ALWAYS THINKING

 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.