Note: This blog is an extension of my book Second Cha nce and emphasizes the Reticular Activating System (RAS) as the brain's "gatekeeper" between the conscious and subconscious mind, incorporating practical applications for personal development, mindset shifts, goal achievement, and overcoming mental blind spots (scotomas). It draws from neuroscience while tying into the two minds, RAS programming via repetition + emotion + present tense, and real-life transformation stories from in the book “Second Chance” by Bill Scott
Unlocking Your Brain's Gatekeeper: The Reticular
Activating System and Your Second Chance at Life How Understanding and Programming the RAS Can Transform Your
Awareness, Goals, and Destiny
Introduction: In Second Chance, I shared my 1977 epiphany —walking out of rehab and
later, boarding a flight to California, as the ultimate proof that change is possible. At the
heart of that transformation, and the practical philosophy I developed over decades, lies a
remarkable part of the brain: the Reticular Activating System, or simply the RAS.
Often called the brain's gatekeeper, the RAS filters the overwhelming flood of sensory
information bombarding us every second—millions of bits —allowing only what aligns with. Learn more about this in Second Chance and How It Relates To religion.
our conscious intentions and subconscious programming to reach awareness. It's why,
after buying a new car, you suddenly notice the same model everywhere, even the identical
color. Or why focusing on gratitude reveals opportunities you previously overlooked.
This isn't woo-woo; it’s a product of 50 years of personal research with its basis grounded in
neuroscience meeting practical mindset work. Why it isn’t common knowledge, why it is
not taught in elementary school s astounds me. It is practical knowledge based on research
conducted by hundreds of scientists and philosophers for centuries.
We attempt to shove a plethora of knowledge into young minds and give no consideration
as to how they will remember it and use it in their lives. It took me 34 years to discover it
myself, merely by accident, and if I had known about it in my formative years, at least I
would have had a excuse for the virtual mess I made of the first 34 years of my li fe.
The RAS connects your conscious goals with your subconscious powerhouse, acting as the
bridge I describe between the two minds. If you aren’t familiar with how it works, you suffer
from a handicap that limits you as surely as blindness affects your ability to see the world
around you.
How many times have you hung your head and thought, “Why didn’t I see that coming?” or
“Why am I so unlucky?” or “Why can’t I get a break?” Or my favorite, “If it weren’t for bad
luck, I would have no luck at all?” Yeah, it’s really that sad.
But it’s not your fault! So, stop blaming yourselves. You’ve been short -changed by an
educational system that thinks you are better off with documented, hard facts that come
out of textbooks approved by the state, while other countries like China and Japan are running rings around America by encouraging their children to THINK.
If your life has been guided by nothing but documented, safe facts, you’ve been denied a rich and fulfilling life, and it’s no won d er our prisons and men tal institutions are filled with confused and sick individuals who know nothing but RULES that other people claiming to be smarter than they are have forced them to follow. “Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back!” Yeah, I would say it’s almos t that bad.
By understanding and deliberately programming your subconscious, which in-turn trains your RAS to welcome and affect out -of-date inaccurate information, you can overcome psychological scotomas (those mental blind spots), activate the Reticular Activating System for success, and create the life you desire. This article dives deep into how it works, with science-backed explanations, practical exercises, and illustrations to make it visual and memorable. One more thing before we get into it. Thi s is fun stuff! There is no pain here. Only gain. And once you’ve learned the secret, you’ll get off your phone and do something enormously beneficial with your life. Learn more about this in How Far Is Forever?.
Section 1: What Is the RAS?
First the necessary boring stuff: The RAS is a network of neurons in the brainstem's reticular formation—a "little net" (from Latin reticulum) of tangled cells spanning the medulla, pons, and midbrain. It's about the size of your little finger, roughly two inches long, yet it punches way above its weight.
Key components include:
- Ascending projections to the thalamus, hypothalamus, and cortex.
- Neurotransmitter systems: cholinergic (acetylcholine for arousal), noradrenergic (norepinephrine from locus coeruleus for attention), serotonergic, etc.
Don’t fret if you don’t understand these scientific terms. They are only here to entertain the nerds who might be reading this.
Brainstem Cross -Section with RAS Highlighted
Illustration credited to Grok
The reticular activating system (RAS): a narrative review of discovery, evolving understanding, and relevance to current formulations of brain death | Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d'anesthésie | Springer Nature Link
Billions of bits of information assault our five senses of touch, hearing, tasting, seeing and smell ing every waking second of every day. Learn more about this in Unlocking Your Brain’s Gatekeeper: The Reticular.
