The Navarro Loop

We have roughly discovered where are located some functions, and in order to heal some diseases, exciting time is next to us. Nevertheless, and even if large scientific corporations and universities with astronomic budgets are working hard on it, we are just scratching the surface.

At another level, since centuries psychologists and philosophers have been trying to reveal how our mind works, sometimes, with the accuracy of a drunken elephant in a crystal store.

Both communities, scientists and philosophers, together with an unaccountable arrogance, are in a delirious competition to see which (or even worse, who) is going to reveal how this complex system works. It seems the only thing they are really interested on, is to make a little discovering on this enormous matter, which helps them to write a best-selling book or win a Nobel price.

I wonder how long it will take until they realize that this issue is too complex to look at it only from one point of view. How long it will take to learn that the only way is putting selfishness and arrogance apart, to work all together, as ants or bees do.

The amazing thing of all this, is every human being has one. And we are free to use it at our own will. Nobody can tell us how or about what we have to think.

Something it kept me thinking is that we can actually physically modify our brain consciously.

Thoughts are a combination of electrical impulses and chemical reactions, living in a 1.3 kgs. muscle, which uses the 20% of the available energy at the body.

As long as we can “train this muscle”, we can actually modify it, reinforcing consciously physical parts of it. For example, it is already proven that the loss of memory obeys to a the lack of acetylcholine, a substance that allows our brain cells to communicate, and reading and learning reinforces these interconnections, so the only known way by now to fighting against Alzheimer is still at our hands.

• But, how the mind works, and how can be master it?

Well, nobody really knows. But we have no time to sit and wait until somebody tells us.

Roughly speaking, it seems that our conscious mind, located at the neo cortex, is the “boss”. 

Nevertheless, it is only in our subconscious were complex cognitive processes can be taken.

Answering the questions to my dear Ali Anani on his post, https://www.bebee.com/producer/@ali-anani/finding-answers-to-simple-questions it seems that the criteria of making decisions of the boss are not based on the “professionalism” or worth of the enormous amount of rapports. 

It seems that decisions are taken based on how urgently, often or loud this rapport is delivered to the boss, or conscious mind. Accordingly to this, to the exposed examples in the buzz:

“Chasing a dream girl till she accepted you only to lose interest in her afterwards” and,

“You had illusions about something and once you discovered the truth you felt you became wiser. But then you lost the truth and went back to your illusions”  which in both cases has no logic, we could find the following explanation:

The “department” which is responsible for the emotion of “chasing” or “illusions” has a stronger voice than the others, so the “boss” takes the decision based on what is going to create less internal conflicts, or what is going to feedback better the centers of pleasure.

Chasing a girl or following our illusions feeds “the pleasure of the hunt”. What it comes after implies commitment, responsibilities. If one is not looking for the later, but to reinforce one’s self-esteem (to say it nicely), then to succeed is, at the same time, desired and feared.

So here we can find a hint on how can we master our mind, and how the Navarro Loop works.

• The Navarro Loop (Perception, knowledge, beliefs, action, interaction, perception)

Above all, it is mostly based in my own experiences, and on things I have read. Therefore, it is a subjective point of view.

Secondly, in this case in particular, and in my life in general, I try not to be disturbed by things that are beyond my control. But in my opinion, we have already enough “tools” to master our mindset.

I tried to make a scheme of the Navarro Loop. I failed. I could not find a chain or a pattern on which the components fit one with each other, because they interact disorderly.

Maybe, a most appropriate name for it would be the “Navarro Maze”.

In any case, the above mentioned components of it are things we can control. And through them, we can master our feelings, a very important (and out of control) trigger of our actions, along with other much more complex processes, out of human reach by now.

Considering that in the end, it is the “boss” who takes the decision, and the criteria for it is to give priority to the “department” which makes its statements “louder”, we need to reinforce our desired targets enormously to give them a “louder voice”, so the “boss” will take the decision accordingly.

We need to remember that our subconscious is who gets ready the “reports for the boss”, that the amount of information it can process is much bigger, and for sure, much bigger that our conscious even notices. In addition, the subconscious works full speed when the conscious sleeps. This is the explanation why sometimes we go to sleep with a complex problem to solve, and when we get up we find the solution as if somebody had whispered it in our ears. The subconscious has done its work.

Therefore, we must keep in mind that our subconscious is always listening, and has no sense of humour. Anything we feed it with, it will be processed, and more dangerously, without the control of “the boss”.

So if we feed our mind with destructive ideas, readings, companionships, even if consciously we do not take it on consideration, our subconscious will.

• The inevitability of change

We are all daily exposed to circumstances, options, and experiences that will, inevitably, will change us in one way or another. Those things will feed our unconscious, we like it or not.

So it is up to us to allow them to percolate us, and in any case, we need to reinforce ourselves with the things we want, to give a stronger voice to our priorities.

To put an example, if in the working place there is a negative attitude, we would “wear an armour” by making deaf ears and not searching the companionship with the promoters of this attitude. At the same time, we would put our mind in positive things, or trying to see the same situation with a positive attitude.

But we will need as well an “extra-boost” to wipe out the inevitable “negative particles” which eventually could have permeated our “armour”.

We would need then literally to bomb our unconscious with diametrically opposed things, as if it was a “chemotherapy”, like for example, showing empathy with our elderly neighbour, visiting ill people to encourage them, you name it.

In the end, life is basically composed by circumstances, options, choices and results.

We can only control the choices we make. If we base our choices in high human values, gradually our circumstances, options and results will turn accordingly.

And if it doesn’t work the first time, evaluate your failures, readjust your targets, and try again with even more strength. 

The final price worth the trouble and this is YOU.

Hopefully, these reflections can be useful, as much as they have been for me. Further ideas or comments are most welcome, and if you have found them of any value, please share them.