As I walked along the Cornwall coast path we saw a bat flying right up to us – in broad daylight! That was one for my list that night…
Our brain is changing all the time. It contains from 10 to 100 billion neurons, and each has hundreds of connections with neighbouring neurons. These connections create paths of thought patterns which dictate our experiences in life. New connections between neurons are being made all the time based on our experiences. The more we do something the more the brain changes. This is called neuroplasticity.
Your thoughts change your brain
One study of London taxi drivers has shown how the hippocampus area of the brain which is involved in learning new routes and spatial awareness grew larger the longer they spent driving their taxis. Another study has shown how the area of the brain responsible for visual movement grew as volunteers learned to juggle.
The thing is, it is not just our physical experiences that evoke this neuroplacticity. Our thoughts do the same. This means your thinking has the potential of changing your brain. Your thinking can become wired in to your brain. Our thinking includes are beliefs, habits, attitudes and outlook on life.
The good news is that it means just as we can lay down new connections and circuits, these can replace old or existing ones. Attitudes and habits can be changed, they are not fixed. The more we adopt the new thinking the stronger the new connections become and the weaker the old ones, eventually fading away.
A leopard can change it’s spots
Until now many people thought their thinking, their outlook on life was their nature, however modern brain scanners, research like this and my experience with clients demonstrates it is not our nature. A leopard can really change it’s spots.
So, you can think yourself positive. Like learning a new language the new way of thinking can be clumsy at first until it becomes more fluent. Tools such as Cognitive Hypnotherapy can help people let go of their old thinking and free them to be more of the person they want to be. However often you can get the change you want working on yourself.
To help your new way of thinking yourself positive here is a tool to help you. It’s called The Three Gifts.
The Three Gifts
Just before you go to sleep, write down three ‘gifts’ or things that happened in your day you are grateful for. These could be little things like seeing something in nature, a child’s smile, or something bigger. Even the worst day has some gifts if you look for them. Do this every night for three weeks. And that’s it. That is all you have to do.
It can be helpful to write them down. If you think of more than three then choose your top three. If you are struggling to think of three, keep thinking about the day, you may be surprised what comes to mind you had forgotten or hadn’t really taken notice of at the time. I have used this exercise myself from time to time when I become aware my thinking is not serving me or I am worried about a something particular. It helps me keep a positive frame of mind.
After a short time you start to see things in your day that could be one of your gifts for that night. Gradually your brain starts going to look for them as you go about your day meaning you become far more aware of things in your life you can be grateful for.
What would your Three Gifts for today be?
