Mindfulness of thinking. Conscious thinking. Get your thoughts in order

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THINKING

The origin of consciousness and its essence is one of the most complex philosophical problems. Suffice it to say that discussions about the secondary or primacy of consciousness in relation to the material world are still ongoing. Quite a lot is already known about human mental activity (the neurophysiology of thinking, the laws of logic, the connection between consciousness and language, etc.), but there is still a lot of mystery and mystery left.

For example, a person is able to control many functions of his body: he can not breathe for some time, do without water and food; There are unique people who can, through an effort of will, even change the frequency of their own heartbeat. But none of us can stop even for a short time the process of thinking, which continues continuously, day and night, throughout our lives. Try not to think about anything, and you will immediately find yourself at least thinking about not thinking about anything.

The closely related concepts of “thinking,” “consciousness,” and “intelligence” are sometimes unjustifiably identified; I think it's the same thing. This is acceptable in everyday life, but in scientific terms they should be distinguished.

Thinking is the ability to perform logical operations, that is, the ability to deduce one thing from another using words or images. Any living creature has this ability from birth if its nervous system has reached a certain development and complexity. Anyone who has observed the behavior of animals will remember more than one case when an animal demonstrates logical behavior, which is not always genetically programmed. Animals are capable of learning new things and inventing actions that are not in the genetic code.

The author of these lines was once almost late for work, watching a crow place walnuts on the tram rails. It has been established, for example, that many animals are capable of even such a complex logical operation as counting. True, their counting is carried out not on an abstract level (with words or numbers), but on a figurative one. Birds can “count” to three, ants - to twelve, dogs - to twenty, dolphins - to sixty. I will give a description of a classic experiment with ants that confirms this skill.

Not far from the anthill, the researchers placed a board covered with pegs (see figure)

anthill;

board with pegs;

3 – delicacy;

4 – ant trajectory-

scout.

Experiment on ants' ability to count

A treat was placed on one of the pegs, say the fifth one from the anthill. A scout ant, having stumbled upon a board, begins to examine the pegs, climbing onto them one by one. Having reached the fifth and finding food, he descends and rushes along the board into the anthill. After a while, loader ants run out of it and confidently and busily head straight to the fifth peg, bypassing the first four.

It is not entirely clear how exactly the “scout” conveyed information about the location of the delicacy to his colleagues, but there is an assumption that there is an account involved. The objection follows that the “loaders” run in the opposite footsteps of the “scout”, or are guided by the smell of food, and the score has nothing to do with it. To check this, researchers pull out the first peg while the “scout” is hiding in the anthill. And what? The “loaders” run to the sixth peg, which has now become the fifth, and, naturally, do not find food. You can imagine their disappointment.

To remove all doubts, in the next experiment, at the moment when the “scout” is hiding in the anthill, they generally replace the board with a new board with pegs, but without any delicacy. Thus, traces and odors are now completely absent. However, the “loaders” still run straight to the fifth peg.

When in the experiment the treat was placed at 7,8,9, etc. pegs, until the twelfth, the “loaders” acted very confidently; but as soon as they placed food on the thirteenth peg or further, they found themselves unable to find it.

Consciousness is the ability of thinking to analyze itself. Only a person has the ability to think about how exactly he thinks. At least, other cases are not known to science. And this skill gives rise to the concept of “I”, that is, the awareness of one’s own existence, which underlies all other human qualities.

Consciousness is not given at birth, but is developed in a child through communication with people around him through upbringing and training. Outside of this communication, consciousness does not arise. Cases when babies, by force of circumstances, end up in a pack of monkeys or wolves for a long time and, because of this, forever lose the opportunity to become people in the strict sense of the word, once again confirm what has been said. Consequently, consciousness is not a natural, not a biological, but a social, socio-historical product.

The presence of consciousness in a person (and only in a person!) has a strong influence on his thinking, that is, on the very process of implementing logical operations, on the level of their complexity and efficiency. Thinking that is aware of itself, becomes capable of purposeful development and improvement, becomes what we call human intelligence. We can say that a person’s intellect is his thinking, ennobled by consciousness. In this case, intelligence contains two components; natural, given, as they say, from God, and acquired through the introduction of a disabled person to civilizational culture.

