How to Rewire Your RAS: The Tiny Brain Filter That Makes Healing Easier (or Harder)
If you’ve ever wondered why you notice every donut in a five-mile radius… but somehow miss every “healthy choice” you swore you were going to make… please meet the Reticular Activating System, or as I call it:
Your brain’s bouncer.
The RAS stands at the velvet rope inside your skull deciding who gets into the VIP lounge (your awareness) and who gets tossed into the alley (your ignored options).
And wow, does this little cluster of neurons have opinions. Most people with insulin resistance don’t have a food problem. They have a filter problem.
Your RAS has been trained—by repetition, emotion, belief, and history—to scan for:
• quick comfort
• familiar foods
• danger
• past failures
• signs you can’t trust yourself
• stress
• cues to procrastinate
• and opportunities to abandon your own needs
Not because you’re weak. But because your RAS thinks these things are “important” to your survival. And guess what?
Your RAS is very loyal.
It doesn’t care whether something is good for you—only whether you’ve paid attention to it before. It listens to the beliefs you harbor about yourself, your circumstances or even food.
Let’s unpack how this tiny brain filter can either hold you hostage in insulin resistance… or become your greatest ally in reversing it.
What the RAS Actually Does
The Reticular Activating System is a bundle of nerves in your brainstem responsible for:
• filtering incoming information
• determining what you notice
• regulating attention
• influencing motivation
• shaping your sense of possibility
Your brain receives billions of bits of information every second. If you consciously processed all of them, your head would explode like a confetti cannon.
So the RAS steps in and says here’s the 40 bits that matter:
But here’s the catch:
The RAS decides what “matters” based on what you already look for.
This is why, when you buy a red car, suddenly every car on the road is red.
It’s why you can be in a crowded room and still hear your name.
It’s why when you decide you’re “bad at sticking to things,” you notice every possible piece of evidence confirming it. Your RAS is constantly trying to prove you right.
Your RAS isn’t judging you. It’s just doing its job.
But its job is based on old data—your beliefs, habits, patterns, emotions, wounds, and memories. This is why mindset work isn’t optional if you want to reverse insulin resistance. It is biology.
Why Your RAS Keeps You Stuck in Old Patterns
Your RAS loves:
• repetition
• familiarity (your comfort zone~even if you don’t prefer what is in the zone.)
• emotional intensity
• stories you’ve told yourself a thousand times
So if you’ve spent years thinking:
“I always mess up.”
“Healthy eating is exhausting.”
“I can’t trust myself.”
“I’ll start tomorrow.”
“I’ve failed before.”
“No one appreciates all I do.”
“I’m too tired.”
Your RAS takes these as gospel.
It then works behind the scenes to highlight anything that reinforces these beliefs—and to hide or downplay anything that contradicts them.
This means:
• you’ll notice cravings faster than alternatives
• you’ll see obstacles more clearly than solutions
• you’ll feel resistance instead of alignment
• you’ll remember every past slip and forget every tiny win
• you’ll scan for danger instead of possibility
• you’ll find reasons to quit instead of reasons to keep going
This is why your REACH journey begins with Recognize and Ease—because until you dismantle the filter, no amount of “trying harder” will help.
Your RAS and Glucose Chemistry
This is where things get fascinating.
When your RAS filters for stress, fear, self-criticism, or overwhelm, your nervous system activates stress hormones:
• cortisol
• adrenaline
• noradrenaline
All of these increase glucose. So a stressed filter leads to stressed chemistry.
But your body responds differently when your RAS filters for:
• peace
• possibility
• small wins
• permission
• new identity signals
• alignment
• joy
• “I am becoming her”
Insulin sensitivity improves. Cravings ease. Your evening crashes lessen.
Your morning fasting numbers quietly shift downward.
Nothing changed in your diet—your filter changed.
How the RAS Creates Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
Let’s say you believe:
“I’m always all-or-nothing.”
