"Mr.Brain" Part-2 - "Radiant thinking"

In the previous post I had told you about the real potential of our brain. We are aware of the fact that there is so much potential that can make us develop anything that we need to. It is a matter of creating 'memory traces' in our brains. So that the information reaches the deep parts of the brain and becomes one with the brain.

Let's see in this post the conventional note making/taking and its disadvantages. Then I'll introduce to you, what is called as Radiant Thinking, the first step in Mind Mapping. Mind maps are something that we normally use it without knowing that it is mind mapping. If we know about mind maps, we can certainly remember and recall things faster than what we normally do.

There is a psychology of learning and remembering. We normally remember the items at the start of the learning period, then at the end, any items associated with things or patterns already stored or linked to other aspects of what is being learned, any item that stand alone as outstanding or unique, then those of which are of particular interest to an individual. This is what research has shown us.

"Conventional note making/taking"

Our brain generally has got five functions namely: Receiving, Holding, Analysing, Outputting, Controlling. All these are integrated functions. One leads to the other. Only if the brain can receive, it can hold and analyse the data. Conversely, if the brain can hold and analyse the data efficiently, it can receive more data. This outputting function is what is the expression of Mind map.It is how we think in the inside that is shown outside. The fifth function is the monitoring of your general health, attitude, environmental conditions. This is the function that defines

"Perfect mind in a perfect body"

There has been so much of development in the world of information which has led to 'information explosion'. This has partly been caused by the assumption that writing is the only correct vehicle for the learning, analysis, and dissemination of information. If writing is indeed the best way of taking in, analysing and passing on information, why are so many people having problems in the fields of learning, thinking, creativity and memory? Why do they complain of basic inability, loss of self-confidence, diminishing interest, and reduced powers of concentration, memory and thinking?

This is because of the fact that we don't adopt the right method to take notes. We think that the linear way of writing notes is the best way to remember. But it isn't one. Great minds like that of Leonardo Da Vinci and that of Picasso have scribbled their ideas in a way that is comprehensive only to them. They have indeed become great. So what is the problem in our note making/taking abilities?

"Writings of Picasso"

For note making/taking we normally use three types or the combination of the three types. One is linear patterning or listing out, sentence type of notes, or in a hierarchical series consisting of major categories and sub-categories. There is a fourth type which is described as 'disorganised' or 'messy' kind of note taking/making. So in every school, university and business, using which a research was done, more than 95% used the major three styles.

"Writings of Leonardo Da Vinci"

There was an absence of the following: Visual rhythm, Visual pattern, Colour, Image(imagination),Visualization, Dimension, Spatial awareness, Gestalt(wholeness) and Association.
The disadvantages are that: Linear notes obscure the key words, make it difficult to remember, they waste time, fail to stimulate the brain creativity. Hence we lose powers of concentration, time consuming habit of reading unnecessary notes aruses, experience loss of confidence, lose the love for learning, boredom and frustration creeps into our minds, harder we work, the less we progress because we start working against ourselves.

A story comes to the mind when I talk about this. There was a young girl in New York, who at the age of nine was an A student, then at the age of 10 she was a B student, then at 11 years she was a C student, then at 12 years she was a D student, a total failure. She was doing one thing in a very good manner. She was good at that each year. Making her notes look attractive enough to study. In order to better at school, she started making her notes look better every year. This made her concentrate more on taking notes, making her forget, and misunderstand what she was studying. She was made to apply mind mapping and the trend was reversed.

What happens to the information that we put into our brains?
What happens when we taste a ripe fruit, smell flowers, listen to music, watch a stream, touch a loved one? Have you ever imagined what happens in our brain?
The answer is both simple and amazingly complex.
Each bit of information entering into our brain- every sensation, memory or thought can be represented as a central sphere from which radiate tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of hooks. Each hook represents an association. That leads to various other links and connections that are infinite in number. The associations which you've already used may be thought of as your database, or your library. Your brain is a Branching association machine(BAM). A super bio computer with lines of thought radiating from a virtually infinite number of data nodes. A calculation will reveal that your already existing database of items of information, and the associations radiating from them, consists of multiple quadrillions data associations.
This is what is called radiant thinking.
'Radiate' means 'to spread or move in directions'.
So how do we apply Radiant thinking to our minds. It is through Mind maps. Mind maps are the external expressions of our inside, which is called Radiant thinking. Mind map is a tool and the process is called as Radiant Thinking.
I'll tell you just a simple exercise which will enable you to know what is Radiant thinking.