There is also a more strict definition of intelligence: this is a concept that expresses a person’s ability to quickly make the right decisions in conditions of scarcity or excess of information. It highlights three key aspects: quick thinking; its correctness in relation to the goal; The flow of information or its lack equally makes it difficult to find the right solution or its options. The faster the thought process proceeds, the fewer mistakes are made, and the less interference there is from a lack or excess of information, the higher the level of a person’s intelligence.

Understanding consciousness is fraught with difficulties. The fact is that consciousness is not directly given to us. The images that arise in the brain are not externally observable. We can observe a person’s behavior, his emotions, his speech; When examining the brain, one can observe the physiological processes occurring in it. But it is impossible to observe, even with the help of instruments, consciousness. Images in consciousness do not have the same material properties that the objects reflected by these images have (for example, fire burns, but the image of fire in consciousness does not have this property). Therefore, it turns out that when studying the physiological activity of the brain, human behavior, emotions, speech, it is not consciousness itself that is studied, but its material basis and its materialization in human activity. In this case, consciousness can be judged indirectly, indirectly.

A special way of studying consciousness is observation (introspection) of one’s own spiritual life. In this case, however, a specific difficulty arises. So, for example, if we begin to analyze our emotions or thoughts, then during the course of this analysis they begin to disappear (the thought of the thought displaces the thought itself).

However, with all the difficulties in understanding consciousness, in order to further talk about it and its origin, we must try to give at least a working definition of consciousness. In philosophy, the definition of consciousness includes the indication of its two main functions: reflecting and controlling. Concretizing this approach, we can offer the following definition: consciousness is a person’s ability to display material objects in ideal images and purposefully regulate their relationships with these objects.

In the second half of the 19th century. In the European scientific world, there were quite passionate discussions about the nature of thinking, the echoes of which are heard to this day. Not only philosophers took part in them, but also natural scientists, mainly physiologists. The dispute revolved around the question: is thought as such material, or immaterial (ideal)?

Some scientists believed that thought is a special kind of substance released during its work (in our time, it is suggested that the materiality of thought has not a material, but a field basis). Others objected, believing that although thought is connected with material processes in the brain (physical, chemical), but nothing more; the thought itself is ideal, that is, it does not possess any of the properties inherent in matter or the physical field.

In fairness, it must be said that this discussion began even earlier in the 17th century. German philosopher and mathematician Leibniz. He formulated a paradox, the essence of which, in modern language, can be expressed as follows.

Let's imagine that the human brain has expanded to the size of a large industrial enterprise. And we can, walking through its “shops,” observe the operation of the equipment and the entire progress of production. At the same time, however, we would not be able to understand from our observations what kind of products are produced at this plant. Machines hum, conveyors move, parts and assemblies flash, but it is unclear what the final product is. Being intrigued, we ask to show us the warehouse for finished products, to which we receive a stunning answer that there is none at the plant at all. Thus, the paradox is that the brain is like a factory where everything is spinning and turning, but the product of this amazing factory is not something tangible, but this very twisting and turning.

Proponents of the materiality of thought cited as an argument an experiment (physiologists demonstrated such experiments to students at their university lectures) in which a student was placed on a horizontal board with an axis of rotation in the middle and balanced. Then he was asked the question: “What is 14x17?” He began to think, and his balance was disturbed towards his head. “You see,” the professor exclaimed, “the brain began to secrete thoughts, just as the liver secretes bile, and the head became heavier!” To this, supporters of the ideality of thought objected that with intense thinking, blood flow to the brain increases, and experience, thus, does not prove anything.

We can conclude that the dispute essentially boiled down to the question: is thought a PRODUCT of the brain, or a FUNCTION of the brain? If the first is true, then thought is material; if the second is true, then the thought is ideal. The discussion is not over, although it should be noted that most scientists are inclined to believe that thought is a function of the brain; and this function is information analysis. The brain does not generate information, but processes it, transforming it into a new quality. Information does not have the properties of a material object, that is, it is ideal.

Like everything else in the world, consciousness is the result of development.

Any material object has a property that can be considered as a prerequisite for consciousness. This property is reflection (display). The word “reflection” in the usual sense means the throwing, bouncing of something from any obstacle, just as rays of light are reflected from a mirror surface. In philosophy, this term is filled with a different meaning.

