Is it possible to change your brain forever?
Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 164 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle Podcast! Have you shared an episode with a friend lately? This would be a good one…OK
Have you ever decided you want something that seems a little out of reach at the moment, maybe it’s a certain car or to live in a certain neighborhood or maybe you’ve decided you want to become something. The minute you decide that new awesome thing a lot of times your brain starts running with these thoughts of why that’s not possible and how ridiculous it is. And how everyone will laugh at you or think you’re crazy.
For example, maybe you decide you want to lose weight. Your brain will start throwing all the beliefs at you like you’ve always been overweight or it runs in your family. You have tried it before and it failed every time you love sugar too much or chips and it will be absolutely miserable if you try to lose the wait and anyway you’ll never be able to succeed. Have those thoughts ever won out? My guess is yeah, they have. I know they have for me, but here’s the good news. When you decide you want something and those thoughts and beliefs start coming forward and you’re aware of them. They have probably always been there but now that you’ve decided you want something, you want to change, those thoughts come forward into your awareness. Being conscious of those thoughts is good because then you can do something about it.
First of all, please know that that is normal and everyone’s brain does it. It’s designed to keep you safe and comfortable and that’s what it’s doing by telling you to stay where you are. To stay in the safe comfortable place you are. But see here’s the thing. We have to get used to telling our brain “no”. We have to get used to saying “I’m in charge. I get it you want me safe but what I want is for us to grow and reach our full potential and we can’t do that doing the same things we are doing right now, so brain thank you , but I’ve got it from here. Actually, This is what I want you to say. Brain, I’ve got this. I’m overriding the thoughts you keep sending me and we are going to get very comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because that’s what it takes to get to the next level. If it weren’t uncomfortable then that means you’re used to it, so you’re not doing anything new. You aren’t stepping out. You aren’t growing.
I’ll give you an example for me. I am extremely comfortable on video. I’ve done lots of videos with Creation Studios, you put a video camera in front of me and I just am so comfortable. But I’m not as comfortable in front of a camera. So when someone is videoing me I feel invincible but when someone is taking my picture I feel very uncomfortable. So this last week my friends at creation studio had a new client that was putting out a new skin care line and wanted to expand their audience to include the over 30 crowd and they asked if I would be willing to do a photo-shoot with them. Immediately my brain said no way. I’m not good at being photographed. I don’t like pictures of me. I’ll look old next to all those young beautiful models. They will regret asking me because I won’t look good. These are real thoughts my brain was sending me. But. I also know that since it was so out of my comfort zone and I love working with this crew I have to say yes which I did. Of course I had the normal anxiety leading up to it and then the day came and we had the most fun. I met the coolest women and spent an entire day with inspiring fun female entrepreneurs and models and I couldn’t have been happier that I said yes.
Saying yes to things that grow you help you get comfortable with discomfort and actually change the way your brain is wired. Next time it will be even easier for me to say yes because my brain will be like well we didn’t die last time. That’s how it works.
When we understand that we are not our thoughts which means we control our thoughts which means we can change them. How did I get myself past the thoughts my brain was sending? Every time a negative thought would pop up I would counter it. I would say “I’m not going to overthink it” I am exactly where I’m supposed to be and life is working in my favor because I truly believe that and anyway, “What’s the worst that can happen? I can be embarrassed and feel uncomfortable. But there’s also a chance I could feel empowered and confident. I choose the way I feel by the thoughts I allow. It’s not easy but like anything, it gets easier with practice. Dr Dispenza says Just because you have a thought doesn’t mean it’s true.
When you do new things, when you learn new things, you’re changing the neural pathways in your brain. You’re making new ones. My older sister had a stroke at 35. The part of her brain that was language was damaged and it was spectacularly interesting to me when her Doctor whose name was dr head by the way. He was actually her brain dr and yep his name is dr head. Ha. Anyway, He showed us her brain scan and her brain literally was creating new neural pathways around the damaged part of her brain to be able to form a new path for language and conversation. It’s miraculous how our brain works.
Everything we eat, listen to, read, consume, the people we hang around they create the person we are today. Right now, it is super easy to go on autopilot and focus on all the bad going on in the world. There are a lot. It’s easy and justifiable to want to focus on it. But it isn’t serving you. It’s actually stealing your dreams. Your focus matters so much and your brain will have you focused on the scary stuff because it wants to keep you safe. It’s your job to decide if what you’re focusing on is truly a problem for you or if it’s a problem only because you’re reading about it. If it has anything to do with the news, it’s probably not affecting you personally. It’s affecting you because you’re focused on it. Once you stop focusing on it, the fear of it goes away. Every time our brain says let’s go check out what the latest news is on COVID or Afghanistan, if every time your brain wants to do something you know is going to make you feel bad and you delay it, you are creating a new habit, a new pattern in your brain. If instead you replace that with something positive, something you’re working towards that excites you…and then you congratulate yourself, and you keep doing that, you’re changing the way your brain thinks. When you ultimately change your thoughts and focus towards something you want to achieve, and you continuously override your brain’s desire to check out the negative drama, you have just empowered yourself more than you even realize.
You will actually physically change your brain! Which will absolutely change the trajectory of your life.
So what excites you? What juices you? What do you want for your life beyond what you have right now? Can you Visualize it?. Can you Feel it?. Can you Create the thoughts that get you there? If you do that your brain will get on board.
My challenge to you is to find clarity on exactly what you want. Visualize it, make it real. I do this by creating a mood board. You want a certain look for your body? Hunt pictures, cut them out, put them on a mood board, you want a certain home or a certain car? Add that to your mood board. Do you want a certain type of relationship? Add that. Add words to your board too, What thoughts would you have to think to make these things happen? My mood board has images and words. Your subconscious mind will work towards the things you visualize and create even when you aren’t actively thinking about it. Trust me, make the board. You don’t have to settle for a life that is anything less than what you desire…but you have to get your head there first…I love you guys and I will talk to you in a few days.
