One day I was reading my friend's WhatsApp status.  It says, “ 7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PROV3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 CAN D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! …..” I read the first line with some difficulty. Later I was able to interpret the words and read the whole message with ease.  Most of us would have done the same. However, I got an interesting as well as alarming question in my mind. If my mind can correlate groups of numbers & alphabets with (similar English) words and interpret the whole meaning of that sentence, was it doing the same while making decisions? Automatically, connecting the missing pieces and coming to conclusions!  The questions did not end there. How my mind interprets something? Am I biased? All my quick decisions and interpretations are readily available to my mind. So is it accessing the past identical situations and quickly giving me information? OMG! Am I living in a loop? 

I got exhausted with those thoughts and started thinking of a solution. I started reading articles about brain activities and functions. Finally, I found something related to my questions; The Filtering Mechanism in our Brain. (https://www.zen-tools.net/the-filtering-mechanism.html).

This is how our brain interprets; It gets INPUT information from sensory organs, passes through the filters, and based on the OUTPUT from filters, it results in behavior/action. So what you understood is not exactly what you have seen. 

What are these filters? How are they formed?  What are its functions?  Filters are our beliefs, attitudes, values, language, ways of sorting, storing, and retrieving information, Strategies for decision making, and the language you speak. All these are formed from life experiences, situations, Social norms, upbring and many more. The main functions of filters are to delete, distort and generalize information. Even though we take the same route to the office every day, we don't notice many things around us because Filters delete undesirable information. 

How do you feel when yo get promoted? You feel excited, proud, satisfied, etc. Let me explain. Promotion = extra money, higher position, and more power, so it made you happy. For example, if your manager tells you that you do not get any increment in salary and No incentives, then Promotion = extra work, more responsibility, more time utilization, so you feel sad. Filters distort information. It will present the information in the way you want it to be. So it may add some supporting information or delete some information that is against your beliefs. 

Many people kill snakes as soon as they find them. There are 3000 species of snakes. Only 7% (~ 200 species) of snakes can kill a human. But we only look at the fact that, on average, 50,000 people are killed every year because of snakebite in India. So we generalize and kill even water snakes. All snakes are not venomous. All men are not the same. All women don't choose money over love. So Filters generalize information. 

In such a case, can we manipulate our minds? Use new filters The answer is YES, but how? 

We have to work on our filters. Question your religious beliefs ( PK movie helped me ). Question your beliefs about yourself and others—question social norms. Start listing down all those toxic beliefs and values you are holding to. Create a counter statement for all those toxic beliefs and write them down. For example, if you believe people don't like dark-skinned men/women, you feel undesirable. Tell yourself that most men/women fall in love with the nature of the person, not the beauty. 

Please give it a proper thought before making decisions. If you don't take time and question your thoughts, your mind will make decisions automatically based on the information it has. So think before you respond. Eventually, change your belief system, delete all those meaningless beliefs. Don't buy the negative interpretations that your mind gives. Turn it into a positive one. For example, you came to know that your friend is a gay/lesbian. Negative thought: stay away! He/she may try to seduce you. Turn it to a positive thought: There is nothing wrong if they are attracted to the same gender. Give your mind a different meaning and create a new belief in the place of the old one. One day you will become a positive person forever. Positive people attract more positivity. Stay happy. Have a healthy mind. Jai Hind.