Accelerated Mental Processing

In this page:

• What is accelerated mental processing.
• Your basic operating system.
• The Reticular Activating System (RAS) and other neurological aspects.
• Rapid-fire thinking, learning and results.

Plus other aspects related to mental/neurological capacity and human brain function.

Accelerated mental processing is something that has been studied for years in the science of psychology, NLP, kinesiology and even education, but it’s not always given this title. Ever since the beginning of time, people have been interested in how to perform more effectively, learn faster, produce better results, increase intelligence and facilitate their own evolution. One thing I have noticed though is that a lot of the material that exists on human performance and personal development has gone in two directions; the first is all about wealth and how to create more of it and the other is therapy and fixing problems.

It seems as though these two things are all that exist in the world of personal development, but what about an overall approach to producing more effective results regardless of what it is? This is what myself and Personal Evolution have been interested in for some time and in regard to the mental/emotional/psychological aspects that we work with, this kind of accelerated mental processing is what we primarily teach aside from the physical/health aspects.

So what is accelerated mental processing?

Accelerated mental processing is a term I came up with just due to lack of a better one, it may not be the best way to describe what I am discussing here. Accelerated mental processing in this context refers to the ability to both process information more rapidly and also to process more information than is normally possible. This results in a radically more efficient existence because it allows you to achieve more in a shorter space of time simply because your brain will operate more rapidly and perceive a vast amount of stimuli.

It’s difficult to really explain the type of accelerated mental processing I am referring to with just words because it involves a completely different perception and experience of everything.

Just to paint a bit of a picture for you, here are some examples of accelerated mental processing based on my experience and the observation of many people who have developed this kind of operating system inside their heads…

Have you ever heard of speed reading? Speed reading is an example of accelerated mental processing. Maybe you have learned how to do it. Have you ever wondered how it works? Speed reading is a very basic level of accelerated mental processing. There are many aspects to it such as being able to read chunks of words rather than each individual word, non verbalisation of the words and the ability to actually absorb what you have read.

This is a handy skill to have because it allows you to absorb more information at a faster rate, resulting in more learning over the short and long term. Lets break it down a bit…

When we usually read something we generally verbalise each individual word in our head, this takes time because if you miss words you won’t understand what you have read and quite often you will have to re-read words and sentences. What this means is that your brain is working rather slowly to absorb the information.

Contrast this with speed reading, when you speed read you are able to take mental “snap-shots” of chunks of words, as you get better at it the chunks of words increase in size and your reading gets faster. The remarkable thing is that even as you get faster at reading, your comprehension of what you are reading increases.

Sensory Acuity; this is another example of accelerated mental processing. The term sensory acuity comes from Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP, which back in the 70's was the cutting edge of accelerated mental processing. Sensory acuity is simply the ability to notice what’s going on around you and even inside of you. The more finely tuned your sensory acuity is, the greater details you will be able to notice and make sense of.

Take an Aboriginal tracker for instance, if you ever have the privilege of meeting one then you will notice how remarkably aware they are of their surroundings and their incredible ability to interpret the subtlest of things. These people seem to have an almost supernatural connection with their environment. This is probably due to the fact that they have learned to look, feel and listen to what is happening or what has already happened. They seem to do this with such acute sensitivity that nothing could possibly get past them.

NLP places a lot of emphasis on the development of sensory acuity. This is because NLP was originally both a method for modelling excellence and a set of already modelled and interpreted patterns that came primarily from therapists. Since NLP has a major focus on modelling the results produced by others, sensory acuity is very important.

What sensory acuity allows an NLP practitioner to do is to notice things about the person they are modelling that other people would not normally notice. There are certain extremely subtle things that a person does in order to do something successfully, some of which they are not even aware of themselves. By developing sensory acuity you will be able to pick these things up and hence produce an accurate and equally successful model and achieve similar or greater results.

As you can probably gather by now, accelerated mental processing is the ability for your brain to take more in and process it more rapidly, then output what you have processed to produce a given result. I don’t even need to explain why this is useful and essential if you are to become an outstanding achiever in any area of your life.

There are many other examples of accelerated mental processing, we will cover more later.

Your basic operating system

I like to think of the human brain as a computer just to help understand the basic components. Every computer needs an operating system, this is usually something like windows. What this operating system does is basically control the start up of the computer and allows for storage for all the other capabilities of the machine. Without an operating system the computer simply will not work, regardless of all the other fancy hardware you may have. Accelerated mental processing will simply not happen without some degree of understanding of your basic operating system.

The human brain is no different. In order for accelerated mental processing to occur, or any mental processing for that matter, we need to have control of our operating system by first understanding what it is and how it relates to accelerated mental processing. We all have a basic operating system, this is our control panel and determines how we think, how we process information, our emotions and how we operate on the fundamental level. The quality of your operating system will determine the quality of the rest of your mental processing from the most basic to the most highly advanced skills.

