Every moment we’re awake, the brain is perceiving our reactions to both our external and internal environments and steadily employing thousands of nerve cells to attempt to ‘code’ what we just perceived by creating intricate networks (intricate energetic constellations). Luckily, our brain is also destroying incomplete and irrelevant neural patterns just as quickly as it is creating.
Since we can only take in so much information at once, and we can commit even less of this to actually storage (memory)- our subconscious and conscious selection of information (attention) are what actually build and maintain our thoughts and subsequently, our feelings and moods, and finally our experience of Self.
Scientists now believe that brain activity falls in line with Chaos Theory (which is well-known for describing complex weather patterns, i.e. the Butterfly Effect). It makes sense that these would mirror each other, because every pattern outside (environment) is only projected from inside (brain). To know this intellectually is extremely useful, because only through the minds realization of this fact can we begin to bring awareness to the level of Conscious thought that will nourish and encourage activation patterns that reinforce our experiences of gratitude, happiness, or abundance, for example.
We are always where our focus is, and the feeling of being in that 'place’ mentally and emotionally is continually creating our experience outwardly.
Focusing in on happy feeling-states builds momentum to create more of the same and draws energetic resources away from the construction or maintenance of any neural pathways representing negativity, lack, or disappointment- the latter becoming much like a cluster of stars that self-implode before they are ever recognized by the brain as an actual constellation (more a passing notion rather than named, felt, and committed to memory, where it has the potential to be painfully re-experienced endlessly).
Since all of this is happening continuously, moment to moment, we have unlimited chances to remake our own experience of 'Self’.
The thoughts you choose to attend to act much like 'strange attractors’ in Chaos Theory- they will eventually attract an entire pattern of energy that is in-line with the nature of the thought, and this will- in some way- manifest itself in your life. From close up it may seem to lack coherence and reason, but when standing back for the broader view, a pattern will emerge.
This is what Buddha meant by “When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky”. Once awake, the spirit views the entire universe as a stunningly intricate mosaic pattern of interconnectedness.
Like attracts like- Always.
But maybe not instantly, or in the form you are conditioned to expect.
You may never realize the greatness or beauty of the pattern itself- but you will realize its effects on your happiness, quality of life and relationships, health, and so on when you start refining and strengthening those thought patterns which 'attract’ their equals in your reality.
Jessica Crow helps people harness the power of meditation and mindfulness to change their lives and the lives of others for the better through practical courses for the everyday practitioner, teacher trainings, and personalized mentorship.
Check out her book 'The Power of Guided Meditation', published by Fair Winds Press and her New On Demand Course 'The Power of Guided Meditation' or anyone who wants to harness the power of meditation in their own lives.
Follow her on Insight Timer or Subscribe to her Podcast to listen to free guided meditations.