Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adapt and make changes. If your brain is doing something new, learning something new, or experiencing something new, it’s changing. There are endless examples of this: studying for a test, learning to play an instrument, traveling to a different part of the world. In other words, our brains are not static organs, as was once believed.
Exploring the Power of Thoughts and Beliefs in Shaping Reality
The brain’s complex network of nerve cells provides us with cognitive abilities beyond compare. Our brains are marvels of evolution because they allow us to use thoughts and beliefs to shape our reality. If we incorporate activities into our daily routine that promote the production of new neurons (i.e., neurogenesis), we can improve our emotional health, cognitive functioning, and quality of life.
Identifying Negative Thought Patterns and Replacing Them With Positive Ones
Negative or limiting thought patterns can get in the way of our progress. If we can overcome the thoughts that keep holding us back, we can begin reprogramming our minds toward what we want to experience or achieve. Be kind to yourself as you embark on this journey. While it’s easy to say that positive thought patterns need to replace negative ones, those negative patterns can run deep. Deep patterns, even if negative patterns, came about because you were protecting yourself in some way. It’s not so easy to shed that feeling of protection and accept being vulnerable while you build positive patterns anew. This journey is also far from a predictable straight line. It can take some resilience to stay the course while you rebuild. The best thing you can do is start and trust in yourself to see it through. The worst thing you can do is judge yourself when progress plateaus, or you hit a roadblock. Keep going.
Self-awareness and self-improvement are closely linked. By becoming self-aware, we can understand what we want and need. We can also recognize our strengths and weaknesses.
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Neuroplasticity Techniques We Can Use To Help Us Reach Our Goals
We can use a variety of techniques to strengthen our neural patterns and release neural tension. And no matter the strategy, the key to rewiring our brains is repetition. The more we repeat a thought, a belief, or an action, the stronger that neural pathway becomes.
Neuroplasticity techniques that we can use to help us reach our goals include:
Meditating to increase our self-awareness, reduce our stress levels, and promote relaxation. We can also use meditation to change any of the negative beliefs we have about ourselves, which can aid in our personal development.
Using visualization to train our brain to think positively about conquering obstacles that may be inhibiting our ability to succeed.
Practicing self-affirmation and placing a focus on our inner greatness.
Challenging ourselves by participating in new activities.
Engaging with others.
Getting an adequate amount of sleep.
Eating healthy.
Exercising regularly.
Using neurofeedback to consciously control our brainwaves.
Creating tailored intentions or affirmations to replace negative or limiting thought patterns with encouraging beliefs.
Journaling or observing others to attain better self-awareness.
Regularly scheduled coaching sessions are also beneficial for those who are interested in improving their well-being and reaching their goals.
A Deeper Dive: Visualization, Personal Affirmations, and Daily Meditation
Visualization involves vividly imagining our success and consistently reinforcing our positive thinking with personal affirmations. Personal-affirmation statements promote an increase in our self-confidence levels. These statements help improve the way we view our own abilities. By incorporating these two practices, we can slowly reprogram our subconscious mind to create a path for achieving our goals and fulfilling our dreams.
In addition to visualization and personal affirmations, many people find daily meditation helpful for increasing their self-awareness and quieting their minds, which allows them to recognize their potential.
The benefits we receive from practicing any type of daily meditation include:
A reduction in stress and anxiety.
The ability to focus on today.
An increase in artistic vision and imagination.
An improvement in how we feel.
Study Suggests Positive Affirmation Activates Neural Reward Pathways
The recent study, Self-Affirmation Activates the Ventral Striatum: A Possible Reward-Related Mechanism for Self-Affirmation, suggests that we can use positive affirmation to activate our neural reward pathways and self-related processing in the brain. However, repetition is necessary because we are more likely to believe something that we hear over and over. As a result, people who repeatedly practice positive affirmation are more likely to experience positive changes than those who do not. These positive changes may include a healthier stress response and fewer negative thoughts.
If you are interested in improving your well-being and reaching your goals, consider working with Andrew O’Brien at The Mindblowing Coach.
Andrew O’Brien, MBA, NBC-HWC, BCC, SHRM-SCP, is the founder of the innovative life-coaching business, The Mindblowing Coach. He supports gay men in determining which neuroplasticity techniques they can use to reduce their stress levels and live by their North Star. To learn more, contact The Mindblowing Coach today.
