Put simply you become really, really good at whatever you do (or feel) a lot of! So if you are often worried or anxious this will become an emotion your brain reaches for and is really quick to create, even though anxiety is a damaging emotion mentally and physically for those of us who feel it. We literally learn everything we do (and become as individuals) in our conscious brain. Equally as amazing is the fact that we can “unlearn” anything we want to as well, but perhaps with a little more deliberate effort. (look out for my future blog on the very powerful and simple tool of EFT)
Our brains are like deeply complex super computers. The best that money can buy and capable of pretty much anything . Which is truly incredible … and what is even better is that it’s free! The only thing is we actually do need to programme these super computer brains of ours. It’s not until recently that scientists truly
understood that and unfortunately we don’t exactly have the full and complete instruction manual yet either!
Every time we feel an emotion we are increasing and strengthening that particular neural pathway and circuit, in order for your brain to quickly be able to create that emotion again and again. Your brain assumes all your emotions and feelings are what you have chosen and want to feel, so it makes it easier for you to do that in the future by creating a series of pathways in your brain labelled for that emotion and feeling. After all we “choose” our feelings and emotions so our brain is programmed to assume that, for example, we want to feel that emotion of sadness and it therefore makes it remarkably easy for us to do that by wiring that pathway for sadness (or any other emotion or feeling) in to the brain. It’s like learning anything new…. riding a bike, learning a new language or route to drive to work. At first we have to deliberately focus and learn, but after a while it becomes totally automatic and you can’t even remember not being able to speak French and have little memory of any conscious decision on what route you drove to get to work. 95% of who you are is a set of automatic programmes that at some point or other you have created. You were not born like that. Just because your father was an angry man does not mean you have to be.
Back to my first point. Whatever you do a lot of you get very, very good at. So as a result once you catch yourself in an emotion and start to really pay attention to your mental states and feelings throughout the day you are already half way there. Spend time ideally writing down what your inner voice was saying to you throughout the day and what emotions and feelings you felt. Label them in as much detail as you can and choose what you are going to replace them with. Always remember that the human species has been gifted with this incredible ability called “imagination”. Through watching a movie , listening to music , or just simple deliberate intent we can choose to feel any emotion we want to. We are the only species that we know of that can do this and it’s truly incredible .
Sometimes you just need to become aware of how you’re really feeling and what you’re thinking, and realise that all this can be changed through some very cool coaching tools and techniques . Just becoming much more self-aware is often all you need. The most amazing thing about your brain is what we refer to as neuro plasticity. As the name suggests this is the ability of the brain to change and form new connections and learn new ways of being and feeling . We can learn new skills regardless of how old we are and that includes changing our mental state
Quite literally everything is a connection in our brains. From learning how to turn the latest TV on , how to walk again after a stroke has damaged that part of the brain to creating new mental states and feelings.
You are in control and you are truly in charge. Take back control and the results are magical and wonderful