When things interact with each other, some changes certainly occur in them. At the same time, for some time - short or significant - traces of the impact remain, from which quite often one can guess, restoring the picture, what exactly was affected and how.

Scientist studying in laboratory Various influences on the subject of research; a hunter following the trail of a taiga animal; a fingerprint operator who takes fingerprints at a crime scene, etc. - all of them, in one way or another, are busy reconstructing the picture of the events that happened in their wake. Therefore, reflection is the reaction of a material system to an impact, which is accompanied by the imprinting and preservation of traces of this impact. As a universal (universal) property of matter, reflection accompanies any interaction, regardless of its nature. If we consider the evolution of material systems, we can distinguish the simplest forms of reflection (mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc.) and more complex ones associated with the appearance of living beings. In unicellular organisms this is irritability. In multicellular organisms, a selective reaction to influences appears, sensory organs arise and, as a result, sensations appear. The psyche develops on the basis of sensations. The ability to think is formed on the basis of the psyche. Finally, consciousness appears on the foundation of thinking.

Thus, consciousness is the highest stage of development of such a universal property of matter as the property of reflecting. This conclusion allows us to make the assumption that consciousness in the most general terms is the result of the evolution of living matter, which has risen in its development to the state of social life, that is, human society. However, science cannot yet boast that there is complete clarity on the question of the origin of consciousness. On the contrary, there is much more that is unclear.

Explaining the origin of consciousness through chance is not a very serious task. The likelihood of such an event is negligible; it is much less than, say, the probability that a sudden whirlwind hitting a city landfill will accidentally “collect” a Mercedes 600 from trash and garbage.

One of the most common hypotheses for the emergence of consciousness is the evolutionary-labor hypothesis, whose co-authors are Charles Darwin and F. Engels. According to it, many millennia ago, one of the subspecies of apes, through labor activity and articulate speech, evolved towards human society.

It is assumed that this process was long and gradual. The biological prerequisites for consciousness were: a large brain, a gregarious lifestyle of monkeys, and anatomical features of the forelimbs that allow them to pick up objects. This contributed to upright walking and the manufacture of simple tools (as is known, not a single animal is able to make a tool).

The transition from thinking to consciousness, which once took place on this basis, led to the appearance in ancient people of such qualities as the ability to communicate with each other through words and the ability to plan their actions (animals, figuratively speaking, live “in the moment”). A visual diagram of the evolutionary labor process can be seen in any school biology classroom, where it is shown in detail how, starting with the appearance of amoeba and ciliates, the development of living beings leads to the emergence of primates, and then human society.

Of course, this hypothesis has strengths. Firstly, all types of living beings can easily be placed on the steps of the evolutionary “ladder”, each of which is accompanied by the appearance of new properties that did not exist before; At the top level there is precisely a person with his new property - consciousness, which seems quite logical.

Secondly, it has been established that during the nine months of its intrauterine development, the human embryo briefly goes through (reproduces) the main of the mentioned stages (a tail, gill slits, fins, etc. appear, which then atrophy). This speaks of the kinship of the human race with the rest of the animal world, that is, of the natural evolutionary origin of man. However, we note that the fact of consciousness does not automatically follow from this relationship: biologically, man is a product of evolution, most likely this is so; but his consciousness cannot be explained as just a “free appendix” to this evolution.

Thirdly, it is known that the genetic codes of humans and apes coincide by 97%, which indirectly indicates the idea of a direct relationship of people with them, and not with some other species of living organisms. An important role is also played by the external resemblance of humans to great apes, which usually gives rise to some kind of vaguely intriguing and keen curiosity about these creatures among observing people. But here it must be added that the genetic codes of cats and dogs, for example, also coincide to almost the same extent, but no one is in a hurry to claim on this basis that cats descended from dogs, or vice versa.

At the same time, the evolutionary-labor hypothesis of the origin of consciousness also has weaknesses, which in our country during the years of Soviet power were hushed up for ideological reasons (the fight against religion, the logical inviolability of Marxism-Leninism, etc.).

