The brain is always thinking, even when we aren’t. I first
discovered this while singing in a number of choirs, beginning in Junior High.
We would see a new song and practice it a couple of times and set it aside.
Then at the next practice, the notes flowed much better, as though we had
continued rehearsing it. In fact, our brains had continued practicing the music
unawares to us. It was quite amazing to me.
And even now, with school a distant memory, when I do word
puzzles in the Penny/Dell books I have, I’ll be stuck on a puzzle, set it
aside, and return to have the answer pop right out. It’s the same with games on
my cell phone. I don’t have the answer but, voila, it appears to me the next
time I play. My mind continues to work.
This is due to the non-conscious part of our brain. According
to David Rock, Ph.D. “the problem-solving resources of the non-conscious are
millions if not billions of times larger than that of the conscious.” Psychology Today (09/18/12)
Of course, the non-conscious is void without our conscious
efforts to think and learn. The effort we put in to evaluate, to solve, and to
ponder as we read and listen and discuss with others, all feed the raw data
into our mind so it may find a solution we may be seeking. That’s the work of
thinking that both adults and children must do in order to learn and increase
knowledge.
The brain, the mind, is an amazing creation of God – a gift
to us humans that sets us apart from and above the animals. We can use our
brains for good or for bad. What we see and hear will affect our lifelong
ability to process the world around us, which is necessary for success in our
job, with our family, and finding a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