Think of information as a flood of water coming towards you in a tsunami. Without some type of method to regulate its flow, you would be crushed by its weight and drowned within seconds. Learn more about this in Get ting to Know Your Sidekick.
For example: Your mind doesn’t see a tree. What it sees is billions of bits of information that come at you at the speed of li ght (700 Million Miles per hour— Source: W ikipedia) and reduces it down to something the human mind can understand. Cou ple this with the next tree and the next, and your spouse telling you to come and eat your dinner bef ore it gets cold, if your conscious doesn’t shut down once a day to rest long term, you c ould not function.
The RAS regulates arousal, wakefulness, sleep-wake cycles, and selective attention. Without it, we'd be overwhelmed or unconscious.
For an overall picture: Information received and reassembled by the conscious mind is acted up in the present tense, taking care of business of the utmost importance. The
conscious mind has no interest in the past or future and it’s ability to store information is pitifully small. I’ve read that 99% is lost within a few minutes while some may last a bit longer, but its function is not one of memory, it’s one of process. Once the ti ny amount of pertinent information presented is acted upon, it is sent on its way to be dumped. But, before it is dumped completely, it passes by the RAS and attempts to gain entrance to win permanent storage there.
Credit Grok
Now please don’t take this process literally. I built the story to help you understand it in a way a five year-old can grasp its meaning. Please don’t be offended. This approach merely save s me a bunch of writing and you a bunch of reading.
THE RSA IN ACTION
Credit Grok
Data that meets the sub conscious mind’s criteria is immediately collected and stored there. Every experience you have ever had—possibly even those from before birth—may exist somewhere in the subconscious. Under the right circumstances, one of those memories or impressions can surface involuntarily and either help or disrupt your day. Unfamiliar information is usually rejected unless it carries po werful emotion or appears repeatedly within a short period. Once it enters the subconscious, it may strengthen or weaken similar information already stored there, or it may create a new association. The importan ce of the information depends on its weight: the strength of the emotion attached to it and the frequency with which it is repeated.
For example, I was born in Louisiana and love authentic Louisiana gumbo, but I rarely order it. I’ve had the real thing, and most versions don’t come close. If I lived somewhere that prepared it properly, I’d order it often. But since I don’t, I usually wait until I’m near a place known for making it right. After enough time passes, I may forget about gumbo altogether until the right opportunity appears. If I see it on a menu in Chicago, I don’t even consider ordering it.
This is important because it deals with why we make choices whether we are talking about Louisiana gumbo o r investing in the stock market.
Once embedded in the subconscious, thes e stored ideas go a long way toward ruling our lives. I use the word “ruling” because these ideas appear without thought. For example, “My friend Paul does not eat brown vegetables because he is colorblind.” No amount of persuasion can convince Paul that lettuce is not brown, but he will devour a baked potato in an instant.
Section 2:
How the RAS Works as a Filter and Gatekeeper
The RAS acts like a sophisticated bouncer at the door of consciousness. It shifts sensory input, prioritizing what's relevant based on your beliefs, goals, and emotional state. This prevents overload while highlighting opportunities or threats.
Manifestation and the Reticular Activating System: The Neuroscience of Filtering Reality
Illustration credited to Grok Manifestation and the Reticular Activating System: The Neuroscience of Filtering Reality
In personal development terms, this ties directly to programming the subconscious. Set clear intentions (present tense, emotional charge, repetition), and the RAS tunes your perception to notice supportive resources—people, ideas, coincidences. This is the mechanism behind the "law of attraction" explained scientifically.
Section 3: RAS in Daily Life, Goals, and Mindset
Examples: Learning a new word and hearing it everywhere; focusing on health and spotting gym deals or recipes. For bigger goals, like rebuilding after addiction (my story), the RAS amplifies evidence of progress.
Practical keys from Second Chance:
- Clarity + Emotion + Repetition: Affirmations in present tense ("I am focused and successful").
- Daily visualization to "set the intent."
- Overcoming scotomas by questioning limiting beliefs.
Exercises: Morning intention-setting, gratitude lists to rewire filters.
