Since we know that thoughts can influence our brains and our bodies, let's take a look at exactly how they do that and what is happening under the hood in your head. Let's jump back to that morning thought: "I don't want to get out of bed. Scientists would argue first that the thought you had was not spontaneous and random. Instead, your thought was likely a reaction to something around you.
In this case, it might have been an alarm clock, checking your phone to see what time it is, or hearing something like the garbage truck go by that reminds you of time passing.
In other cases, thoughts might be triggered by memories. Now, once you have that thought, what happens? Action potential : Sudden burst of voltage caused by chemical changes how neurons signal one another.
Neuron : A nerve cell through which signals are sent. Neurotransmitter : Chemical messengers released by neurons that help them communicate with other cells e. Prefrontal cortex : Part of the brain involved in planning, personality, decision making, and social behavior. Hippocampus : Part of the brain crucial in a variety of memory functions.
Synapse: A structure that allows a neuron nerve cell to pass a chemical or electrical signal to a target cell. The brain operates in a complex way with many parts intersecting and interacting with each other simultaneously. So, when you have that thought in the morning, it's likely that all these different components of your brain prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, neurons, neurotransmitters, etc. If the result of your thought that you don't want to get out of bed is that you throw the covers back over your head, what happened to allow that action?
Or, if instead you decided that you needed to get up and got out of bed, what happened differently? We know that when the brain is making a decision, different neural networks compete with each other.
Eventually, one of the networks becomes activated and produces the desired behavior. This happens through nerve cells in the spinal cord called motor neurons that fire and sends an impulse down their axon , which travels to the muscle and causes the action: in this case you throwing the covers over your head or actually getting out of bed. What about the emotional effects of your thought? We know that your thoughts can influence the neurotransmitters in your brain.
Optimism is linked to better immunity to illness while depressive thinking may be linked to reduced immunity. So, if you throw the covers over your head, and that triggers other thoughts such as "I'm tired," "I can't get up," or "Life is hard," complex interactions in your brain may send signals to other parts of your body. On the other hand, if you get out of bed and think, "This isn't so bad," "I'm getting going now," or "Today is going to be a great day," the pathways and signals that your neurons send will obviously be different.
We don't yet know all the intricacies of these processes; however, suffice it to say that your thoughts matter. Your brain is constantly receiving signals, whether from the outside environment in terms of perceptions or memories from your past. It then activates different patterns through waves in the brain through billions of synapses.
In this way, your thoughts grow more complex as they interact with other content produced by your brain functions. It goes without saying that your thoughts are linked to your emotions in a bidirectional way. How many times have you experienced a shot of adrenaline after having a fearful thought? Have you ever gone to a job interview or on a first date and felt the same? Whenever you have a thought, there is a corresponding chemical reaction in your mind and body as a result.
This is important to realize because it means that what you think can affect how you feel. The electrical signals propagate like a wave to thousands of neurons, which leads to thought formation.
More Ask a Scientist: Ducks quack for several different reasons, and not all of them do. More Ask a Scientist: Imagining the biggest number can lead to infinite possibilities. One theory explains that thoughts are generated when neurons fire. Our external environment such as home, relationships, media, etc. A continuous pattern of neuronal firing reinforces the circuitry.
This means that if we are put in the same situation twice, the firing of our neurons is going to be similar and reinforced. We think big. We think out loud. We think outside the box. We think on our feet. The notion that we think with the body — the startling conclusion of a field called embodied cognition — flies in the face of long-standing views. Early cognitive psychologists defined thought as an activity that resides in the brain: Sensory data come in from eyes and ears, fingers and funny bone, and the mind turns these signals into disembodied representations that it manipulates in what we call thinking.
But dozens of studies over the past decade challenge that view, suggesting instead that our thoughts are inextricably linked to physical experience.
In one study, Lee and a colleague exposed volunteers to different odors. When they did, they found that getting a whiff of a fishy odor evoked feelings of suspicion; likewise, when research participants were exposed to another person behaving suspiciously, they were better able to detect a fishy scent.
The range of findings demonstrating embodied cognition is impressive. A small sampling: Looking upward nudges people to call to mind others who are more powerful, while looking down prompts thoughts of people we outrank. Intrinsically we all are pure by nature, but the moment you feel this; that you are pure, your heart is pure, you do not wish anything bad for anybody on this planet or any other planet, and then you are love.
