Your Brain Has a Secret Mode, This Is How to Unlock It

hey 42 here hello this episode is actually about not being here we're going to reveal the secrets that help the most high-performing people in the world achieve extraordinary things by tuning out of reality and accessing altered states of consciousness but first a test imagine dawn on the edge of the savannah a hundred thousand years ago you are a homo sapien awoken by the sun and prepared to fight another day as you leave the shelter of your cave to fetch water you suddenly freeze behind the nearest bush you spot an indistinct brown mass do you a assume it's a rock chuckle it yourself for getting a fright and carry on with your morning or b assume it's a saber-toothed tiger soil your loincloth a little and reach for the nearest spear the answer is b and regardless of what you may tell yourself you had no choice in that decision your brain already made that call for you before you consciously saw that brown shape behind the bush this is thanks to negativity bias a survival mechanism that evolved to keep us alive by assuming the worst and making it easier for your brain to recall negative experiences than positive ones it's easy to understand why this trait exists let's say you early human saw a brown mass and assumed it was a saber-toothed tiger but later discovered that it was in fact a rock sure you would look a bit like a fool in front of the rest of your tribe mates and have to endure nicknames like leaky loins but at least you'd be alive but if you saw a brown mass assumed it was a rock and five seconds later found yourself knee-deep in a saber-toothed tiger's jaws that would be the last mistake you ever made simply put through successive generations of natural selection those who assumed an inherently cautious view of the world were more likely to survive and so the negativity bias trait or as i like to call it holy [ __ ] nuggets that's mike myers in my [ __ ] bathroom oh no it's just a dressing gown endured and as my dressing gown demonstrated last night it still plagues our brains today modern science has confirmed negativity biases existence in one neurological study participants were shown a series of positive negative or neutral images the negative images triggered higher levels of electrical activity in the brain this may not sound like a big deal but this directly impacts the way we see the world and consequently behave negative events are much more salient and hence some people end up in therapy because they think their entire life is a train wreck when in fact 95 of it consists of positive experiences only they're long forgotten at the expense of the negative do you ever find yourself ruminating over past events or worrying about what's going to happen in the future of course you do not because you're a psycho and should be watching this from a padded cell although if you are here's a small tip find the really tall native looking bloke and tell him to throw a sink through the window no your past haunts you because you're human and your brain is pre-programmed to find the negative in everything the thing is this survival mechanism is just not as useful as it used to be unless you owe them a lot of money you're unlikely to spend your days worrying about tigers instead you'll be obsessing over the possibility of losing your relationships your job or your money that might seem sensible it may even motivate you to work harder and be less of a dick to people but it's not going to bring you happiness or peace of mind because even when you think your mind is at rest it isn't instead you've got a non-stop house party going on between your ears thoughts and feelings continually dancing to lousy hip-hop and playing beer-pong that's right your brain gets invited to more exciting parties than you do neuroscientists have found the source of this is something they like to call default mode network this is a large-scale brain network primarily composed of the medial frontal cortex posterior cingulate cortex and the angular gyrus which is sadly not as naughty as it sounds studies have shown that even when test subjects are apparently calm and at rest the default mode network remains highly active engaged in constant and random mental chatter some people call this monkey mind which is probably quite offensive to monkeys but at least a good description of how nuts this inner nattering is unfortunately due to negativity bias most of this internal chatter is quite unpleasant imagine an episode of real housewives but instead of slagging off each of his husbands and tit jobs it's all directed at you it's exhausting and it makes you feel crap so what do you do well here's a quote after a heavy week at work nothing helps me unwind like a long glass of water and some quality time dwelling on my mistakes do you know who said that nobody ever when humans feel overburdened by the weight of daily life and the voice in their heads they don't look for a way to check in they look for a way to check out to help explain what i mean here's another quote a real one this time from george bernard shaw alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life for george it was alcohol maybe for you it's electronic dance music instagram elicits drugs prescription drugs porn or yoga everyone has