Frontier researchers in neurobiology reveal how the central nervous system is responsible for our personality. And how we experience life.
Who we are as individuals is dependent on the information stored as memory by the central nervous system (CNS).
The key here is — information.
In-formation.
The new science busts a long-standing dogmas — that genes passed down by our parents influence our behaviour and make us who we are.
Not true!
Epigenetics shows that genes are regulated by the environment and can be altered. New experiences brought about by adopting new behaviours, attitudes and thinking, can remould your life and bring different experiences.
So if you are not enjoying how you are experiencing life right now, take heart in the fact that you have the power to change that.
All you need to know is how.
We don’t become who we are because of inherited genes. Our personality is predominantly shaped by the environments we spend most of our time in.
What we experience become beliefs, attitudes and motivations. They become learned behaviours. Automatic programs.
Automatic programs are determined by mindset. Are you are an introvert or extrovert, positive or negative? Do you have a good self-image or a poor self-image. Do you feel a sense of worth and belonging or do you think everyone is against you?
You thoughts, attitudes, and motivations are determined by the information you have stored as memory.
So if you have a negative outlook and complain all the time, feel the world is against you and think nobody cares about you, the life you experience reflects the contents of your memories.
The good news is memories can be upgraded by adopting a mindset geared towards healthy, positive and constructive outcomes.
With the right information stored as memory, you personality changes. Your DNA changes.
Using the excuse “It’s in my DNA” to brush misdemeanours under the rug is no longer an option.
But don’t worry, you’ve still got an excuse.
The new excuse is “It’s how I’m programmed”.
DNA does not code for genes themselves. They transcribe environmental influences that are absorbed through the five senses and processed by the central nervous system.
Genes adapt to the environment.
They evolve. Or they devolve.
The information that is processed is determined by repeated experiences you have and how your central nervous system responds.
The response from the CNS is primed for survival.
Physical survival and emotional survival.
If you developed emotional wounds when you were a child, the CNS developed strategies to protect you from more pain.
For example, if you were often dismissed by your father, you might have felt you were unworthy of his attention.
To feel as sense of self-worth, the instinctive brain developed a strategy that would prove you offer value to the world.
So you developed people-pleasing tendencies you learned from your mother to get the attention from your father. You become a caregiver and do things for other people to feel needed, loved and acknowledged.
Your beliefs, attitudes and motivations are that you have to do something for other to feel needed, loved and acknowledged.
When you recognise you are a people-pleaser, you also come to realise that by trying to please everyone else, you are neglecting the emotional needs of the instinctive brain.
So the emotional brain steps in to protect the instinctive brain by looking out for threats and protecting your self-esteem by whatever means possible.
We protect our self-esteem by chasing status, by defending our actions, by explaining what we're doing even though we don't have to, by blaming others and not accepting accountability for our actions because we don't want people to think we are bad, incompetent and inadequate.
These learned behaviours become who we are as a person and determine how we react to similar experiences.
The central nervous system is composed of the brain and spinal cord. It stores information absorbed through the five senses through complex electrical and chemical processes, namely neurones, synapses, and neural networks.
This information becomes memory.
The building blocks of memory are neurones. Neurones are responsible for processing and transmitting information. They communicate with others via synapses — tiny gaps between each neurone.
Cell receptors at the synaptic gap accept information that matches pre-existing code. If the code does not match, the new information is filtered out.
When you learn or experience something new, specific patterns of neurons fire together.
Hebb's Law states: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
Memories are built on multiple layers of synapses.
Before hitting the synapse, a neurotransmitter is released in the pre-synaptic gap.
A neurotransmitter is a “chemical messenger” which is coded for by genes. They are received by a receptor at the synaptic gap and passed from neurone to neurone.
The information informs you how to behave at any given moment.
It is the information stored as memory that creates habits, defence mechanisms, and survival strategies.
You are not you. You are your memories that have been programmed by the external world - by people, events and things you've read in the external world.
To become the best version of yourself, you need to break the mental chains that keep you prisoner. You have to step outside your bubble of comfort and learn to enjoy the life you create for yourself with less stress, conflict and challenges.
You need to free your central nervous system of memories that do not serve you and upgrade your information that enables you to heal, grow and thrive.
Information that is not available to the conscious mind is said to be non-conscious (formerly known as subconscious or unconscious).
Non-conscious basically means that a memory exists in the central nervous system, but the information does not get through to the thinking brain (neocortex) in a fully formed and mature state of development.
It is split off, wounded. The emotion the memory is attached to remains in an undeveloped, childlike state of maturity.
You may be consciously aware of acting out a habit, but you may not realise the motivation behind it. You may not see that you’re being defensive or protecting your emotional survival.
For example, people pleasing tendencies are born from a non-conscious need to feel loved, accepted and needed. The motivation is to be recognised, heard and feel a sense of belonging.
These are basic human needs that make us feel safe.
It is when you don’t feel safe, that your self-protective habits, defences and survival strategies kick in.
The reason you don’t feel safe is because the information you need to feel safe is not available to your neocortex. The emotional brain recognises a threat and activates your warning system — Freeze-Fight-Flight (FFF).
When information is not available to the thinking brain, part of your personality is repressed.
In the Master Mind Content self-development model, this relates to an undeveloped archetype.
An undeveloped archetype is an “emotional wound” because at some point in your life, that part of your personality was split off and repressed. It was never allowed to mature, thus the memory is stored in the emotional brain.
The thinking brain does not know about this repressed part of your personality.
It is, however, possible to recover the forgotten part of your personality by identifying which archetype was split off and why.
These insights help to show you why and how you are creating chaos, challenges and obstacles in your life.
Read more about split-off consciousness in the articles titled: Fragmentation: Split-Off Energy, Complexes and Neuroses
You can also read a more detailed version of How The Nervous System Works here.
And if you want to learn how archetypes are influencing your life and how to integrate archetypal qualities (information) into the conscious personality (neocortex), subscribe to the Master Mind Content self-development program From Surviving To Thriving.
The program is a monthly subscription service. For just £45 a month, we help you to get from where you are to where you want to be over the next year.
