The Magnetized Man

It’s a part of the brain that comes up a lot in popular wellness, mental health, and spirituality podcasts: the reticular activating system or RAS. You may know it as the “I bought a red car and now I see red cars everywhere” part of the brain or the “manifestation engine” part of the brain.

What is the reticular activating system and what does it do?

I like to think of it as a “mental fishnet.” The word “reticular” means a fine network or netlike structure, after all. The reticular activating system is a network of nerve pathways in the brainstem that helps with mediating your overall level of consciousness. In other words, it’s the thing that determines what you are and aren’t aware of. It’s like your brain’s secretary. It decides what sensory visitors are worth bringing to your attention and which visitors can leave a message (that you may never read.)

What happens if the RAS is damaged?

One of the ways neuroscientists figure out how the brain works is observing what happens when something is damaged. When a person’s RAS is damaged, they may wind up in a coma.

How does the RAS influence attention and focus? 

Your body is constantly receiving stimuli and information from its environment and from its own internal processes. The RAS prioritizes these incoming forces based on a number of factors, including emotional significance and how often it’s encountered this stimulus in the past. 

Can you train your RAS? 

There are a number of evidence-backed ways to train your RAS through methods such as intention setting, visualization, and repetition.

What is the relationship between the RAS and the Law of Attraction/Manifestation?

The Law of Attraction and manifestation tell practitioners to focus all of their mental energies on the things that they want. The RAS prioritizes emotionally significant and repeated information. If you are truly focusing on achieving something, you’ll eventually begin to notice people, places, and resources that can help support that goal. That said, research shows that mental contrasting (acknowledging both what you want and your present reality) is often more effective for achieving a goal. 

What is the relationship between the RAS and stress and anxiety?

Chronic stress can cause the RAS to become overactivated, leading to hyper-vigilance. Evidence-backed techniques such as breathwork and meditation can help.

What is the relationship between dopamine and 

the RAS?

Dopamine is the reward and motivation chemical. It causes you to get up and take action. The RAS focuses more attention on rewarding activities based on the dopaminurgic signals it receives. 

How does the RAS help with changing your mindset? 

By focusing on specific things, such as your goals or gratitude, your brain becomes primed to notice more things that align to your objective or that make you feel happy and satisfied.

Why do activities such as prayer, meditation, and visualization impact the RAS?

Prayer and meditation help with down-regulating RAS activity. Meanwhile, your RAS can’t tell the difference between real and imagined stimuli, so when you visualize an experience with a lot of emotion, it becomes primed to recognize stimuli that align to that visualization.

What is the relationship between the RAS and the subconscious mind?

You can think of the RAS as the gatekeeper between your subconscious mind, which holds your emotions and beliefs, and your conscious mind.

See what happens when science meets soul. Start The Magnetized Man today.