Discover how your brain processes 11 million bits per second but only 40 reach your conscious mind

— and why guessing outcomes often leads you astray.

How Much Does Your Brain Actually See?

Every second, your brain takes in a staggering 11 million bits of information — sounds, sights, smells, touches, and emotions flooding your senses like an unrelenting wave. But here’s the mind-blowing truth: your conscious awareness only processes about 40 of those bits per second. That’s less than a fraction of a percent of what’s truly out there.

What Happens to the Rest?

The rest is filtered, edited, and pieced together by your mind — crafting stories from past experiences, fears, and guesses. Your brain does this to protect you and make sense of the chaos. But here’s the catch: those stories are just guesses. They’re built on what you think might happen, not what will happen.

Why Guessing Can Break You

When you guess about outcomes, obstacles, dangers, or what others might think, you’re not seeing reality — you’re seeing a shadow show based on old fears, outdated memories, and subconscious patterns. Guessing makes you build your beliefs and decisions on shaky ground.

And that’s where we get stuck. Your mind isn’t qualified to predict the future. It’s not even qualified to understand the full present. It only knows what it has experienced. So when it spins stories about “what if” or “they probably think this,” it’s just a guess — and sometimes a wildly wrong one.

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ALSO READ: Your Brain Creates Emotions – Unlock True Personal Growth – RideMyUnicorn

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The Real Work: Embrace the Unknown

You’re not broken when your mind cracks under the pressure of uncertainty — it’s natural. Life often feels like breaking into a thousand pieces before you put yourself back together again. And you will do this, over and over, until you learn to trust your true self — not the stories your mind tells you.

Stop betting your life on guesses. Start choosing to see what is instead of what might be. It’s scary, yes, but in the cracks of uncertainty lies your power to grow, to change, and to be free.

Your Conscious Choice

You don’t have to fix yourself perfectly. You just have to keep fixing, keep choosing, and keep walking forward — even if it means falling apart sometimes. Every time you do, you get stronger, closer to your true path and real freedom.

Read more about choices: You Always Have A Choice – RideMyUnicorn

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Fun Fact Box: Your Brain, Bits & The Stories You Tell

Your brain is a beast. Every single second it takes in an estimated 11 million bits of information from the world around you (light, sound, touch, smell, everything).

But here’s the kicker: only about 40–50 bits per second actually make it into your conscious awareness (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Baars, 1997). That’s less than 0.0005%. The rest? Your brain filters, edits, and fills in the blanks.

That means the stories you tell yourself about reality are just that—stories. Guesses. Mental drafts stitched together from scraps of data.

And that’s not a flaw—it’s the gift. It means you don’t need to know it all to move forward. You only need to choose, act, and allow the story to unfold.

Takeaway: Stop waiting until you “know enough.” You never will. None of us do. And that’s the beauty of it. Growth happens in the guessing.

Sources:

• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
• Baars, B. J. (1997). In the Theater of Consciousness: The Workspace of the Mind.