Re-Wire Your Brain With Yoga & Meditation
Yesterday when I arrived at my hairdressers, I immediately shared that I was tired. But when I thought about it and felt my body, I wasn't. It was just a habitual thought that served no value. The truth was that I was well rested from the previous night's sleep, had recently come back from a very healthy and invigorating trip out west and I was seeing her! All things that wake folks up and make them feel alive!
We get into these habitual patterns of thinking where the things we thought yesterday and the day before are things that we are thinking in this moment. For example, things like, "I can't," "I'm tired," "I'm not good enough," "Why me?" and more. Maybe some other good ones, too?!
And we find ourselves unable to shake those thoughts possibly thinking that eventually, at some point down the road, we'll be free from those thoughts (especially if they make us feel bad - and we might not even know they make us feel bad?!)
Yet, if we don't really pay attention, those thoughts continue to call in the things, feelings and emotions that we don't want. Those thoughts literally come to fruition in our short lives and then we say,
"Yes, exactly like I said would happen!"
and we go down another spiral of thinking with this "truth" showing up in our lives. It's cyclical and damaging.
The real truth is that we can actually re-wire our brain to have better and more realistic-to-who-we-are thoughts.
We can create and have better functioning selves in this very present moment. Just as athletes train their muscles through thoughtful, repetitive action, and musicians rehearse musical notes with focus moving their hands on their instrument, we can do the same thoughtful action with rehearsal towards the way we want to think, be and react.
Once I realized I wasn't tired yesterday, I told myself that truth at that moment. And it was like a light switch--for the rest of the day I had more energy, and more enthusiasm for life.
There's an amazing book by Joe Dispenza called, "Evolve Your Brain" which dives deep on this concept. He explains that the way to re-wire your brain is through rehearing how you react to things that come into your life. And the way to strengthen the muscle for reacting is through meditation, yoga (well, he says exercise!), making music, learning a new language, traveling, and playing video games.
I know I'm making it sound super easy but it's not (or maybe it is?! ;)) It's something that we need to work on daily, and especially at the beginning, just as the artist or athlete, we must put in those hours early on to let our thoughts move in a new pattern.