How can a celebration happen? A celebration cannot happen by just putting flowers and balloons; it has to happen from within. What are the qualifications and conditions needed for a celebration to happen?
Silence is the scent of purity and it makes life a celebration. Human life is a combination of matter, i. Pleasure or joy is an intense vibration. Joy is forgetting that you are matter and you become this intense vibration. But it is short-lived and it makes you dense later on. The pleasure that comes from Satsang the company of the truth is of a higher nature. Mantra and singing create vibrations in the spirit. Pleasure in the subtle is long-lasting, energising, refreshing and freeing.
The pleasure from the gross is short-lived, tiring, and binding. In true celebration, you are not just having a party. When sanctity is attached to it, the celebration becomes complete. The body, mind, and spirit rejoice. If celebration uplifts and unites everyone around you, if it frees them of the traumatic past and holds out hope for the future, then there is no guilt or vacuity.
That type of celebration is service. It is sacred. Turn your celebration into a sacred offering for society rather than a self-centred, pleasure-seeking one. When a celebration has a tinge of sanctity and prayer, it gains depth and dignity. It is not just entertainment for the mind or excitement for the body but nourishment for the soul as well. Instead of beginning a celebration with intoxicants, begin afresh with an act of kindness, a moment of reflection.
Celebration is an attitude. The celebration comes from enthusiasm and joy. When there is depression in a society that is when a celebration is needed the most, to uplift the state of mind of everyone. Life will always move in the direction of the best. On the way, you may find some rough roads, but they will lead you to a better life.
Difficulties give you depth and joy gives you a sense of expansion. The wise see their past as destiny, the future as free will and are happy in the present. The unwise regret the past, think the future is predestined and are miserable in present. The choice is yours. The past has taught us many lessons; what we should be doing and what we should not. Every pain that we went through brought us some depth, and all the joys and pleasures gave us a new vision of life and hope for the future.
Welcome the future with a genuine smile. That smile comes when you know for sure that you are loved. You will live in insecurity. With insecurity comes greed, with greed, comes selfishness and with that comes anger, with anger, comes lust and with that, comes sadness and misery one behind the other, like a chain.
Look back and try to remember how many days in the past you were entangled in such a pattern. When you do this, do not reject anything. Let your attention be on the Self. This is a delicate balance. That balance is yoga. That balance is spirituality. Again, some people think being silent is spirituality e. Some people think the only celebration is spirituality.
For example, in some parts of the world, such as in rural India or Africa, celebration means loud music; there is no silence at all.
Spirituality is a harmonious blend of outer silence and inner celebration; and also inner silence and other celebration! They do not look that joyful and celebrative. People who are in silence are very morose and melancholic, but our speciality is, we are in silence and we are celebrating.
This is so beautiful. A celebration that comes out of silence is a real celebration. The celebration that comes out of silence is very authentic because it is coming from depth. Celebrate the silence and celebrate the noise. Celebrate life and death. This is the Eleventh Commandment! Celebrate while you are alone and when you are with people.
Some know to celebrate when they are in a crowd. Some can only rejoice alone in silence. I tell you to do both.
Precious moments are few in life. Catch them and treasure them. Place, time, and the mood of mind are factors that influence celebration. Snatch every opportunity to celebrate, and then you feel great and full and then celebration infiltrates your mind in all moods and space, and celebration is inevitable.
Celebration reminds you of the fullness of the moment. The moments you are in the company of knowledge—the Master—are the most precious moments in your life. Treasure them. Treasuring them, you transcend the mind, time and space and that is a true celebration.
The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian leader, spiritual teacher and an ambassador of peace. Intrinsically we all are pure by nature; but the moment you feel this, that you are pure, your heart is pure, you do not wish anything bad for anybody on this planet or any other planet, and then you are love.
It is impossible to desire something that one has never experienced. A life bereft of love, is no life at all. That means that everyone you know has once experienced deep love. It is the quality of love that really matters. We have all felt love in our hearts and feel the happiest when we feel that positivity and energy. But many things can happen that can cause it to become hidden.
When it does, we become dispirited, despondent and look for something, anything, to be the object of the love we want to feel and want to receive. What is that real love? It could be called spiritual love. It is a flow of good wishes and positive, pure feelings that goes outward rather than inward and is unrelated to neediness, weakness or insecurity.
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