How’s
Your R.A.S.?
Making Your Brain Work for You
By Jerry
Graham
How’s my what? My RAS? Is that the latest electronic
gadget that my kids are going to be bugging me to buy? Is it new technology for
my car?
No, RAS is the widely recognized abbreviation for Reticular Activating System. And yes,
everybody has got one. Actually, it’s a very vital part of your brain. About
the size of your little finger, your RAS is a group of cells located at the
base of your brain stem that have the vital function of keeping you from system
overload.
All of us are constantly bombarded by the sights, sounds,
smells, and other sensory stimuli that are around us 24/7. Mercifully, our RAS
“filters” out those extraneous sensory events that are of no interest to us.
Frankly, we simply couldn’t handle them all. The downside to this little
miracle device is that it also filters out stimuli that may be of great
interest to us—especially if we don’t understand how to “set” our filter.
Just to demonstrate the RAS in action, have you ever
noticed that right after you bought a car that suddenly it seemed that every
other car on the road was the same color and/or make of the car that you just
bought? Actually (of course) they were there all the time. Your RAS was just
filtering them out so that you didn’t even see them. Other familiar examples
include your suddenly hearing your name being paged in a crowded airport in and
amongst the multitude of PA announcements that your brain simply blends into
the background noise, or the incredible ability of a mother to be awakened from
a sound sleep by the cry of her baby while sleeping soundly through all the
other nighttime noises.
Using
Your RAS
Why is any of this important to ministry leaders? As you
know, one of the primary functions of leadership is to shepherd the vision of
the organization. One of the best ways to advance the organization toward a
vision is to find multiple ways to keep that vision in front of the members of
that organization. By so doing, you are “setting the filter” of their RAS so
that they will be alert to the opportunities and events that will contribute to
the realization of that vision. If your people are looking for those things,
they will find them. If they aren’t—they won’t. Pretty obvious, isn’t it?
Another incredible application of the RAS is the simple
act of writing three or four things every day that you are grateful for. You
may be familiar with this idea as a “gratitude list.” This simple action can
change a person or group’s attitude almost overnight. Why does it work? Because
the filter is now set to look for things to be grateful for instead of just
looking for things that cause unrest or anxiety. Again, they were there all the
time, but were being filtered out. How powerful is that? Challenge your
congregation to write a gratitude list every day for 30 days. We can
confidently promise you that you’ll be glad you did. You feel like you’re
leading a new church.
We’ve included a simple little tool to help clients
develop a list of ways to keep a vision in front of an organization without
sounding like a broken record (although sometimes that may be appropriate as
well!). Click here to access the Vision Tool,
and begin to purposefully set some filters.
Jerry Graham is a certified coach and coach trainer who helps pastors
and ministry leaders become the leaders they were meant to be. Meet Jerry at www.TheCoachingPair.com or www.CoachingPastors.com/Graham.htmll.