If your operating system is not functioning at its peak then everything else is effected, no matter what you try and do about it. So it makes sense to take care of the operating system before anything else and then work up from there.

In terms of accelerated mental processing, the operating system will function more rapidly and effectively. This begins with your perception, your ability to absorb information and your capacity to transfer the information that comes in into tangible results.

The components of your operating system consist of…

Sensory acuity and awareness: As we have already covered, sensory acuity is your ability to make distinctions about your environment, other people and yourself. It is important to develop this part of your operating system in order to notice opportunities and resources and make use of them and also to interpret what is happening in your surroundings and other people so that you can respond more effectively. Accelerated mental processing happens at its best when you are able to make use of more information simultaneously.

Unconscious uptake and automatic processing: Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to learn something that you have never been exposed to before? This is not always the case, it’s most difficult when you try and analyse and “think” your way through something in a sequential fashion. There are certain things that we can learn almost automatically, these things can often seem almost effortless. Unconscious uptake is the ability to absorb large chunks of information simultaneously without excessive conscious effort. This occurs commonly in children, which is why they seem to learn more rapidly than adults. Imagine being able to assimilate skills and information almost like an instant download as opposed to trying to piece each component together slowly.

Submodalities and your internal representation: Again, if you have studied anything on the subject of NLP then you will be aware of sub modalities and why they are one of the most important things to gain control over. Sub modalities were discovered and put to use by co founder of NLP Richard Bandler. Before we go any further I have to say that Bandler is probably one of the most underestimated minds of our time. He is possibly the most skilled hypnotic communicator of the last century, even more advanced than the great Milton Erickson.

Richard Bandler discovered that when we think, it comes in several forms, rather than just internal dialogue. In order to make sense of the input of endless information, past, present and anticipated, we need to process it so that our minds can understand what is happening and whether it is happening now, a memory or something we have imagined.

The brain processes all the information in the form of sub modalities. We have five senses that most people recognise, then there are some extra senses that many believe in. These senses are referred to as representation systems because they are how we re-present the world to ourselves internally. Our representation systems are the only way for us to experience the world.

Within representation systems there must be something happening internally, certain qualities of the sounds, sights, smells etc that are occurring. These qualities are the sub modalities. What does your mother look like? In order to answer that question you accessed a memory of your mother in a particular context and most likely saw a picture of her face. It is the qualities of that picture and everything else associated with it that are the sub modalities.

Was the picture in your head of your mother moving or still? Was it colour or black and white? Were there sounds? If so, what were the sounds? Were they loud or soft? Etc. The questions I just asked were about sub modalities. These qualities are what make up your entire experience of the world.

Now lets say you have a phobia, what happens when you think of the object of that phobia? Are the pictures large? Are they associated, meaning that you’re seeing it through your own eyes? Or maybe you can see yourself in the picture. There are certain sub modalities that occur every time you have the phobic response. What people often don’t realise is that sub modalities are the one major factor that controls every thought, every emotion, your whole experience of everything.

I could keep going and probably write an entire 1000 page book about sub modalities. I would just like to illustrate the importance that they play and why you need to master your own sub modalities in order to have control over your experiences and your life. Sub modalities are a huge part of your operating system, you can’t think or experience anything without them, so it makes sense to learn more about how to have them under complete control.

Your state: Tony Robbins discusses state in pretty much all of his work. If you have ever been to an electrifying Tony Robbins seminar then you will know what I mean. State is also something discussed in quite a lot of detail in NLP trainings, the only difference is that Personal Evolution treats it as another integrated part of the whole picture rather than an isolated component.

Your state is basically your current mental, emotional, spiritual and physical situation. Your state is effected by countless things but not always those things that you may have learned. Many people (not you of course but many others) believe that your state, especially emotional state, is determined by external circumstances. Something happens in our immediate environment and then you respond by putting yourself in a certain state.

Notice the choice of language I used. I didn’t say that something happens and this causes a certain state. The operative part of that sentence was “putting yourself”. Two people can have an identical experience externally yet respond in opposite ways. This is because these two people have a life time of conditioning that is most likely radically different. What this means is that they have been conditioned to respond differently by accessing a different state. One of the things that causes this is the way each person perceives and makes sense of what has happened, they then unconsciously choose a response that they believe is appropriate.

Rather than the circumstances controlling your state it comes down to certain responses that have to happen first in order for you to experience that state. One of those responses is the sub modalities that you create internally. All the responses are a specific pattern, a strategy. We all have strategies for every emotion that we feel, there are strategies for attraction, strategies for depression, strategies for anger etc. If you change the pattern/strategy then you change the overall experience and hence the response you will give.

