Retrain Your Brain
They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Not true!
For most of my life, my brain has defaulted toward the negative. Some might call it skepticism or pessimism. Whatever name you slap on it, when an event happens in my life, my mind immediately goes into the mode of “what is going to go wrong so that I can protect myself from it?” Needless to say, that doesn’t make me the life of the party. After 45 years, I’ve decided I don’t want to live like that any longer. So I started doing some research.
Brains are re-trainable. Even those that are no longer spry. Think of your brain as a forest filled with trails. Some are well worn. Others are barely noticeable, overgrown and barely, if ever, used. When we encounter an event, a thought starts in our brain. The thought passes from neuron to neuron, following a path. As with anything in life, it tends to travel the path of least resistance. So whatever pathway your brain uses the most, it will be inclined to use that same pathway. And if you’ve determined your pathway leads to a negative destination, well, your brain is going to default to that path.
What’s the remedy? Change the path! But how do we do that? There are a few activities we can do to change the pattern and carve out a new trail in our minds.
One of those is working on being more mindful. For me, it means being able to recognize when an event occurs and my mind starts heading down Negative Alley. I need to stop myself from going further and realign my thinking to a positive mindset.
Another important aspect is visualization. Create intentional time during your day to put aside distraction and mentally visualize the positivity. What does a positive outcome look like specifically? What does the journey to that outcome look like? Get detailed with your positive thoughts.
Third, meditation can work wonders. Find a quiet, comfortable place — the same time, the same place, if possible. Focus on your breathing and relax your body. Bring yourself back to your intrinsic you. Relocate your innate worth and value apart from the negativity that might be swirling about.
Fourth, don’t stop! A habit takes repetition. Right now I am teaching myself Spanish. It is clunky. I constantly screw up my conjugations. There are large pauses as I try to construct sentences. But when I speak in English, I don’t even have to think about what to say before I say it. The words spill out of my mouth. That’s the well-worn trail inside my brain. And each day I practice Spanish, that trail, little by little, becomes more defined and tramped down.
If you want to change anything about your life, you can do it — no matter how many dog years you’ve accumulated.