Take a paper, and a lot of coloured pens, and have a word at the center say 'Machines'. Then having 'Machines' at the centre, draw ten branches. In each branch write the associations that pops up in your brain when you think of machines. For example, write cars on one branch. Similarly write 10 associations. Do not take more than 1 minute. Here is an exercise what I did.

"Machines at the center and Cars, Buses, Design, Hospitals, Household appliances, Airplanes, Fabrication,Land movers,Usefulness and Weapons came to my mind as branches"

If you can do it with three or four people then it would be better. Do not copy for god's sake. Compare each others results after finishing. Aim is to find those words which are common to all members.Predict how much of those would be common to all, individually before doing the exercise. Many people will predict that a lot of words to be common among the group but research has shown that for there to be even one word common to all members of a group of four is a rarity. If this common word was made the centre of another mind map then the results was the same. There is a difference in every individual's words. I'd tell you that it sounds easy but it needs some practice. It becomes easy as you practice. This is radiant thinking. This is just a basic of what is to come. Practice this exercise for various words as centre.

But what I've told is only about the Brainstroming words and not about images. When the Radiant thinking ability of the brain can be applied to the 'left cortical skill' of words, can the same power be applied to the 'right cortical skill' of imagination and images?
Yes, of course. Everybody is bestowed with the art of drawing. No matter how your image looks like. Art of drawing should be followed by everybody. Research was done by showing 2560 images to a group of students. And similar images were shown with the ones that were already shown. Nearly, 96% of the students found the right answers. Another research of nearly 10,000 images were shown for each second and the recognition accuracy rate was about 99.9%. Allowing some degree of boredom and exhaustion, R.S.Nickerson, a researcher, estimated that had their group been shown a million pictures, rather than 10,000 the would have recognised 986,300-an accuracy rate of 98.6%.

Now will tell you the real secret behind mind maps. The mind maps have proved to be efficient tools because it makes use of both the 'left cortical skill' and the 'right cortical skill' of words and images respectively, there by making the whole brain function at the same time. this makes it a powerful tool indeed. In the coming posts we will see about what are the mind mapping techniques available, how to apply them in our real lives and how to does it make us remember so much of information. Let's find it out in our subsequent posts. Do follow the astounding discovery of our own mind and put it to use in order to make ourselves efficient in whatever we do.

-SATZ

"Mr.Brain" series- Part 1- The ultimate bio computer

I always say

"Mind is everything. You conquer your mind, you will conquer the world."

I recently found that it is indeed true. I started reading about the brain and I found some astonishing facts that put me in a state of bewilderment.

I thought for a while and it was really true. People have spent nearly their lifetime to analyze how the brain really works. It is true that if the brain can know about itself, about its potential, it can do wonders. At last after about three-and-a-half million year history of human intelligence that very intelligence has realized that it can understand, analyze and nurture itself. It can develop powerful and far more flexible modes of thoughts currently in use throughout the world.

Let's find out what the structure of our brain looks like and then we will understand about the processing of information.
Research tells us everything about the brain. I'll enumerate the amazing facts about the structure.What parts does the brain have? What makes us think?

• In each human brain there are an estimated one million, million,(1000,000,000,000) brain cells.
• Each brain cell(neuron) contains a vast electrochemical complex and a powerful micro-data processing and transmitting system.
  
• Each of these brain cells looks like a super octopus, with a central body and tens, hundreds, or thousands of tentacles.
• Magnifying further, the tentacles looks like a branch of a tree. Radiating from the cell centre. These are called dendrites. One particularly large branch is called axon.
  
• Each dendrite or axon may range from a millimeter to 1.5 meters in length and all throughout the length there are protuberances called dendritic spines or synaptic buttons.
  
• Each of those contain bundles of chemicals. Major message carriers. One button will link to the other. When an electrical impulse travels through the brain cell, chemicals are transferred across the minute, liquid filled space between the two cells. This space is called the synaptic gap.