Another important thing to note about your state is that it is a major determining factor in your life. Think of it this way; something happens and you respond a certain way. Every action has a reaction as mentioned by the great Einstein. So if you choose a certain state (unconsciously), you will likely choose a certain patterned response to what has happened, this in turn will effect external factors and these external factors will further effect your state, which will cause another response and so on in one big cycle.

With the above example it’s no wonder why some people feel that they are not in control of their life. On the flip side, there are others who seem to have an incredible run of good fortune. This is not just chance, it all comes down to state. Learn to control your state and you will learn to control your life.

There are many things that effect state, they are too numerous to cover here but keep an eye on this site for updated information, links and tools. We will discuss things like anchoring, the triad, your physical state etc.

That covers your basic operating system, now lets take a brief look at some of the other aspects of advanced accelerated mental processing…

Reticular Activating System and other neurological aspects

At any one time the human conscious brain can only process between 5 and 9 chunks of information. That may not mean anything to you but consider that there is anywhere up to several billion pieces of information entering the entire brain at any one time. So consciously we can only process this tiny amount but unconsciously we take in the rest.

This is how hypnosis works, by actually accessing the parts of the brain that function automatically and making positive shifts. Out of these 5 to 9 chunks of information the brain needs to decide very carefully what to pay attention to and what to filter out. Based on past experience, your brain will be trained to filter certain types of things that it decides are important.

There are many parts of the brain responsible for this conscious thinking but the one that interests me is the Reticular Activating System (RAS). This part of the brain is responsible for much of your consciousness and is one of the parts that lead to coma when damaged.

Have you ever bought a new car or a new shirt and then noticed all of a sudden that a lot of people had the same one? So what happened? Did everyone go out and decide to buy the same car as you all at the same time? It may seem that way but the truth is that there were already that many of them around but your brain did not consciously pay attention to them, it filtered them out because it didn’t seem all that important to include them in your awareness.

Once you bought that car or shirt your brain unconsciously decided that it has some kind of significance now and then brings it into conscious awareness. This is how your perceptual filters work. This is a major part of your experience of life and the type of information and skills that you possess. Why do you think there are so many people that will tell you to get clear about what you want and set goals etc? It’s because once you are clear then your RAS starts picking up things that relate to it and delivers them into consciousness so that you can act on these opportunities.

We go through life almost on autopilot and only seem to notice certain opportunities and resources. This causes most people to fall far short of their true potential because they are simply missing things that are right there in front of them, literally.

This aspect of accelerated mental processing is related to sensory acuity because once you learn to notice more and expand your awareness you will have a higher sensitivity to the things that will result in you getting more of what you want. There are many tools that Personal Evolution incorporates into our personal training services to expand awareness and make use of previously hidden opportunity. To put it in an effective format it really needs to be experienced rather than just read about and needs to be maintained. Keep an eye out for more articles and information on this topic and come and experience Personal Evolution for real.

Rapid-fire thinking, learning and results:

One last area that really deserves a mention is rapid processing. Whenever we receive a stimulus of information or a new skill, the brain needs to process and make sense of it and then output it into some useful response. If this doesn’t happen then it is pretty much useless because it is dead information, sort of like a book that never gets read.

Everyone goes through three stages whenever they learn a skill or a new piece of information. The three stages are input, processing then output. Pretty simple isn’t it? The speed of these stages is different for everyone, it depends on many things but most often it is that person’s ability to trust that the unconscious/automatic part of the brain to install it rather than trying to over analyse and piece it together consciously.

This skill is like a part two to the unconscious uptake. The faster we absorb, install and are able to make use of the information and skills we learn, the faster we can produce a given result, improve upon it and evolve on a continuous basis.

Personal Evolution teaches skills and processes for increasing the processing speed of your brain. It all comes down to conditioning and training your brain to react to stimuli and then put it into a useful format at an increased rate.

To put accelerated mental processing to a conclusion, it’s basically the ability to run on autopilot and do it effectively. One of the major causes of stress and overwhelm is over thinking and trying to consciously make sense of the world. This is impossible because as I have mentioned, you can only consciously process 5 to 9 chunks of information at any one time. If you learn to program your unconscious mind to do things automatically yet still effectively, you will hold the key to true peak performance and radical results.

We all have patterns of behaviour that happen automatically, the problem is that most of them do not serve us. People smoke, they get stressed, angry, depressed, over eat, are compulsively lazy etc. There are so many automatic/unconscious patterns of behaviour that are happening all the time. One of my goals has been teaching people to reprogram these patterns and install new ones. Imagine being able to just unconsciously learn new skills and retain them for the rest of your life without excessive conscious effort.

Accelerated mental processing is just one aspect of what we do. As you may know, we are also a personal training and holistic health organisation.

Keep a close eye on this site for more tools, resources and information. Contact us to see if you qualify for a complimentary assessment and introductory session valued at $100-$250

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