Rewiring Your Brain
Have you ever felt unhappy, stressed out, worried, or terrified for no reason in particular? Have you let the unpleasant sensations that accompany such emotions affect your mood or behavior?
Many of us spend a good portion of our lives succumbing to negative thoughts in our mind, ultimately letting them control how we both perceive, and act in the world. (Can you relate to this?)
I have always been fascinated with human behavior, and more precisely, the mind, and its insane ability to influence one’s life.
Personally, I battle with spurts of anxiety from time to time, and have experienced (random) panic attacks, sweaty palms, a rapid heartbeat, and in some cases, even nausea, all as a result of dark thoughts or impulses that have risen in my mind.
It can be scary, it can be embarrassing, and it can make you feel as if you are losing control of your life. I am genuinely passionate about helping others take the necessary steps to begin the journey of training the mind to be their greatest ally in life, versus their biggest adversary.
You Are NOT Your Brain
When I came across You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D. and Rebecca Gladding, M.D. I knew that the content within it would be valuable to share with others, like myself, who are in a constant battle with the mind (I have a tendency to live in my head, a lot), as well as those who want to be proactive about using the power of the mind to begin the process of forming positive habits that will have a lasting impact.
This book is my brain bible. I am constantly referring back to it, as well as my notes surrounding the content. Here are some of the major takeaways I had from this book.
The Brain vs. The Mind
The brain is passive, operating from an evolutionary and survival lens, sending you false messages that, if not managed properly, can trigger uncomfortable sensations, leading your evolutionary brain to want to escape them, which then forms a Negative Habitual Response.
These thoughts are called (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Messages and the vicious cycle occurs in this order: (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Message → Uncomfortable Sensation → Negative Habitual Response.
Uncomfortable Sensations can be both physical, such as a rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, nausea, shortness of breath, and fatigue, as well as emotional, such as anger, emptiness, depression, and helplessness.
Negative Habitual Responses occur when you repeat a pattern of behavior consistently, letting your brain rewire itself to prioritize and trigger that behavior (I will dive into the actual neuroscience that makes this possible in an upcoming section).
Here is a real world example:
Deceptive Brain Message: “I’m not good enough, they are going to judge me.”
Uncomfortable Sensation: Sweaty Palms, Dizziness, General Anxiety
Negative Habitual Response: Ask to present on the last day to avoid having to speak in front of the class.
The mind is active, focusing attention and making decisions. Often referred to as your “Wise Advocate,” your MIND helps you interpret the world around you, as well as the Deceptive Brain Messages that arise in your head. At any given moment in time you have 100% control over the use of your mind, and its ability to shift your perception of the world.
Your mind is your greatest ally.
Neuroscience: The Ultimate Life-Hack
Neuroplasticity, the process that results in the changing of the brains structure, circuits, or chemical compositions, is simply a brain mechanism that developed to help us adapt to a changing environment. Your brain is constantly doing this, and does so in accordance to what you do most consistently, as it sees this as an evolutionary priority for survival.
(SDN) Self-Directed Neuroplasticity is the process of rewiring your brain by actively focusing your attention on developing new, healthy, circuits. This is a groundbreaking concept. If used strategically, with discipline, and persistence, SDN can 100% change your life.
Hebb’s Law suggests that when a group of nerve cells (or brain regions) are repeatedly activated at the same time they form a new circuit.
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
The Quantum Zeno Effect allows Hebb’s Law to take affect by stabilizing the activated brain areas through focused attention long enough for the wiring to take place.
“Think of this as the glue that holds in place long enough for new circuits to form”
Both Hebb’s Law and The Quantum Zeno Effect are paramount in understanding how unhealthy habitual responses are formed. Simply put, if you do something over and over again, i.e. drink to relieve stress, avoid social settings when feeling inadequate, lash out at your partner when feeling insecure, etc., not only are you forming a pattern of behavior, but each time you do so you are literally reinforcing the brain circuits that trigger such unhealthy habitual responses. You are using your own biology against yourself.
Step-By-Step
There are Four Steps to effectively dismantling the association between negative thoughts and unhealthy habits: relabel, reframe, refocus, revalue.
The first step is to relabel your (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Messages when they arise. This is all about cultivating awareness, and being able to examine your brain in action, while making mental notes whenever any dark thoughts begin to creep into your head. With time and practice their effect will diminish. Think of your mind having a stun gun, and each time you feel the negative thoughts begin to surface you immediately shoot them with the label: DBM. This game helps, trust me. Action Item: Moving forward, begin to make mental notes every single time a DBM comes into your head. Remember, consistency and practice are key here.
Remember, your brain is the primal one, and it is extremely important that you understand you can never physically prevent your (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Messages from surfacing, you can only choose how to react or interpret them whenever they do!
The second step is to reframe your (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Messages by understanding these false messages aren’t actually the real you, which ultimately creates a buffer between your (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Messages and automatically engaging in your Negative Habitual Responses. Action Item: Remind yourself the root of your DBM, and try to become familiar with articulating the “why” behind it. The more familiar you are with this, the easier it will be for you to dismiss the DMB when it arises.
The third step is to refocus your attention on a healthy, constructive, and value adding alternative. Examples of healthy alternatives could be: going for mindfulness walk, yoga, calling a friend, reading a book, listening to your favorite song, exercising, learning a new skill, etc. The purpose of this step is to assure yourself that despite the presence of any negativity or uncomfortable sensations you are able to manage your responses, while living peacefully alongside them. Remember, your mind is your Wise Advocate, and the executive working for your true self. Action Item: Come up with a list of AT LEAST TEN productive, healthy alternatives to have on hand for when a DBM begins to show itself. Make this process as seamless as possible! I use these awesome notebooks from a company called Dingbats (what a name, right?). See below!
The final step is to revalue your life, and see things from a wider perspective as oppose to the narrow one of (DBMs) Deceptive Brain Messages. One extremely actionable exercise I tell people to do is to simply look up at the sky. It is virtually impossible to look up at the sky (especially on a clear starry night) and not feel both humbled, and inspired. Whenever I look up at the night sky I instantly know that the world is way bigger than whatever anxiety I may be feeling at the moment. Action Item: Expand your cognitive ecosystem every week by paying attention to what’s happening around the world. Volunteer, do what you can to engage in a community outside of social media in order to give your mind the reinforcement of a broader perspective it needs when it begins to feel DBMs closing in on it.
Everything Will Be Awesome
I tend to see life as one big journey, and what most people fail to see is that the mind can be a huge asset on that journey, or the greatest detriment to it.
Am I perfect? Absolutely not.
As I mentioned on the outset of this piece, I struggle with this stuff on a regular basis. However, one thing is for damn sure:
Everything will be awesome because at any given moment we possess the greatest tool for both shaping and experiencing an incredible life — the mind.
Let’s connect. I LOVE talking through this topic, and for those of you who are interested or want to pursue it more, find me on:
Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millennialmvr/
