There is a three-pronged relationship going on within you — a relationship between your Mind, Brain, and Mindfulness. And the phrase ménage à trois translates into “a household of three.” The alliance between your Mind and Brain is like a marriage that drives your Engaged (slow) and Reflexive (fast) thinking processes. Sometimes they work independently, other times together. Sometimes they are conflicting and other times they complement each other. Your Mind oversees your Engaged Thinking, and your Brain is at the center of your Reflexive Thinking processes. Mindfulness provides a polyamorous expansion to the relationship — and Mindful Thinking builds upon core components of your Mind and Brain’s thinking processes. What are the benefits and risks of these three thinking processes — and how do they interact with each other? Most importantly, how can you take the reins to optimize the outcomes of this Ménage à Trois?
A popular concept describing the distinctions between your Mind and Brain is called MindBody Dualism. In this context, the word “Soul” is used to describe the non-physical aspects of your existence and “Body” is used for your physical, organic components. Your Mind is within your Soul, and your Brain is part of your Body. There is an overlap where your Mind and Body communicate with each other — and recent research has suggested that this intersection might be taking place in the Right-Frontal Insula section of your Brain.
Your Mind and Brain are companions in a relationship to help satisfy your drives to survive and thrive — and they contribute to your overall thinking process in different ways. The Dual Process Theory segments these processes into two modes. Your Mind utilizes an Engaged (slow) Thinking process whereas your Brain is powered by Reflexive (fast) Thinking processes. Each has its strengths and weaknesses — and they complement each other to form a powerful team.
- Engaged Thinking – The analytical mode of thinking when you invest the time and effort to think through the alternatives and consequences of your actions.
- Reflexive Thinking – The mode of thinking when you instinctively react to stimuli without stopping to think through alternative actions and consequences.
Evolution has forged your Brain into reacting quickly to avoid dangers and optimize your efficiency. You are also conditioned to respond reflexively to new behavioral conditioning in this lifetime. When you hear a bang, your body flinches. When you see an object flying towards you, you jump away. The world around you can provide that reflexive training — and your Mind can also make decisions on how to prioritize and train your preferred behaviors.
There is too much going on, too quickly in life for your Mind to do all of your thinking. It takes time and energy to think through every situation in your life — but your Mind can prioritize and delegate important thinking activities. You can decide to use techniques like repetition and rewards conditioning for sports training, developing talents like music, and more complex skills like rapport building and public speaking.
Your Brain is a part of your nervous system. And your Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems provide communication channels between your Brain and rest of your body. These nervous systems are driven by Fight, Flight, Rest, and/or Digest survival reflexes. These instincts are required for survival, but their urgency and lack of deep thinking make them prone to mistakes.
Your Mind’s Engaged Thinking processes operate in terms of the past, present, and future. What happened in the past? What can you learn from the past? What are your objectives? What are your options? What should you do now, and in the future? What are the possible reactions from others? What are the potential rewards (or punishments) for you, and for others affected by your actions?
ORA FORMULA: For Engaged Thinking
O = Determine your Objectives and Options.
R = Consider potential Results, Reactions, and Rewards to determine your course of action.
A = Act and Assess.
The ORA Formula provides a powerful methodology to help manage your Engaged Thinking activities. There is not enough time in your day to thoroughly think through every decision, so you can even use the formula to decide what types of decisions you want to delegate to your Brain’s fast Reflexive Thinking process. When you delegate, you should periodically check to assess whether you are achieving your desired results. Your Brain is usually looking for a quick and easy solution — which may or may not be achieving your overall objectives. Also, the conditions may change, and wisdom evolves from an iterative learning process.
One risk of spending too much time on Engaged Thinking is getting stuck and reacting too slowly to situations. You can also create stress and mental issues by ruminating too long about past and future thoughts.
What is Mindfulness and how does it fit into the relationship between your mind and body? Mindfulness or Mindful Thinking – A heightened state of awareness where you are focused on the present moment — fully aware of the current flow of thoughts, sensations, and emotions without judgement. Mindfulness can reduce stress and provide a gateway to an expanded state of consciousness. This state can open a channel to new, creative ideas. It is a restful state that can replenish your energy and relieve you from some of the downside effects of your Engaged and Reflexive Thinking
processes.
Mindfulness does not directly fit into the continuum between your Mind and Brain. Instead, it is achieved by abstracting certain elements from your Engaged and Reflexive thinking processes. It involves isolating the present from past and future thoughts in your Mind — and relaxing to suppress the flight, flight, and digest instincts of your Brain.
There are many techniques to help achieve a state of Mindfulness. You can try practices such as meditation, deep breathing skills, yoga, mantras, or contemplating nature or art. A fundamental aspect of mindful thinking is to relax and focus on one thought at a time. This could be your breath, a body part in yoga, an object, or a single word or sound. After you learn to stay focused on one thought at a time, you can work towards achieving a state of non-thought for optimal Mindfulness.
The state of semi-sleep can provide a period of relaxed thinking that can lead to a mindful experience. Creative geniuses such as Salvadore Dali, Isaac Newton, Beethoven, and Thomas Edison used to tap into this state of expanded consciousness to stimulate their thought processes.
Salvadore Dali used to go to sleep with a canvas next to his bed. Many of his famous works were inspired by what he saw in his Mind when he started to go to sleep or when he initially woke up from a dream. Dali would sometimes sit in a chair as he was falling asleep, hold a spoon between his thumb and finger — and place a plate directly beneath the spoon.
As he was falling asleep, the spoon would fall onto the plate, it would wake him up in a hallucinatory-like, semiconscious state — and he would immediately capture his creative visions on the canvas. Thomas Edison had a similar technique using steel balls.If your Mind is too busy as you are falling asleep or you wake up thinking in the middle of the night. It might be from your expanded conscious trying to communicate with you — or it could be from stressing over past and future situations. You can try mindfulness exercises to go back to sleep. Or you might want to get up, capture your thoughts on paper, smartphone, or computer to clear your Mind and bookmark the ideas for when you wake up — and then go back to bed for some more sleep or contemplation.
There are many benefits to Mindfulness, but you would not be able to survive if you did not allocate time to learn from the past, plan the future — or to react to eminent threats. The partnership of your Mind and Body provides complementary skills and benefits to enable a successful relationship — and Mindfulness adds a satisfying third partner to create a virtuous Ménage à Trois.
It is important to decide which component is in charge and responsible for your success. Your Mind is the core of who you are. It can take the lead by exercising the ORA Formula to think through the timing and extent of your reliance on each of your thinking processes — what and when to delegate to your Mind’s Reflexive Thinking, how much time to allocate for Mindful Thinking — and what decisions are worth investing your time and energy in Engaged Thinking. The decision is up to you!
For more details on these concepts and techniques, check out HOW TO MASTER THE UNIVERSE: Personal and Professional Life-Skills Guide – on amazon.com. If you are curious about how AI extends the paradigm, follow my website for updates on my upcoming book THE UNIVERSE of your Mind, Body, Mindfulness, and AI.
