Mind? Brain? which is which?

Are the Mind and Brain different words for the same thing??

This is a great subject and should generate lots of ideas and opinions...and more posts!

My opinion is: I don't think so.

The glorious Brain with all of its amazing circuitry and neuropeptids and networks is kind of like the Hardware and the Mind is kind of like the Software. Ok, I know it is not a good analogy. But it's the best I've got at the moment.

For example, The Mind utilizes the capabilities of the Brain to create things that never existed....to see the end result 'in the Mind's Eye'...to imagine something that is not there and make it so. There were no 'neural networks' for that particular creation until the Mind began the process.

But here is part of the problem.

We have such a 'separatist' mentality that we want two very separate and distinct entities. I don't think that is how Mind/Brain is. They are very interwined. If you think of the Brain as an Energy machine and the Mind as an Energy Field and that they 'overlap' and interwine and even share energy, perhaps that is closer to what I am thinking.

What do you think??

What would you do if you found out you had a catastophic illness

You're sitting across the desk and the look on your doctor's face is somber. You are told you have a serious illness. That there are treatments. And that, if all goes well, it will go into remission.

Members of my family and several friends have heard these words all too often in the last year. Another one just heard them yesterday.

So I asked myself, if I heard those words, what would I do to contribute to regaining my health?

Apart from verification, second opinions, research on the Internet, what would I do?

Since I know I would be experiencing fear, I would need to get hold of those emotions right away. I would let myself feel sad and cry....and then I would get to work.

I would want the most powerful part of Me, my Mind, on board for this fight.

I would not want fear running the show and it certainly would be doing that if I did not get the right kind of help.

And I would not want a veneer of 'positive thinking' when the deepest parts of my mind don't believe it. No working at cross purposes. So I have to get my Mind, conscious and unconscious, working together like the miracle that it truly is.

The Mind/Brain has capabilities and powers that scientists are just beginning to understand. So I would expect my doctor to hand me both an Rx for my meds and an Rx for the best therapist who does Mind/Body counseling. If they didn't, I would ask for it....but I would also ask why they didn't. Are they really on board or just going through the motions?

Everybody on the team has got to Believe, at a minimum, in the real possibility of success.

I would tell them the following:

I plan to beat this and regain complete health.
I want to know if they believe that is possible...because if they don't I will to find someone who does.
I ask them to tell me the game plan to get me to health.
I will tell them that I will be doing lots on my side to make all of their work successful.
I will be seeing a Mind/Body Medicine practitioner frequently.
I will be doing self-hypnosis, meditation, visualizations many times a day. Not once or twice but dozens of times.
And I will be asking lots of questions of lots of people to make for the best outcome.

The power of belief (residing in the Mind) causes the Brain to send certain messages to the rest of the body that get the body to begin the healing process. This is called the Placebo Effect.

I want this process, which doctors to not understand, to work for me. I want to engage it, to work with it, to embrace it. To cheer for it and to thank it.

Between the Mind/Brain/Body working in concert and meds from my doctor, I have now exponentially increased my chances for success. I have moved from feeling like a victim.

Fear can make us feel that way....mentally cowering in the corner. Why did Roosevelt say "The only thing we have to fear is, Fear itself"? Because he knew that Fear can cause that cowering, 'hide under the bed, stick your head in the sand feeling" just at the time when what we need to do is take action. To make plans that will lead to success and carry them out. Not allow Fear to cause us to descend into negativity which crowds out our creative ability when we need it most.

That's what I would do. What would you do?