Illustration credited to Grok The Secret of the Reticular Activating System | Mark Andre Alexander
Section 4: Science of Sleep, Arousal, and Performance
The RAS modulates EEG patterns for wakefulness vs. sleep. Damage or dysfunction links to disorders like coma, ADHD, or insomnia. Healthy RAS supports focus and resilience.
Section 5: Programming Your RAS for a Second Chance
Steps: Define goals clearly, use affirmations, track "RAS hits," act consistently. Emotional intensity strengthens the filter.
The RAS is your built-in ally for transformation. Master it, and every day becomes a S econd C hance.
In the framework of Second Chance (Con scious versus S ubconscious minds, the RAS as gatekeeper, psychological sc o tomas and the programing keys or repetition + emotion + prese nt tense), this time-perception difference in central to why affirmations, visualization, and emotional rehearsal are so effective.
How Th e Sub c o nscious Perceives Time
The subconscious lives almost entirely in the “n ow.” The sub co nscious doesn’t have a strong linear sense of past, present and future like the conscious mind does. It treats vivid memories, current experiences, and imagined futures with similar emotion al and neurological weight. A traumatic event from decades ago can feel as immediate and real as something happening today if it’s emotionally charged.
Maybe you have experienced moments like this; maybe you haven’t. But sooner or later, they come. A sm ell, an unfamiliar word, a situation, or a song on the radio can suddenly stir an unexpected feeling—happiness, sadness, fear, anxiety, or something else entirely. You may have no idea where it came from o r what triggered it. The feeling may pass before you can think about it, or it may affect the rest of your day. These emotional charges sit in the subconscious like hidden land mines, and when something sets one off, you can only hope to manage it— even if it happens at the worst possible moment, like trying to land a jet carrying 400 passengers. Mo st of these experiences come and go almost unnoticed, but they are real, and they can still cause trouble.
The sub conscious is both a transmitter and a rece iver. You m ay be difficult to control its output, but you can definitely control its input, because everything absorbed by the subconscious MUST pass through the RAS, no exceptions. A vividly imagined positive outcome (in the present tense, loaded with feeling) gets processed as if it’s already happening or has happe ned.
This is why old limiting beliefs, fears or habits persist so strongly … they are stored as current :truths” in the subconscious database.
** IMPORTANT ** Refr ain from thinking, “I wish”, “I want”, etc. be cause the subconscious is isolated and knows only the present, and if you “ wish you were rich”, your subconscious will work really hard to keep you wishing which means, you will remain po or.
“But if I go around saying, ‘I am a billionaire’, people will laugh at me.”
Probably, but your subconscious will believe you and will do whatever it needs to do to insure it is reality.”
If you want an explanation of why this is true, one of the purposes of the hum an mind is to attempt to maintain sanity, and other than a medical condition that gets in the way, you cannot believe and disbelieve the same thing at the same time, else you would go insane. You might like half of what a person does and dislike the other half, but you can’t like and dislike the same t hing.
It explains the power of present-tense programming and the fruitless attempts at wishing: Phrases like “I am confident” or “I handle challenges with ease” bypass the conscious mind’s skepticism and install directly because the sub conscious does n’t argue about timelines. It accepts the emotional signal and starts aligning the RAS to notice supporting evidence in the real world.
Th is ties directly into my book’s emphasis on the two minds and the RAS filtering reality based on what’s in the emotional programmed as “important” or “true”. The subconscious doesn’t debate, “Is this realistic for the future?”… It just reinforces whatever is strong emotional repetition attached to it right now.
BREAKDOWN
Information first floods into the conscious mind. Emergencies trigger instant action— "Oops! I'm on fire!" — bypassing deeper analysis. Day-to -day data (reading, speaking, routine thinking) gets prioritized by immediate necessity. Most input receives little thought and is quickly discarded: seconds for the trivial, hours or days for moderately useful items.
Only then does surviving information approach the Reticular Activating System. Here, the RAS acts as the gatekeeper, sorting and attempting to match it against existing subconscious data. Powerful emotion can force immediate passage. Unrecognized or neutra l information often requires repeated submissions—through focused attention, affirmations, or visualization—until the RAS recognizes its relevance and allows entry.
Once admitted, the data integrates into the subconscious with its attached emotion, available for future reference. Though the subconscious might seem to have limited storage, the brain is engineered to prioritize what we repeatedly emphasize with feeling. This is where real transformation happens…
I am going to end this now and possibly come back to it later. The next art icle will most likely be about how to approach the su bconscious with chang es you want to make immediately, so look out for that one.
