Mind

The mind is the set of faculties including cognitive aspects such as consciousness, imagination, perception,
thinking, intelligence, judgement, language and memory, as well as noncognitive aspects such as emotion and
instinct.

the mind is produced at least in part by the brain.

The mind is an abstract concept used to characterize thoughts, feelings, subjective states, and self-awareness that
presumably arise from the brain.

The mind can be defined as a person's set of intellectual or mental faculties. The human mind refers to the group of
cognitive psychiatric processes that includes functions like perception, memory, reasoning (executive functions),
etc

Mental Faculties

That’s where our six marvelous mental faculties come in:

√ Imagination
√ Will
√ Intuition
√ Memory
√ Reason
√ Perception

1. Imagination
Your imagination allows you to create something out of nothing. It’s what you use to take something that is
non-physical and turn it into something physical.

When you create an image of something you want in your mind, you’ve raised your frequency of thought to that
level, and you’re capable of doing or getting it. However, many times we use this faculty the wrong way by
imagining bad things happening to us or other things we don’t want. The key is to learn to use your imagination
consciously and purposely to create the experiences that you want most in life.

An Exercise for Using Your Imagination in a Positive Way

• Edgar Allan Poe said, “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream
only by night.”

Daydreaming is more deliberate than merely dreaming, and that makes it more effective in opening your mind to
possibilities. So, take a break from your daily tasks each day to relax, and let your mind wander.

Amuse yourself by speculating on specific ways you would like to see your life improve, and it will soon become a
habit. And one day your daydreams may become your reality.

2. Will
The will allows you to hold one idea on the screen of your mind to the exclusion of all outside distractions that are
begging for your attention through your physical senses. It gives you the ability to concentrate, to focus your
attention on one thing.
Many people have trouble staying focused. They bounce around from one thing to another and never finish
anything. However, when you use the will as it was designed to be used, your thoughts become much more
powerful. And your sustained concentration allows you to get a lot done in a short time.

An Exercise for Discovering How You’ve Been Using Your Will

• Spend a few minutes answering the following questions with complete honesty:

Where in your life are you using concentration to sabotage yourself?

Are you spending more time focusing on what was or is, and what you don’t want, or where you’re going and your
current goals?
If you knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that your will alone could change your present circumstances, would
you have the discipline to focus on the good?

3. Intuition
Intuition is God’s way of talking to you. It’s the small voice inside that speaks your truth. It also gives you the
ability to pick up other people’s thoughts and to read their energy.

As you learn to turn down the volume of the noise around you and turn up the volume of your intuition, your life
will become fuller, and you will feel more connected to others.

An Exercise for Getting In Touch With Your Intuition

• Stop and Listen: It’s hard to tune in to your inner wisdom when you’re constantly busy. So, take some time each
day to slow down and be more open to your higher self. If you’re looking for an answer to a question, or you have
a decision to make, start looking inside yourself for the answers before you choose which path to take.

Intuitive messages are subtle and can fade from your conscious mind very quickly. So, write them down or record
them immediately even if you can’t act on them right away.

4. Memory
There’s no such thing as a bad memory. There are only weak and strong memories. Like a muscle, you can develop
your memory by a phenomenal degree through exercise.

An Exercise for Developing Your Memory

• Use your senses. The more senses you involve when you learn or do something new, the easier it is to remember
it.

For example, if you want to remember someone’s name, it may help to look them in the eye when you repeat their
name and offer a handshake. That will engage four out of your five senses.

5. Reason
Our faculty of reason is what we use to think—to analyze, compare, and evaluate ideas. Reason is the ability to
think and choose what information we accept, stir up, and use to come up with brand new ideas.

You can use reason to pluck other people’s thoughts or to build and create your own ideas from the ether.

An Exercise for Developing Your Reason Faculty

• Practice Being UNreasonable. Most people think being reasonable means stifling or sacrificing their own dreams
and goals out of fear: fear of disappointing someone, fear of being laughed at, or fear of going against the crowd or
disrupting the status quo.

However, neuroscience has shown that we use only about five percent of our brain. So, venture into unchartered
territories and practice being unreasonable.

Write down the ways you are holding back on going for (or even acknowledging) what you really want in life
because you’re afraid it might be unacceptable or impossible. Then, relax and use reason to come up with a list of
new ideas and strategies to get what you want.

6. Perception
We don’t see with our eyes; we see through our eyes. For that reason, we often see things that aren’t there.

Your perception is your point of view. It controls what you become aware of in your environment and how
you choose to see it.

There is duality in most everything – front/back, up/down, in/out, and good/bad in everything. And we always have
the choice of what to focus on.

