Rewire Your Brain.

Our brains are powerful machines.

As we grow, we learn adapt and store information to help us function in daily life.

But what happens when we learn incorrect information or as we grow, we obtain better information?

Good News!! Your brain can actually rewire itself to adapt to the new information.

The information that we learn forms pathways in our brain and thoughts that we have on a daily basis are faster to recall than new information.

Just like a trickle of water can eventually carve out a pathway in dry land, thoughts carve troughs in our brain so that information can be more easily accessed.

Memories associated with emotions are even stronger forces.

Think of the first time you got scared by a dog. You might STILL be scared of dogs as an adult based on that one single experience.

But what if you could rewire your brain to react in a positive way instead of in fear?

You can!

And this can be applied to our thinking in all areas of life. What if we apply this to depression, and anxiety.

Some people get stressed out over money.

Some people fall into a negative headspace by just a single constructive criticism.

I did just that the other day.

For the first time in my career I had someone sit me down and honesty tell me what I was doing wrong in my job and what I had been doing wrong for the entire month that I've held my current position.

I SPIRALED!!

I instantly questioned myself. I instantly doubted my abilities. I instantly (confession) started looking for a new job.

But then I had a heart to heart with my supervisor, my therapist and my dad.

They helped me reframe this criticism and now I'm thankful that it happened.

Now I'm working on exercises that

1. Reinforce the knowledge I have about my abilities.

2. Reinforce the positive things I know about myself

3. Prevent me from taking constructive criticism as anything other than a way to help improve myself

I've read so many books that discuss the power we have over our thoughts. "Get out of your head" and "Winning the War in Your Mind" have become two of my favorite.

They both echo the same idea in very different words. That we have the power to stop toxic thoughts and improve our thought life.

Simple suggestions to start:

1. Prayer

2. Praise

3. Affirmations

4. Prioritize Physical health (how feel effects how we think)

5. Cultivate your community (our connections influence us)

6. Monitor your input! (input= output)

Want to believe you're capable of taking over the world? Start by telling yourself you're capable! (extreme example BUT it drives the point home)

I f you tell yourself you can't do something you're MUCH less likely to accomplish the task.

Always tell yourself you can't be happy? How likely do you think you're going to be happy?

Will saying something to yourself work a miracle and instantly change your thought life overnight?

Of course not!!

It likely took you years to form certain beliefs.

Those trickle thoughts had YEARS to form the rut they dug in your brain

It's going to take time to redirect your thoughts to a new trench.

You may even feel completely silly telling yourself something that you don't believe about yourself.

Try It

Don't think your beautiful? Tell yourself you are!

Don't believe it? Repeat it!

Bet it felt a little less silly that second time around.

Imagine how it will feel if you KEEP telling yourself that?

Get out of your head tells you when you catch yourself in a toxic thought spiral to give yourself a code word like "STOP" to trigger you to start telling yourself information that will combat that toxic spiral.

We have the power to change our thoughts.

The Bible backs this up when in 2 Corinthians it tells us to "Take EVERY thought captive"

This indicates that we are capable.

We control our thought life.

It doesn't control us.

All it takes is a little rewiring.