Reticular Activating System
Did you know that you have a built-in screening device that either admits or blocks information?
The human nervous system contains a marvelous network of cells called the Reticular Activating System, its function is to screen out unimportant information that comes to you through your senses.
A mother with a new baby in the next room will sleep through jet planes screaming overhead, but she’ll wake in an instant if that baby starts to cry. The airplane is louder, but not important, so it doesn’t get through because her reticular activating system keeps it out. Only information that is important – valuable or threatening – gets through.
Now when you set a goal, you declare a new significance – you make something important. And suddenly, information that never got through before is all around you. Did you ever decide to buy something – maybe a new HD television – and the next day all you see are advertisements for HD TV’s? They were there all along, but now they’re important to you, so you notice them. One of my daughters told me that she never realized how many pregnant women there were until she became pregnant, and suddenly they were everywhere.
So when you set a goal and declare its importance, you’ll find yourself noticing opportunities to help you achieve it that you never knew were there before. Try it. I think you’ll be surprised at how efficiently your reticular activating system works.
Think about what you miss, are you screening out something important?