The Science Behind Change
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Have you ever felt like change was impossible??
Have you ever felt that no matter how much you believe in positive thinking you just can’t keep your thoughts on the GOOD things in your life?
There’s a reason for that:
You see we human beings are designed to adapt to our situation, to be optimized for making the most of HOW THINGS ARE.
So our bodies and yes, even our minds are guided by a need to keep things as much the same as possible.
This allows us to “predict” our future (usually this ends up being planning for bad things to happen based on bad things from our past).
It allows us to best use whatever chemicals are flooding our bodies.
It allows us to stay “safe”.
Because our bodies aren’t ready to change… they aren’t ready to take in new chemical feelings… and they are sure as hell going to fight back when we attempt to change.
Even the wiring of our brain means that we can fly off down a thought pattern we’ve had many times without even realizing that we lost control of our thoughts.
So what can be done?
How can you change when your entire being is fighting it and making it hard?
Here’s a few simple steps you can take to regain control of your brain, of your body, and of your chemistry:
1. Take an ACTIVE role in the chemistry of your body
Be aware that your chemical decisions effect more than just this moment. Feeling down? Hit the gym and FLOOD that system with endorphins!
Feed what you NEED, not what you want. You might have extreme cravings for some grains… but is that your brain talking or your addicted body??
The better you feed yourself the better your overall chemistry will be
2. Be NOW!
Many people are stuck in a loop of either thinking about past bad things that have happened to them or FUTURE bad things that they think MIGHT happen to them (basically, projecting their past experiences into a potential future to be better “prepared for disaster”.)
It can be a huge challenge to focus on a big scary goal when you can’t get your brain out of the past/worry cycle it’s in.
Find ways to be PRESENT, to be focused only on the current moment, to allow the concept of “time” to melt away.
You can achieve this through laser focus on what you are doing, through enjoying what is happening (like watching a funny comedian, or playing ridiculous singing games with your child). Let go for a moment.
You can also be more present by practicing NOT THINKING. This can be via meditation or some kind of focused work that you practice daily, or it could just be imagining a big volume control in your head and turning the dial down to zero on your thoughts (hint: this is actually meditating )
Funny enough, the less you are thinking, the better you will feel… and it gives your body a chance to get from a stress response to a more balanced chemistry.
3. Prepare for Success Physiologically.
Once you have the hang of being “now”… you can move into some thinking about the future. You first have to break the cycle of projecting your past into the future by moving your thoughts to NOW… then you can move forward more positively.
Try this daily until it FEELS good, once it feels good, spend more and more time mentally preparing for your dreams to come true.
This is not just visualizing, but mentally rehearsing for a big goal to come true.
Close your eyes and see it in your mind.
Put yourself into these moments, go through it step by step.
Know your ending.
And the more you rehearse this in your mind….
What are you going to say?
What are you going to do?
How are you going to look?
Will your walk change?
How will your muscles feel?
The more details you have on a daily basis the more you FLOOD your body with the chemical emotion of happiness, of success, of hitting your dreams.
Because your body doesn’t actually know the difference between something happening in real life, and something happening in your head.
And when you do this from a place of passion and belief… it feels AMAZING.
Your cells will start to alter to receive happiness proteins, they will start to send demands for happiness to your mind….
And it will become easy,
Because without even realizing when you tipped over that edge…
You changed.
And when your body is ready, your mind is ready, and you KNOW your outcome… you will be working with greater forces (God, Higher Selves, The Universe, Collective Unconsiousness, Quantum Physics… whatever you believe) to create those dreams.
You know what’s coming, and it will all fall into place.
Because you didn’t try to FIGHT or wrestle your body into submission and into pretending to feel good when it really felt crappy.
You worked WITH your chemistry, and you made a real change.
You have dreams, you have a new life waiting for you, you just need to cross that thresh-hold and begin to work with and on your chemistry.
You cannot afford a single day of lazy thinking, of falling into old patterns, of being the “old you”.
Change starts NOW.
To Living Your Wildest Dreams,
Niamh Arthur
P.S. I had some BIG dreams that I had no idea how to fulfill, and then I bumped into blogging… and have created the life of my dreams. Enter your email at the right to learn how I did it.