Firstly, so far, despite all efforts, no remains of the so-called “intermediate link” between ape and man have been found. Proponents of this hypothesis try to explain this by the fact that the transition link was not stable or stable; it supposedly was short-lived and therefore left no traces. Others say that they have not found it yet, but perhaps we will find it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I must admit that all this does not sound very convincing.

Secondly, it has been established that we humans use only 7-9% of our brain capacity on average. Nature does not create anything “for future use”; all living beings use their biological capabilities to the fullest. The presence of such a huge “reserve” in the human brain is completely inexplicable from the point of view of the evolutionary labor hypothesis. A fantastic idea arises that man may have appeared not in earthly conditions, but in other conditions that required a different use of intellectual abilities.

Thirdly, it is known that various species of animals are just disappearing (mainly due to man-made human activity); no one has ever observed the emergence of a new species, either in natural or laboratory conditions. All attempts to artificially create a new species by crossing existing ones fail. In some cases, the resulting hybrids cannot reproduce (for example, a mule - a hybrid of a horse and a donkey - is not capable of producing offspring); in others, the original species are born again in the hydrids, say, a cross between a wolf and a dog produces offspring in the form of either “pure” dogs or “pure” wolves). This suggests that humans and apes are different species, rather than subspecies of the same species.

The idea of crossing humans and monkeys for experimental purposes can hardly be considered ethical and humane. However, during the Second World War, German doctors, if you can call them that, also carried out such “experiments.” They gave a negative result: fertilization did not occur. All this seriously undermines the credibility of the hypothesis about the origin of man from the ape.

Fourthly, radiocarbon dating methods have established that biomass (the mass of all living things) on Earth has remained virtually unchanged for millions of years; it fluctuates in one direction or another only in connection with climate changes. Whereas, according to the evolutionary hypothesis, biomass should increase over time. This gives rise to an assumption, incredible from the point of view of traditional ideas, about the simultaneous appearance of all types of living beings on Earth.

Thus, we see that the question of the origin of consciousness remains open. There are other assumptions on this topic. This, for example, is a cosmological hypothesis according to which in the distant past there was an accidental or planned “seeding” of the Earth with DNA matrices, including the human genetic code.

This is the gravitational hypothesis, according to which the gravitational field has different frequencies, similar to the frequencies of the electromagnetic field; These frequencies correspond to various material formations, among which there are “biogravitons”. In this regard, the material basis of consciousness is a gravitational field of a special frequency.

This is the lepton-field hypothesis, according to which there are special particles - leptons, which create fields with different levels of animation and thinking (these particles have already been discovered by modern science, but their properties have not yet been sufficiently studied).

Be that as it may, we can say that three major problems for which modern science does not yet have clear answers - the origin of the Universe, the emergence of life, the emergence of consciousness - continue to excite the imagination and bother us with their unresolved nature.

Consciousness is inextricably linked with speech - the second signaling system (the first is sensations). The concept of “language” is broader than the concept of “speech”. Language is any method of transmitting information, while speech is the transmission of information using words. There is a language of sounds, gestures, facial expressions, drawings, etc.; and there is a language of words - speech - the highest form of language.

The language of animals performs only a signaling function; it is not capable of denoting things and phenomena. For example, the leader of a flock of geese, seeing a fox or a hawk, immediately gives a danger signal, but it is a signal, not a sign; his cry is the same for any threat; it does not indicate the nature of the danger: is it threatening from the ground or from the air, and what exactly is threatening. At this moment, a flock of geese interrupts what they are doing and acts as the leader does - takes off if he rises into the air, or rushes into the bushes if the leader is hiding there.

Speech, as the language of consciousness, as the material shell of thought, not only signals, but also designates, that is, it performs a sign function. In addition, the word performs the function of generalization, without which abstract thinking is impossible. In animals, even higher ones, this function is practically not developed. Here is a description of a textbook experience. The chimpanzee was trained to pour water from a jar on fire in order to get a banana from a box (the fire prevented this from happening). When a box with a banana and a fire were placed on the raft, and a jar of water was left on the shore, the chimpanzee ran along the walkway to get a jar of water, although there was a lot of water around and there was an empty jar.

What prevents the monkey from scooping up water from the lake? Low level of generalization: for chimpanzees, water in a jar and water in a lake are not the same thing. She has no concept of “water at all.” It is known that among the backward peoples of the north, the snow lying on the ground has one name; CIS on a tree – another; falling snow - third, etc. Their consciousness is not yet so developed as to rise to the general concept of “snow in general.” That is why backward peoples do not have philosophical systems, since their consciousness requires a high level of abstract thinking and the corresponding vocabulary.

In the described episodes, the captured thoughts did not fall into the dominant speech consciousness, but into another part of the brain, probably into the same one where communication in a silent instinctive language was analyzed. But if this part of the brain could not analyze abstract thoughts, obviously the captured thoughts got into it in an unusual way, BY RANDOM.
But how did they get there? To understand this, you need to analyze the process of the appearance of thoughts in consciousness, i.e. process of conscious thinking.
Consciousness cannot directly analyze the thinking process, as well as the work of the brain in controlling the body; it has no access to other parts of the brain. But what happens in itself, including during thinking, consciousness can analyze.
The process of thinking appears to my consciousness as follows.
When thinking, consciousness asks its brain a question and waits - the person thinks. What happens at this time - his consciousness does not know. After some time, an answer appears in consciousness in the form of a thought (if the result of the brain’s work does not reach consciousness, then there is no thought). Consciousness is either satisfied with this answer or not, and then it asks the next question. Or the answer comes that there is not enough data to solve the problem, and the person suddenly understands, “realizes” that he does not have enough knowledge (or capabilities) to answer this question. And the solution to the problem is postponed for an indefinite period of time.
Thus, the role of consciousness in the thought process is guiding, evaluative, and expert.
The structure of the brain is such that certain cells are responsible for the smallest, “insignificant” operation. But all cells of the cerebral cortex can participate in thinking, communicating with each other in various ways. There must be a single center that would direct this activity. This center is consciousness.

Probably, the instinctive research program, which is activated in animals when encountering an unknown stimulus, has been transformed over millions of years in humans into an instinctive desire for knowledge. And as with any instinctive drive, it must be associated with an executive program of instinct, consisting of unconditioned reflexes. I'm talking about the mindfulness program. This complex instinct, theoretically, should be located in the same place where all other complex instinctive programs are located, in the nuclei of the limbic system. This will be the place of localization of human consciousness.

The cells of consciousness involved in thinking, being part of the brain (general computer), are structured and work differently than the cells that do all the “dirty” work in thinking. Consciousness gives the task, the “working computer” (let’s roughly call it that) calculates the answer.
This process can take varying amounts of time. But ready-made thoughts that come to consciousness, no matter how much information they contain, arise so quickly that a feeling of instantaneity is created. Consciousness evaluates them, but according to a different principle (since doing the same work twice is pointless).

For example, according to the “like or dislike” type. I like what is pleasant, what is pleasant is what is necessary for the functioning of the body or stimulates it in the best way, suitable. What fits is suitable, and this can be determined by applying it to a finished sample or by butting it. But evaluation by superimposing on a ready-made sample, which was once determined by trial and error, is just recognition, the work of instincts (where the “like-dislike” principle is also used, for example, searching for food, avoiding danger). So, in my opinion, the “end-to-end connection” option is more suitable for explaining the work of consciousness - to obtain a complete logical picture.

One cannot help but be tempted to compare the work of thought in a working computer with the uneven movement of charges along a conductor. According to the laws of physics, this movement must inevitably be accompanied by electromagnetic radiation, which can be used to communicate between computers. Since a thought in consciousness arises instantly (i.e., very quickly, much faster than the movement of charges), then in this case, the thought of consciousness can be compared not with a current in a conductor, but with a potential difference at the ends of the conductor that arises (and disappears) ) “instantly”, more precisely, at a speed of about 300,000 km/sec.

For example, when consciousness asks a question to a working computer, a potential difference arises and causes the charges to move, and when the answer is ready, the number of charges is equalized and the potential difference disappears. If the answer is incorrect, the potential difference does not disappear, consciousness feels that something in this answer is wrong, does not correspond. This whole process requires a lot of energy, the consciousness feels tired, the solution to the problem is postponed, the task to the brain is canceled, the potential difference disappears.

Sometimes in life you may feel that you are systematically bumping into the same obstacle, overcoming which deprives you of strength and energy. Problems and difficult situations look like clones, and you cannot break out of a persistent vicious circle. Try to destroy this destructive pattern and start improving your own life. And this should not be a desire for material wealth, but rather a desire for freedom (emotional and physical). Look for sensations, not things.

One of the most important things you begin to understand once you start down the path of change is the realization that you have the power to make your life better. Right now, at this very moment. Not with more money, a new house, car or a better figure, but with a change in thinking. You begin to see that no matter what happens on the outside, you can choose what you think and feel on the inside, and when we appreciate the power of that self-awareness, we can dramatically change not only our day, but our future.

You probably know the phrase “getting out of bed on the wrong foot”? If you believe in it, then you will spend your entire day feeling like an unhappy and unlucky person for whom everything is falling out of hand. Who is guilty? But it all started with a thought directing actions that brought the wrong results. Being able to be self-aware is a powerful way to give direction to your actions, resulting in happiness and success.

Use these five tips to become more self-aware. This power can help you achieve more personally, professionally and emotionally.

1. Stop underestimating yourself and feeling like a victim.

Many people sin with this attitude towards themselves. Have you noticed how you are confident around some people, but around others you feel like a loser or a profane? Pay attention to these feelings. It is now your responsibility to change the way you perceive people and how you feel around them. You may doubt whether people are your friends, and this affects your choices of actions and level of trust. You may have had strict parents and teachers who instilled fear in you. Just become aware of your feelings that have been “living” with you for a very long time.

2. Respect, accept and value yourself

If you don't respect and value yourself, how can you get what will make you happy and self-sufficient? That's right: by not perceiving yourself as an individual and not understanding your own emotional and intellectual potential, you deprive yourself of the chances of progress.

3. Realize your own worth

Even if you learn to respect, accept and value yourself, you may still find that you have some emotionally negative hooks in relation to yourself. Now you need to learn to hear and listen to your personal value in order to know yourself even more and do only what is truly important to you. If you overcome your negative way of thinking, you will win in life. Explore on a subconscious level what is valuable to you and how valuable you are.

4. Reframe your negative thoughts

Once you have learned to accept yourself and understand your worth, you may still find that negativity noticeably impacts your ability to be self-aware. When you habitually do not have particularly high self-esteem, it is difficult to analyze the stream of thoughts swarming in your head. Now your task is to engage in their global restructuring. Listen carefully to your negative thoughts, beliefs and feelings. Don't try to change them, just acknowledge them. What will happen next? You will learn to recognize them and snatch them from the general flow, and then transform them into positive ones.

5. Engage in more active self-development

So, we know that mindset influences our success, but most of the time we use this tool at a very superficial level. While any level is better than nothing, it's still worth exploring this science a little deeper and becoming more self-aware. Expecting results by reading motivational affirmations is clearly not enough. Yes, with the help of conscious thinking you can achieve true happiness, creativity and success, but all this must be supported by active actions.

Conscious thinking is a continuous process of monitoring current experiences, i.e. everything that happens in the present time, without being distracted by thoughts about the past or future.

The conscious process of thinking helps a person to find connections between all the events that have happened and are ongoing, to understand the meaning of life, to make an informed choice in a given situation, to make fewer mistakes, to be attentive, etc.

The development of awareness always relates to the specific situation in which a person finds himself, to the activity in which he is involved. There is no one specific way to develop awareness, because this process has its own levels.

The development of basic level awareness is facilitated by any practical actions, by performing which you can learn to control your emotions, be in the “here and now” state, be able to relax, and be aware of your desires and needs.

A higher level of development of awareness is manifested when a person knows his needs, knows how to satisfy them and at the same time takes into account the interests of others, controls not only his emotions, but also his thoughts and feelings, tries to expand the boundaries of his perception, tune in to a positive perception of the world around him.

A conscious lifestyle helps a person:

Realize your fears and causes of troubles, overcome obstacles and change beliefs that have a destructive impact on life.
Become wiser, increase your self-esteem and get rid of bad habits.
Gain confidence in yourself and your abilities, increase willpower and faith in success.
Learn to live in harmony with yourself and the world around you.

Of course, developing awareness in everyday life is an extremely useful and effective skill, the beneficial effects of which are reflected not only in changing the quality of external life, but also in the development and enrichment of the inner world. But what does it take to make your life conscious? How to understand your life?

Developing Awareness

Determine where you should start working on yourself. Take your time and don't grab everything at once. The development of awareness can be compared to the process of developing physical qualities: gradual development where the main direction is general physical training, and there is the development of special physical skills. The main focus here will be the development of conscious thinking.

Mindfulness Practice

The first step to living a conscious life is breathing. Breathing is the basis of life and first you need to learn to be aware of your breathing, controlling every inhalation and exhalation. Strive to constantly control your breathing: anywhere, at any time, in communication with any people, while performing any action. Always pay attention to how you breathe.

Conscious sensations. Make it a habit to be aware of all your sensations throughout the day. Consciously pay attention to the state of your body, what makes your body feel comfortable and what makes it uncomfortable, how this is interconnected with the events occurring during the day.

Conscious emotions. Mindfulness implies control of emotion, and control is primarily observation. Every time you have this or that emotion, just observe. Don’t evaluate it as either good or bad, look at it as if from the outside. Accept her as she is.

Conscious thoughts. Our consciousness constantly conducts an internal dialogue. Therefore, thoughts are the most difficult to observe, but they are the most effective part of mindfulness practice.

If for a few seconds you can simply control what you are thinking about at that moment, you will not notice how deeply you are already immersed in new thoughts. But the more often you remember your thoughts, the more they will be amenable to your observation and control.

The basis for developing mindfulness lies in four conscious actions:

Practice awareness of your breathing, emotions, sensations and thoughts for a month. Consciously observing how you breathe and what you feel is a rather complex process. Most likely, at first you will be distracted all the time and forget about it.

But over time, it will become easier and easier for you to control these processes. Then you won’t even notice how observation of all your manifestations and condition will become part of your life, which means you will be conscious all the time.

Practice developing awareness of specific skills

Awareness of movement– try to feel any of your movements, watch the sensations in your body, take your time in actions. If you are used to doing something quickly or mechanically, now do the opposite, trying to become aware of even any muscle contraction.

Speech awareness– carefully monitor everything that others say and what you say yourself, think about your words and be attentive.

Awareness of values helps you define your ideals, values and beliefs.

To develop awareness of reality try always and everywhere to strive for a full perception and understanding of what is happening around and inside you right “here and now.”

Awareness of activity– strive for flawless execution of everything you undertake. Then it will be easier for you to work on developing awareness of your actions.

Before you commit any action, think over the result, consider it from different points of view and positions of perception, take into account not only your desires and needs, but also the interests of others.

Conscious thinking

Eventually you will come to what can be called conscious thinking. Constant observation of yourself, self-development, changing all your stereotypes, habits, reactions, emotions, thoughts, feelings, desires, actions, speech will give you the joy of a conscious life.

Consciousness cannot directly analyze the thinking process. But what happens in itself, including during thinking, consciousness can analyze. To my awareness, the process of conscious thinking appears as follows.

The leading consciousness, in charge of speech and logical thinking (hereinafter referred to as “awareness”) asks itself (its brain) a question and waits, the person thinks. What is happening at this time - awareness does not know.

After some time, the answer appears in awareness in the form of a thought (if the result of the brain’s work does not reach awareness, then there is no thought).
Consciousness evaluates this answer, if the answer does not suit it, it asks the next question, etc.

Or the answer comes that there is not enough data to solve the problem, and the person suddenly understands, “realizes” that he does not have enough knowledge (or capabilities) to answer this question. And the solution to the problem is postponed for an indefinite period of time.

Thus, the ROLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE THOUGHT PROCESS IS GUIDING AND EVALUATING, EXPERT. If consciousness is an expert, it means that it thinks, analyzes, but differently than the part of the brain whose work it evaluates. We can say that awareness is the operator of the computing center (cerebral cortex).

Obviously, awareness neurons work on a DIFFERENT PRINCIPLE than neurons in the cerebral cortex (since doing the same work twice is pointless). For example, according to the “like it - don’t like it” type.

I like what suits the requirement best. What fits is suitable, and this can be determined by overlaying it on a finished sample or by butting it together. But evaluation by superimposing on a ready-made sample (“standard”), which was once determined by trial and error, is the work of instincts, where the “like-dislike” principle is also used (for example, searching for food, avoiding danger). Probably, checking with awareness of a ready-made thought also occurs according to this principle.

This process can take varying amounts of time. But ready-made thoughts that come to consciousness, NO MATTER THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION THEY CONTAIN, arise so quickly that a feeling of instantaneity is created.

The movement of proteins, ions and mediators is relatively slow; it is doubtful that it causes a feeling of instantaneousness with any large amount of information. Only the occurrence of a potential difference on the membranes of neurons, and the electromagnetic wave accompanying this process, can be instantaneous.

But if ready-made thoughts came to consciousness through electromagnetic radiation, then with separate hemispheres, one half of the brain would know what the other was thinking. But this is not the case.

This can be schematically represented as follows. For example, when consciousness asks itself a question, a potential difference arises on the membranes of its neurons, and the calculating neurons of the cortex receive an impulse that forces them to work. And when the answer is ready, a response impulse comes and the potential difference disappears. Consciousness senses this as an instantaneous arrival of a thought. And if the potential difference disappears completely, he feels relief and joy (the answer is - I like it). If the answer is incorrect, the potential difference does not disappear (the answer is “I don’t like it”).

Or if the answer is logically correct, but in general it is not, the potential difference disappears only in one of the consciousnesses, for example, the logically thinking one. The man is happy. But something inside him - the SECOND CONSCIOUSNESS - feels that something is wrong in this answer, it does not know what exactly, but the second consciousness clearly does not like the answer.

Then the logically thinking consciousness clarifies the task, the ions on its membranes are rearranged differently, and again an impulse goes to the calculating cells, forcing them to look for the correct answer. This whole process requires a lot of energy, the consciousness feels tired, the solution to the problem is postponed, the task to the brain is canceled, the potential difference disappears.

Or, with a strong desire to solve a problem, a feeling of dissatisfaction and even suffering, the energy of these emotions at the “subconscious” level forces the cells of the cortex to continue to search for an answer even when awareness is resting (sleeping). And in the morning (or at night, if the question is extremely important) it gives him the answer.

But THOUGHTS APPEAR in awareness not in the form of words, but in the form of an instant wordless concept, i.e. IN THE FORM OF CODE. This INTERNAL code is the same for all nations, in contrast to the external code - words. And when communicating, this code is the same as the code of animals. It is thanks to this internal code that animals understand us quite well (telepathically).

In order to convey your thought to other people, it must be formalized in the form of an EXTERNAL code - expressed in words (or other signs). If a thought is not expressed accurately and clearly enough, a person may not be understood or misunderstood. Expressing a thought-concept in words as accurately as possible is not always easy, and often quite difficult, and it takes time and energy.

UNCONSCIOUS THINKING

Human unconscious thinking is similar to that of all animals, but naturally at a higher level. Here the role of awareness is only in the feeling of desire to achieve a goal. Everything that is needed is calculated by the brain at the request of awareness, but without its participation. In such cases, the brain communicates its conclusion to awareness in the form of “intuitive” advice (without logical explanation), a sensation, or an emotion. The above example of "automatically" going down a cliff demonstrates unconscious thinking.

Another famous example. When a person wants to cross the street, he stops, looks in one direction, then another, sees a car, immediately understands that it is far away, and he will have time to calmly cross the street. Or he realizes that the car is going too fast, and with his poor health he will not be able to reach the required speed to cross the road in time.

What happens? In a second, the brain calculates the distance to the other side of the street, the distance to the nearest car, its speed, the possible speed of its body and the need to cross right here and now. Consciousness knows nothing about these calculations, they are not conscious, only one thought appeared in it, which the brain gave it: stand, walk or run.

Many everyday issues are resolved at the level of unconscious thinking. One might say, everything that does not require conscious thinking. Solving everything at the level of conscious thinking is difficult, time-consuming and irrational. Unnecessary waste of energy. Awareness receives a ready-made assessment or recommendation for action, which is easily accepted on faith and easily obeyed (as in the automatic descent from a cliff described above). And indeed, there is no reason for doubt in these cases; unconscious thinking is based on direct knowledge.