Neuroplasticity
Neuroscience has proven that you can “rewire” your brain by changing how you think, the emotions you feel, and what you believe to be true through a phenomenon called neuroplasticity; if you break down the word neuro-plasticity, you get “neuro” meaning brain and “plasticity” meaning “the quality of being easily shaped or molded.”
I don’t know about your experience, but growing up, I was taught to believe that our brain was hardwired, inflexible, and merely a storage facility for memories and information. However, not only science has proven that to be untrue, but so have experiences in my life. And I’m willing to bet there are experiences in your life where you have made changes to how you talk to your Self, what you believed to be possible, or changed behavior by leveraging your mind–shifting your thoughts, self-talk, and confidence to align with the new behavior you desired.
If you were able to rewire your brain for a smaller change in your life, couldn’t you rewire your brain for larger changes, potentially changing your life in drastic ways?
Science says yes, you can.
If you are not making progress towards your goals or there are aspects of your life that do not align with the authentic life you are pursuing, take an audit of how your brain is or is not contributing to the path you seek.
Do your thoughts align with what you desire?
Do your emotions align?
Do your words align?
And although actions do not live in your brain, they start there, do your actions align?
Neuroplasticity’s magic of rewiring your brain comes with repetition; the rewiring occurs through experience–it’s not as simple as acting as an electrician and moving a couple of wires around for an immediate change in outcome. The “moving of wires” takes time, which is why so few people actually experience major shifts in their lives by rewiring their brains—it takes time, effort, and discipline to undo the wiring that has controlled your brain for so long and teach it a new way of thinking and being.
I find great comfort in knowing there is a science that backs something I have experienced and am constantly working on to move closer to my authentic life–the comfort is not for me though. I have experienced the effects of neuroplasticity enough to know it is possible and true. My comfort is for others because not everyone can believe in new information that goes against what they have been told for their entire life without evidence, but with neuroscience backing our ability to rewire our brains, more might give it a try (what is there to lose?) and experience the power of their mind–experience is the greatest confirmation of new information.
If you’re interested in experiencing the impact of neuroplasticity, pay attention to your thoughts, beliefs, self-talk, and actions—make a conscious effort to adjust them to align with the change you want to see and just see what happens in time.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC