things as truth, even when they may not be true. We adapt to our environment as a reaction to what the brain accepts as truth. Some adaptations are healthier than others. When the brain attaches to an unhealthy belief there is only one way to move away from the unhealthy state. The brain must be persuaded to change its view of your world.
The chiropractic adjustment is an art form that gives new information to the brain. The brain then has the chance to view the world around it in a different way. The adjustment influences the posture to change. As the posture changes, “posturing”, the way we see and react to the world changes.
A good change in the body could be changing the pull on a group of muscles to relieve the stress on a joint in order to ease the pain in an area of the body. Or, it could be mobilization of the immune system to ward off a virus. It could even be communicating to the pancreas clearly so that it will properly process too much sugar. The result can be no pain rather than pain; wellness rather than the flu; good digestion rather than diabetes. So, while the chiropractic adjustment heals nothing; it does remove the interference to the nervous system that can prevent healing. Just as propaganda can train the brain, the chiropractic adjustment works to entrain new and better patterns into the brain.
And, what does this have to do with optimism you may ask. Many people have a decidedly pessimistic view of what is happening in the world today. I will show you how the brain is trained to think this way. I will show you that just because many people think this way does not make it an accurate point of view. Finally, I will remind you that the chiropractic adjustment is a method of training the brain to see more clearly. When we see past the programmed responses the opportunity exists to be optimistic.
Three factors push the masses to be pessimistic. First is the way we are wired. Then there is the self-interest of the media. Finally, there is authority figure bias. However, we have a choice.
There is a part of the brain called the amygdala. It is a non-thinking, immediate reflex action, survival instinct part of the brain. It served a very good purpose ages ago when people were exposed to a lot of physical danger. Today we experience fewer immediate life-threatening physical threats, but the amygdala still sees many things as threats.
The amygdala is balanced by a newer part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex This part of the brain is loving, empathetic, compassionate, optimistic. These emotions are the result of the brain processing information. Processing takes time. The amygdala sparks instant action and has been around longer. The result is we are wired to survive first, even if that reaction pushes us away from optimism.
The media exists to get people to read, watch, or listen to it. Studies show that people are more likely to watch bad news than good. It is in the self-interest of the media to program us to be pessimistic with a barrage of bad news.
Finally, there is authority bias. People are programmed to search for authority figures to believe in, and many people see political figures, news people, and other figures seen in the media as authority figures. It is also common to think of authority figures as our friends. Authority figures are often influenced to be pessimistic just as we are. Authority figures speak their minds. We listen.
So, here we are living at an incredibly fast pace. The amygdala is the first stop for all incoming information and it expects the worst. We are inundated with messages of doom. Authority figures support those messages. So then, what is the recipe for optimism?
- Get adjusted by a chiropractor.
- Practice stress reducing techniques like meditation, prayer, yoga, Chi Gong, focused breathing to allow the optimistic prefrontal cortex to compete with the pessimistic amygdala.
- Stop watching, reading, and listening to the news.
- Question authority. Make real friends who will support your endeavor to create an optimistic community.
- Do these things now and often.
We can program ourselves for optimism as easily as we can for pessimism. If you have become convinced that we really are doomed, then read, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, by Peter M. Diamandis and Steven Kotler. The best time for change is now!
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it the superficial appearance of being right.”– Tom Paine
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