some way of getting out of their own head and accessing an altered state of course some of these methods are healthier than others i'm obviously not advocating drug use here but the objective is always the same tune out of ordinary consciousness in their book stealing fire authors steve kotler and jamie wheel calculate the altered state's economy which is made up of many activities that people use to snap out of reality they estimate it to be worth more than four trillion dollars a year that's big business but it's also nothing new cultures all around the world have been experimenting with altered states for a long time possibly as far back as 30 000 years ago most of these activities were part of sacred rites and often involved hallucinogenic substances whilst you may enjoy a couple of beers on a friday night the mayans took drinking to such an advanced level that they stopped drinking altogether instead they took alcohol as an enema usually mixed with other psychoactive substances until they were totally pissed and as blissed out as it is possible to be so in a megalomanic sacrificial central american ancient civilization don't fancy chugging cocaine and green tea up your ass well in greece the lucy in mysteries saw altered states elevated to a cult level eventually influencing the evolution of western philosophy for nearly 2 000 years the mysteries promoted clandestine rituals that incorporated ecstatic dancing fasting and the consumption of a drink called kikium all of which were designed to shift the initiate state of mind kikio the barley based elixir that was consumed at the climax of the process had a profound effect on those who consumed it probably it seems because they were tripping off their damn faces modern anthropologists think that kikion was made from barley that contained ergot a parasitic fungus that commonly infects grains ergot releases ergometrine and delacergic acid amide a chemical precursor to lsd other researchers believe that the kikion recipe may rather have included magic mushrooms which grew naturally in the area around ellucis regardless of ingredients this potion was potent enough to require hardcore protection revealing its secrets or drinking kiki on outside the ellucian mysteries was punishable by death it also stimulated the thinking of philosophical heavyweights like socrates plato and pythagoras that's right the triangle guy it turns out you were right all along the guy who came up with those theorems really was on something whether you're talking about kickion in greece peyote cactus in central and north america ayahuasca in south america or iboga in central africa altered state traditions have been around for thousands of years typically intertwined with spirituality and culture the pursuit of altered states is so fundamental that it transcends humanity dolphins have been documented getting stoned on pufferfish african elephants get drunk on fermenting marula fruit cats can't resist catnip dogs lick toads to get high bees get stoned on orchid nectar this behavior is so typical that ucla psychopharmacologist which i swear just sounds like an excuse to combine two professions into one ronald segal once wrote the pursuit of intoxication with drugs is a primary motivational force in the behavior of organisms what the desire to get high is a significant driver of human behavior i thought it was money or sex or something or sex with your money that's a pretty radical suggestion anyway or is it i know you might be saying oh i tried it once but i never inhaled or no thanks 42 i wouldn't touch the stuff but don't you already have some vice that you use in your life to change your mood or mental state booze cigarettes sugar coffee or maybe you prefer to use a healthier method like meditation running or drinking yak milk but what you do is not as important as why most people are trying to change their state of mind because they're chasing pleasure or avoiding pain but an increasing number of people are using altered states to go beyond feeling better to performing better the best known example of this is the flow state mahai chiksen mahayu a psychologist who literally wrote the book on the subject describes flow as a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter your concentration is so intensely focused on the task at hand that there's nothing left over for the monkey mind to scratch and nibble at as a result your problems recede entirely you enter the zone a state of tremendous productivity and creativity that feels timeless selfless and effortless you can probably recall the time that you've tasted this whether it was work a hobby creating something or playing a sport most people have had at least one experience of being so immersed in something that hours went by without notice when you fought back on it it seemed like the head state you are in was not your usual pattern of renumeration regret reasoning and other words starting with r if you can recall such a time you know that this state feels really really good that's one of the reasons that scientists have been studying flow and trying to understand how to trigger it other than feeling like the physical manifestation of batman mixed with jesus that's jesus another reason you'll want to achieve flow is that it's an optimal state for