What is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)?
The Reticular Activating System, or RAS, is a bundle of nerves at the base of your brain stem that acts like a filter between your conscious mind and everything your subconscious picks up. Your brain is bombarded with millions of bits of sensory data every second, but you only consciously process a tiny fraction. The RAS decides what makes the cut. Your RAS is there to keep you alive and sane. And it does that by trying to automate your behavior as much as possible.
“The reticular activating system (RAS) is a small, pencil-width network of neurons located just above the spinal cord in the brainstem. It plays a critical role in filtering sensory information—except for smell, which is processed through the brain’s emotional center—by acting as a bridge between the subconscious and conscious parts of the brain. This filtering function helps determine which stimuli are important enough to reach our conscious awareness.”
Think of it like the bouncer of a very selective club—the velvet rope only lifts for what matters to you. And what matters to you? What you’ve told your brain is important, either through repetition, intensity, emotional charge, or belief.
This is why when you’re thinking about buying a red car, you start seeing red cars everywhere. It’s not that they suddenly appeared. Your RAS just started letting them through the filter.
The RAS and Core Wounds: When the Filter Reinforces the Past
Here’s the twist: your RAS isn’t just listening to your dreams. It’s also tuned into your fears, insecurities, and old beliefs. If you have a core wound around abandonment, your RAS might be laser-focused on spotting potential rejections—interpreting silence, uncertainty, or distance as evidence that you’re being left again.
But it’s even deeper than that. You’re not just noticing signs of abandonment—you may actually seek out situations that replay it. Why? Because your brain is trying to resolve the wound by mastering the pattern. Your RAS is hunting for confirmation of what you already believe. This is why you find yourself repeating the same kinds of cycles with relationships. Did someone you loved break your heart in a really unhealthy manner? You may be seeking them out in other people to try to repeat the situation to undo what was done. Inevitably, it is not going to work out in your favor. That is, unless you update the programming.
You Can Train It. That Changes Everything.
This is where intention meets neurobiology. The RAS is re-trainable. When you start focusing intentionally on new outcomes—safety, connection, abundance, worthiness—you teach your RAS to scan for those instead.
This isn’t magical thinking. It’s mechanism.
You start to notice supportive people. Unexpected synchronicities. Job openings. Invitations. Glimmers of hope where once you only saw obstacles. These opportunities were always there—but now your brain is finally letting them in.
RAS as the Gatekeeper of Possibility
Drawing from the University of Minnesota Extension’s work on intentionality, the RAS can be understood as the gatekeeper of possibility. The words you choose to narrate your life matter deeply. When you say, “I intend to speak my truth,” the RAS hears that as a directive. When you say, “I hope I don’t mess this up,” the RAS still hears the fear and uncertainty—and filters the world accordingly.
It’s not about faking positivity. It’s about training the gatekeeper to stop letting your old fears run the show. It’s about clarity. Command. Conscious redirection.
Science Meets Spirituality
This is why affirmations, vision boards, and mindfulness practices can feel powerful when done with presence and purpose. They’re not just spiritual rituals. They are rewiring tools—ones that recalibrate your RAS and help bridge the space between belief and biology.
When you align your internal attention with your core values—not your core wounds—you begin to shape a new perceptual landscape. That new landscape changes your choices. Your choices change your life.
Life Coaching Integration: Tools to Shift the RAS
As a coach, I work with clients to identify the core beliefs silently running their show. We use reflection prompts, somatic practices, and intentional habit-building to redirect the RAS. Some of the simplest yet most powerful tools include:
- Writing daily intentions (“Today I will speak from worth.” “Today, I will make a different choice.”)
- Visualizing desired outcomes with emotional intensity
- Practicing gratitude to shift focus to what’s working
- Asking the RAS to scan for something specific each morning (“Show me one example of love today.”)
These aren’t hacks. They are habits of conscious attention.
The Takeaway
The Reticular Activating System is a bridge between your biology and your beliefs. And while it was designed for survival, it can be trained for expansion.
When you start paying attention to what you want to grow, rather than what you fear will repeat, your life shifts. Not because the world changes overnight. But because you finally open the gates.
To possibility. To truth. To alignment.
One clear signal at a time.