In the subconscious mind, perception determines what we become aware of. We’re flooded with billions of bits of
information every second in our conscious mind, and we can only process a tiny fraction of them. Two main
criteria determine what gets through – what agrees with our beliefs and what our mind believes is important to us.

An Exercise for Developing Your Perception

• Grab your phone and go into any room in your house. Stand at one end of the room and take a picture. Turn
around, walk to the other side of the room, and take another shot. Then compare the two images side by side. One
room, two totally different pictures.

Now take that lesson and apply it to one of the “rooms” in your life. Pick a different vantage point from which to
view your primary relationship, your career, or your financial situation. No matter what you’re looking at, do your
best to look at it objectively, as a stranger might.

A singular perception in your life can prohibit your growth. A different one can exponentially expand it. Keep
shifting your position until you find that one, then stay there.

Main cognitive skills that make up our mind:

1. Attention: Attention is the ability to choose and concentrate on relevant stimuli. Attention is the cognitive
process that makes it possible to position ourselves towards relevant stimuli and consequently respond to it.

2. Perception: Perception is the ability to capture, process, and actively make sense of the information that our
senses receive. It is the cognitive process that makes it possible to interpret our surroundings with the
stimuli that we receive throughout sensory organs.

3. Memory: Memory is brain's ability to retain information and voluntarily recover it when needed. In other
words, memory is what makes it possible to remember facts, ideas, feelings, relationships between
concepts.
 4. Reasoning (Executive Functions): Superior cognitive functions, like reasoning, make it possible to relate
the information that we perceive with the information that we have stored, which helps hypothesize and
resolve problems that arise in daily life.

5. Coordination: Coordination is the skill that makes it possible to move efficiently and precisely. It is the
mental function responsible for making we efficiently interact with the environment.

Types of mental processes:

1. Conscious Processes: The mental processes that we are aware of and know when they are happening. For
example, remembering information that you studied for a test would be a conscious process, as you have to
voluntarily and consciously work to remember a stored memory.

2. Subconscious Processes: The mental processes that occur without us realizing. There are studies that show
that the body experiences physiological changes (i.e.body temperature) when we are exposed to emotional
stimuli for a short period of time (milliseconds), that go unnoticed. This means that even though we are not
conscious of these stimuli, the mind is able to react to them. Another example would be when we are
exposed to subliminal advertising. Even though we are not conscious of the can that we saw in an ad for a
fraction of a second, we suddenly have the urge to go and buy a certain soda.

Mental Content
Mental content is the content had by mental states and processes.

Mental content simply means the content of a mental state such as a thought, a belief, a desire, a fear, an intention,
or a wish.

Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

Our bodies are the physical aspect of our human form. Amazingly, they consist of almost 50 trillion cells that
communicate, interact, and organize to form our tissues, nerves, bones, and organs. The body expresses itself in the
language of matter, atoms, particles, and molecules.

Our minds are the mental and emotional aspects of ourselves. They process thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions.
The mind is consciousness, memory, and imagination.

Our souls are the non-physical aspect of ourselves: our personal, individual expression of the divine. They’re the
part of us that longs to have meaning and seeks answers to the great questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is
my purpose? The soul is eternal, and it communicates in the language of creative expressions like music, art, and
poetry.

The spirit is the vital force within all things. Some people may refer to the spirit as God or Creator. It can also be
called the Quantum Field, the field, or the unmanifest. It is the indescribable organizing principle of the universe;
its language is pure energy.

Mind-body-spirit means that our wellness comes not just from physical health, but from mental health and spiritual
health as well. To be “healthy,” we must pay attention to all three aspects of our nature.
Here are some examples of the mind-body-spirit connection:

a) Many of us will get a headache when we are stressed – that is a perfect example of how your mind is
affecting your body.

b) People who exercise regularly – whether it’s a daily walk, a long run, an hour of yoga, or time in the gym
strength training – will often experience depression if their exercise routine is interrupted by injury, travel,
or anything that prohibits them from getting the activity their body has come to expect and rely on for stress
relief.

c) Are you a “stress eater?” I am sure many people who working from home or who have had their normal
routines disrupted during this time are facing that challenge today.

d) Remember that amazing feeling you had last time you pampered yourself by having a massage, getting
your nails done, or having you hair cut, colored, and styled? That’s your mind and your body and possibly
even your spirit all working together to make you feel great.
e) People with a strong faith who practice their faith feel good after they attend services or perform their
regular devotions. They feel “whole,” happy, and focused.

The main concept behind the mind-body-spirit connection is that we are all more than just our thoughts. We are
also our bodies, our emotions, and our spirituality … all these things combine to give us identity, determine our
health, and make us who we are.

The mind, body, soul, and spirit are the components that collectively define human existence.