performance and productivity you don't enter flow when drifting around on a lilo or scanning pictures of self-loathing morons on instagram how about watching thought-provoking youtube videos presented by an antiquated englishman i hear you asked i think well i'd love to say yes but what you're doing right now will only get you halfway to entering the fabled flow state i am here to challenge your understanding of the world with new ideas and information but chick central high use research shows that achieving flow relies on personal challenge and skill the task you're doing needs to challenge you but you also need to have just enough skill to do it too much difficulty without sufficient ability causes anxiety too much skill without enough of a challenge leads to boredom no challenge and no required skill is called apathy if you're in that state be sure to check yourself regularly for a pulse and excess drool flow is an active state which is why most of the studies done on the phenomenon have focused on athletes and extreme sports professionals these test subjects report having hugely amplified access to pattern recognition future prediction and information processing capabilities when in the zone or flow you can make better decisions faster faster even than conscious thought bizarrely that's because during flow the part of your brain usually in charge of decision making your prefrontal cortex is temporarily bypassed why because it slows you down and being in flow state is all about reacting and thinking at superhuman speed during flow states your brain is filled with a cocktail of neurochemicals that makes you feel alert and ecstatic norepinephrine heightens your concentration dopamine improves your cognitive alertness endorphins activate the opioid receptor which along with anandamide brings on the feeling of bliss serotonin lifts your mood finally a good shot of oxytocin the love hormone leaves you with a sort of post-orgasmic glow that follows most flow episodes if by now you think the flow state has a lot in common with the other non-ordinary states i mentioned earlier such as the mayan whiskey up your arse state as i like to call it you're not wrong feelings of bliss expanded consciousness higher creativity connection with something greater it turns out that these are universal qualities of heightened altered states regardless of whether you enter them through psychedelics or big wave surfing what i'm essentially saying is you don't need drugs to get high mahael chiksen mahayu has even compared the flow state to tripping in one interview calling flo a kind of toned down ecstasy but research into phloem has revealed that altered states in general have more potential than weekend entertainment or conversations with yoda and these states can be hacked firstly you have to get your mind right research by faculty at the university of portsmouth found that instructing a group of rock climbers in positive psychology tools like goal setting self-talk and mindfulness increased the intensity of their flow states whilst also elevating personal performance try meditation positive mindset development cognitive behavioral therapy exercise and good sleep and after that you could channel pink floyd and tap into your brain waves there are five main brain wave frequencies gamma beta alpha theta and delta beta is where you spend most of your time whilst focused and alert alpha is where you're at when you're relaxed and open-minded like when you're daydreaming fata is associated with more profound states of mind like meditation the flow state happens at the bridge between alpha and theta when the mind is moving from the conscious into the subconscious similarly scientists at imperial college london's center for psychedelic research yes that's a thing found people on the south american hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca had brain patterns resembling those of people who are awake in their dreams finally more and more people use substances to nudge them in the right direction no i'm not proposing you drop free tubs of acid with your cornflakes on a monday morning i'm not even suggesting you microdose yourself with tiny daily amounts of psychedelics as has become weirdly popular in silicon valley tech and other high pressure high creativity industries it seems that just focusing on good vitamins and nutrients all made from totally legal ingredients of course can support the optimal brain functioning needed to access these high performing states of course the fact that you've watched this whole video confirms that you're already a peak stage champion go treat yourself to a biscuit and thanks for watching what's that i hear you say you want to experience my new book stick a flag in it but you can't be asked to read i hear you that's why you can now get the audio book release of sticker flag in it over on audible you'll find the link in the description below thank you

Channel: Thoughty2

Views: 1,236,028

Rating: 4.9480948 out of 5

Keywords: flow state, brain, brain waves, hack, psychology, mind, clever, thinking, flow, mindfulness, activate flow state, brain power, how to get into flow state, how to achieve flow state, alpha waves

Id: Pl-Ojmrs-ic

Length: 18min 30sec (1110 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020