“What you seek is seeking you.”
Rumi
Overview of this Page:
All 3 parts of the brain (from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine) must be in balance both individually and amongst each other in order to truly thrive in our lives.
In western culture we so often want to be able to say “this is good” and “this is bad;” this habit of looking for “right” VS “wrong” overlooks that life is often a balance between extremes. Although this is an eastern concept it is also easy to verify or recognize in your own personal life experience.
Just a few examples you can notice in your own life illustrate this point:
- Is it better to spend ALL your money, save ALL your money, or somewhere in between?
- Is it better to spend ALL your free time with friends, ALL your free time by yourself, or somewhere in between?
- Is it better to exercise ALL the time, rest ALL the time, or somewhere in between?
The point I hope to illustrate here is that life, in your own personal experience, is an act of balancing between extremes. This page and it’s companion pages “the body brain” and “thinking/emotional brain” are shared with you so that you can become aware how this balancing act is accomplished in the brain, how it affects your everyday experience of life, how to recognize the extremes in yourself, and finally how to use this knowledge to empower your life and move you closer to a state of THRIVING.
What Does Your Self-Aware/Conscious Brain Do?
Your self-aware/conscious brain or “Shen” in TCM could be described as the “mother” of the entire psyche. It can be translated appropriately as “consciousness” which is the process in which a sentient being (person) is imbued with a reference we call “self”, and is said to know of it’s own existence and the existence of objects around it.
This is by far the most misunderstood part of your brain and your daily life so let’s do a little practice together.
(click on the podcast below)
This part of your brain is responsible for:
- Regulating and harmonizing your emotional life (though it’s affect on the thinking/emotional brain)
- It is the coordinator/director of all 4 other aspects of the psyche which makes it of vital importance for the health and harmony of any aspect of the conscious experience. Without this part of your brain you would not be able to experience sight, sound, joy, and any other experience you ever have had or ever will have.
- Whenever you are experiencing ANYTHING then consciousness is there. In-fact it is the ONLY thing that is present in every moment of your life.
*Special Note: Consciousness is an incredibly complex part of life for which we do not have a perfect understanding of in the West. It is 1 of the great mysteries of life and over the millenia has fascinated spiritual leaders, religious movements, philosophers, and scientists. We do not know where consciousness is located or even if it is located anywhere specifically. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is described as being found either “in the brain” or “in the heart” and from clinical experience I find time and again that developing access to it is profoundly helpful. Debating where it is misses the point; the point is that with practice you can absolutely improve your access to it and dramatically improve your quality of life and eliminate or greatly reduce stress, worry, and anxiety.
Up Next: Your Self-Aware/Conscious Brain, Stress, and Dis-ease.