The image of a brain cell

This is the structure of our brain. This is what it is made up of. There are further more facts about its processing. How much of information that the brain can process? You'll get the answer in the following paragraph.

Processing of information:

The chemical slot into the receiving surface, creating an impulse that travels through the receiving braincell from where it is then directed to an adjoining brain cell. A brain cell may receive incoming pulses from hundreds of thousands of connecting points every second.

When the brain cell is passed on with a message or thought or a re-lived memory, a biochemical electromagnetic pathway is established. These neuronal pathways are called as "memory traces". These memory traces or mental maps are one of the most exciting areas of modern brain research.

So what is unique about these memory traces anyway?

Every time we have a thought, the biochemical/electromagnetic resistance along the pathway carrying that thought is reduced. It is like trying to clear the path through a forest. The first time is a struggle because we have to fight our way through the undergrowth. The second time we travel it will be easier because of the clearing we did on our first journey. The more times we travel that path, the less resistance there will be, until, after many repetitions, we have a wide smooth track which requires little or no clearing. A similar function occurs in our brain: the more we repeat patterns or maps of thought, the less resistance there is to them. So the repeated use keeps the track clear, thus encouraging further 'traffic'. The more tracks and pathways we can create and use, the 'clearer', faster and more efficient our thinking will become.
This is why people say

"Practice makes a man absolutely perfect"

Professor Pyotr Kouzmich Anokhin of Moscow University made his last public statement on the results of his 60-year investigation into the nature of our brain cells in the winter of 1973. The conclusion in his paper 'The Forming of Natural and Artificial Intelligence' was as follows:

"We can show that each of the ten billion neurons in the human brain has a possibility of connections of one with twenty-eight noughts (zeroes) after it! If a single neuron has this quality of potential, we can hardly imagine what the whole brain can do. What it means is that the total number of possible combinations/permutations in the brain, if written out, would be 1 followed by 10.5 million kilometers of noughts(zeroes)!
No human yet exists who can use all the potential of his brain. This is why we don't accept any pessimistic estimates of the limits of the human brain. It is unlimited!"

The messy mesh of the brain cells

It is accomplished by the biggest 'embrace' the known universe - your brain cells embracing your brain cells. Each individual brain cell is capable of contacting and embracing as many as 10,000 or more proximate brain cells in the same instant.
There are two cerebral hemispheres namely the right and the left. The research by Professor Roger Sperry of California, who was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize for his research, indicated that two sides or hemispheres, of the cortex tend to divide the major intellectual functions between them. The right hemisphere appeared to be dominant in the following intellectual areas: rhythm, spatial awareness, gestalt(wholeness), imagination, daydreaming, colour and dimension. The left appeared to be dominant in a different but equally powerful range of mental skills: words, logic, numbers, sequence, linearity, analysis, and lists.

Although each hemisphere is dominant in certain activities, they are both basically skilled in all areas. This was further proved by Ornstein, Zaidel, Bloch in their research of confirming the findings of Roger Sperry.

Michael Bloch stated:

'If we call ourselves "right brain" or " left brain" people, we are limiting our ability to develop new strategies.'

It is wrong to say that 'Iam bad at or do not possess mental skill X'. It is both an untruth and misunderstanding. If one is weak at something the correct statement must be 'I have yet to develop mental skill X'. The only barrier to the expression and application is all our mental skills is our knowledge of how to access them.

Dr.Mark Rosenweig in Paris announced the results of his work and told that
"Even if your brain is fed 10 items of data(each item being a simple word or image) every second for 100 years, it would still have used less than one-tenth of its storage capacity."

There are a few techniques through which the efficient thinking can be done. There are note making/ taking techniques that will enhance the way we write and remember them. Many of us think that the more neat the notes are the more easy they are to understand. But there are cases in which when a student started writing notes in a neat manner, the IQ level started decreasing. I'll discuss about Radiant Thinking, Mind Mapping, and the problems in conventional note making/taking in detail in the subsequent posts. At the end of the series you'll be able to apply the Radiant Thinking and Mind mapping techniques to real life and make wonder with your mind and brain. The easiest way to remember and store a lot of information in your brain.

-SATZ