Your RAS now scans for:
• signs you’re slipping
• reasons to quit
• evidence of failure
• moments where you “weren’t perfect”
Then it hides:
• small wins
• supportive thoughts
• moments of alignment
• subtle improvements
• opportunities for an easy win
This creates the illusion that you are all-or-nothing—even when you’re not.
This is why my Divine Disruption Workshop teaches desire, not discipline—because the RAS responds immediately to emotional clarity and vision.
Where emotion goes, attention follows.
Where attention goes, filters rewire.
Where filters rewire, habits shift.
Where habits shift, chemistry changes.
Where chemistry changes, insulin resistance reverses.
How to Rewire Your RAS (in Under 60 Seconds a Day)
Here’s the good news: Your RAS is highly trainable.
It loves consistency, not intensity. Small shifts, not big overhauls.
Believability, not toxic positivity.
Here are the exact tools I teach inside REACH and Membership:
Method 1: The Morning Question
Ask yourself:
“What do I want to notice today?”
If you ask to notice peace… your RAS will search for it.
If you ask to notice opportunities for alignment… your RAS will flag them like neon signs. If you ask to notice tiny moments of gratitude… your day will feel different.
This question begins the rewiring.
Method 2: The 3-Win Ritual
Three wins. Big, small, ridiculous—doesn’t matter.
“I took my supplements.”
“I walked for two minutes.”
“I told someone no.”
“I didn’t eat the stale cookies.”
“I breathed before responding.”
Each win instructs your RAS to filter for more evidence that you’re aligned with healing.
Method 3: The Future Self Cue
Choose one sentence reflecting who you’re becoming:
“I am becoming a woman who listens to her body.”
“I am someone who cares for herself as deeply as she cares for others.”
“I am building a healthy, delicious life.”
Say it once a day.
This directs your RAS to prioritize choices that match this identity.
Method 4: Pattern Interrupts
Whenever you hear the old voice whisper:
“You always quit…” “This won’t work…” “You’ve failed before…”
Interrupt it with: “Not today.” or “Until now.”
Then do one tiny aligned action:
• drink water
• stand up
• stretch
• breathe
• walk to the mailbox
• make the bed
• prep one vegetable
Your RAS learns from ACTION, not mental lectures.
Method 5: Joy Lock-In (Directly from Divine Disruption)
Feel joy for 5 seconds.
Anything.
Warm tea.
A memory.
A grandchild’s laugh.
A breeze.
A color you love.
Hold it for 5 seconds. You just taught your RAS to filter for joy.
And a joyful nervous system is far more efficient at glucose regulation.
What Happens After 30 Days
Women report:
• fewer cravings
• more ease around food
• better fasting numbers
• less overwhelm
• more consistency
• emotional calm
• clearer intuition
• natural motivation
• improved A1C
• patterns shifting without force
Because when the filter changes, the behavior changes.
And when behavior changes, glucose chemistry follows.
Why You Can’t Do This Alone (And You Don’t Have To)
Rewiring a lifetime of filters requires two things:
- Awareness
- Support
You supply the awareness.
I supply the support.
If you want guidance, structure, and ongoing accountability while you retrain your brain’s filter, explore the REACH for Results program below:
Or book a free strategy call so we can map your patterns and create a plan:
Your RAS is not your enemy. It’s a very loyal assistant waiting for instructions.
Teach it what to look for—and your whole healing journey becomes lighter.
References
Mrazek et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2013.
Thayer & Lane, Biological Psychology, 2000.
RAS attention research: Moruzzi & Magoun, 1949; Robertson & Garavan, 2004.
Stress and glucose regulation: Black et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2015.
Content Sourcing Notes
This article pulls from Divine Disruption Workshop practices (joy lock-in, desire-based RAS training), REACH curriculum (Recognize, Ease, Elevate, Activate), UNLOCK identity rewiring, and Membership themes (belief work, stress reduction, emotional inflammation, pattern interruption).
Divine Disruption 
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