The Reticular Activating System: Your Brain's Filter

Have you ever noticed how when you buy a new car, suddenly you see that same car everywhere?

That’s your Reticular Activating System (RAS) at work. The RAS is a network in your brainstem that acts like a filter. It decides what information is important and what can be ignored. Without it, you would be overwhelmed by the billions of bits of information your brain receives every second.

Here’s why this matters for all of us:

• The RAS tunes in to what you focus on. If you focus on stress, your brain highlights more stress. If you focus on opportunities, your brain highlights more opportunities.

• It plays a huge role in attention, motivation, and even recovery. Training your RAS through intention, brain exercises, and healthy habits can literally change what you notice in your daily life.

• In rehab, we can use this system to direct the brain toward healing instead of dysfunction.

Think about it this way: your RAS is like the algorithm in your brain. What you pay attention to tells it what to “show you” more of. So please stop saying negative things about yourself!

What’s one thing you’d like your brain to filter in more of this week? Comment below so we can lock it in and put that RAS to work.