According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, “We are creatures of habit. We think somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts in one day, and 90 percent of those thoughts are exactly the same ones we had the day before.” No wonder so many of us feel stuck in the past, unable to move forward. Many of these thoughts are also untrue, negative and scary.
As we think a thought, our mind creates neural connections. The more we repeat that thought, the deeper and more entrenched the neural connections become. Neurons that fire together, wire together. No matter if there is any actual evidence to support the thought that we are thinking, the pathways become deeper and stronger the more often the thought is thunk. The brain can’t tell the difference between truth and fiction, and actually has the tendency to stick more strongly to negative thoughts.
The human condition has evolved in a way that makes it very common for most people to be stuck in negative thinking ruts most of the time. Unless we are very aware and consciously shifting our thoughts, it’s pretty easy to fall down to the level of most of the people around us who are unconsciously stuck in negative thought patterns.
Our thoughts create our reality. As we get stuck in loops of regretting past events or worry about the future, we actually create emotions that correlate with these thoughts, even if they are not based in reality!
Our imaginations are so powerful! Just focusing on an experience with concentration can produce the same physical responses in the body as the actual experience. If we are focusing on repeating past painful memories over and over, we most definitely will experience these painful emotions and physical sensations over and over.
When we are worried about the future, and creating all kinds of fear based scenarios about what might go wrong, we create an anxiety response in the body, shutting down the rational thinking parts of the brain, and negatively impacting our health. This does not help the situation, or yourself, and makes everything so much more difficult!
The more intense the emotion is, the more powerful in general the negative thought associated with the memory is. Thought patterns associated with old painful emotions are more easily triggered, and feel harder to not identify with.
So the really big secret is…are you ready? Most of your thoughts are irrelevant! Our brain all day long is sending us messages about scary things, negative things, sad things, etc.…Very few of these thoughts are actually helpful or relevant to our lives.
The super exciting thing to understand is that we are in charge of our brains, and therefore also the way our brain grows and develops throughout our lifetime! As our consciousness expands, we are able to focus on things that are truthful and positive and bring us peace, and focus less on old negative thoughts. There is more research all the time showing how amazing and flexible our brains are. Neuroplasticity is the study of how our brains grow and evolve over time and how our consciousness influences how this happens. We can change the structure of our brains and therefore how happy we feel.
The way to relieve the suffering that our sweet little brain can bring to our lives is to remember and practice ways to separate yourself from your thoughts. You are not your thoughts!
- Of course I’m always going to say, start with meditating!
Meditation creates the foundation to the other steps in changing your brain. It creates more peace and quiet internally, which allows us to become aware of what we are thinking more easily.
As a practice of meditation deepens, it allows us to become more aware, more quickly and easily of what we are thinking even when we are not meditating.
This gives us the opportunity to observe our thoughts while still understanding that we are separate from them. This is necessary in practicing the second step, awareness of your thoughts.
- The next step is to just start gently practicing becoming more aware of what you are thinking.
Pretend you are a detective in your own mind. Just starting to pay attention, without judgment, to all the thoughts that are happening up there all day long.
Are you worried about the upcoming presentation at work? Is your brain telling you that you haven’t prepared enough and your boss probably won’t like it?
Are you beating yourself up inside over the way you were short with your 3 year old this morning while getting ready for daycare?
Whatever you are thinking is ok at this stage, it’s really about practicing mindfulness of what you are thinking in order to help you make more sense of it. Remind yourself that everyone thinks thousands of nonsense thoughts every day, and there is no reason to judge yourself for yours, it’s just an investigation to help yourself grow.
- The next step in building an awesome new neural network in your brain is to start gently working on shifting your thinking when you notice the negative pathways start to become activated.
A couple of techniques can work here:
If the negative thought pathway is pretty new:
- In other words, the rut in your brain is not that deep yet, because the thought hasn’t been thought very many times yet, it may be a little easier to shift.
- In this case, first, simply stop and non-judgmentally remind yourself that you are going down a negative thought pathway.
- The sooner you can catch the fear based thought, the easier it is to shift it before the full blown fight or flight response becomes activated and it gets much harder to change the momentum.
- If necessary write down what you are thinking, what evidence you have to support that thought, and what is a more truthful thought to replace it with.
- Practice the new thought over and over to build the new neural pathway in a more positive direction to increase your overall peace and happiness.
If the negative thought pathway is older and more entrenched:
- In other words, if this is a pattern of thought that you have been dealing with for months or years.
- Generally in this case it’s easier to shift momentum first by thinking about something else entirely.
- Noticing as soon as you can again when the pattern is activated, and this time before going into shifting the thought about the subject, instead finding things to do or think about that always shift your vibration.
- Spend enough time thinking about positive things, or doing things to make you happy that you can feel your energy elevate.
- Only at this point can you go back in and work on shifting the thought that triggered you. When your frequency is elevated, it’s much easier to go through the steps of checking your thought for validity, and shifting it to something more helpful or positive.
- Again, practice the new thought and this technique over and over until it becomes easier.
- It really only takes a couple of weeks usually to create a new neural pathway, which is so exciting!
As you become more practiced in getting out of old thinking patterns and creating new ones, you are helping your brain calm down and have more space for the final step which is the most powerful in changing the structure of your brain, and in turn your overall peace and happiness.
- This final, most powerful step is to proactively bring in positive thoughts. Just like negative thoughts, the more powerful and intense the emotional connection is to the thought, the more strongly it will create a neural pathway in the brain. It’s important to take your time when practicing these steps. This will help to cultivate the emotions necessary to deeply shift your neural pathways towards more joy.
A few easy ways to start practicing bringing in the positive are:
- Savoring a small positive detail in your environment.
Setting a reminder on your phone each hour and take one minute to look around you, and find something or many things to appreciate. How amazing is it that you have a lovely bed to sleep in for example? Or if you are at work, what can you appreciate about your desk, your coworkers, or the fun work you get to do?
- Spend some time in a happy memory.
Again, setting a reminder or finding another way to frequently bring in thoughts of a positive memory. Spending even 30 seconds to one minute of bringing in a positive memory of a beautiful day at the beach, or a delicious meal will reproduce the same chemicals in your brain as if it is still happening. This will create a new more positive neural structure in the brain, and leave you feeling energized and refreshed all day long.
- Be generous.
Find ways to be generous to yourself and others. Your brains happiness centers fire more often when you are generous. Who can you write a gratitude letter to? Can you let someone in the Starbucks line go ahead of you? Can you be kinder to yourself?
This topic of neuroplasticity is so exciting to me! The realization that we are not our thoughts, and that happiness is a choice, definitely was life changing for me.
I hope you have as much fun as I do working on bringing your thoughts into alignment with what your higher self has always known to be true, all is well, there is nothing to fear, and life is meant to be fun!
Read more about Anxiety Treatment with Shana Olmstead.
Shana Olmstead, Intuitive Consultant
I see my life purpose as helping people to awaken to the truth of their divine nature, the powerful spiritual beings that they are. I have assisted hundreds of clients in my therapy practice to wake up to the understanding that we are all made of source energy, and are here to increase our consciousness and joy to help the evolution everyone on the planet. I am so excited and inspired to continue helping people through their own awakening! Contact me to schedule an appointment in person in Kirkland, Washington or for a phone or video consultation wherever you are located.
