Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The Roadways of your Mind

Today I was finalizing my February newsletter about interference and how my brain can get overloaded with thoughts that don't support my goals. I have been researching how neuroscience has provided discoveries and explanations regarding our thought habits.

It's interesting that our brain is constantly creating mental "roadways" (neural pathways) to help us perform better. Our brain is always looking to create a path or roadway that we can use over and over again. However, many times these roadways are created without our conscious thoughts. That can be good if it forms a good thought habit, but more often than not those good habits don't form by accident.

How many times have you said, "That's just the way I am." My return question to you would be... "Who's responsible for that?" You see, you are the ONLY one who is in control of your thought life... your thoughts lead to your habits which eventually lead to your future. You can choose (starting today if you haven't in the past) to make conscious decisions about what you want to think and inevitably who you become OR you can let your thoughts choose for you.

Not making a decision is making a decision. It's just that you lose control when you decide not to decide. So, if your mind is going to form these roadways, YOU should be making the decisions. You don't have to be a victim of circumstance. Yes, bad things happen, I'm not going to deny that, but you can't control those things now. All that you can control is your reaction to those events.

Many people believe that all they have to do is figure out the right road to take in life. If they pick the right one, they're on Easy Street and all is well. If they make a wrong decision then they end up on Settled For Estates or Poverty Row. I don't believe that it's a matter of "taking" the right road.

Your performance, your results, your success is determined NOT by the road that you take, but by the road that you make!

What kind of roads are you making in your mind? I used to tell my nephew that you become like the people that you associate with. It's important to pick the right friends as a young person, but it's even more important to pick them as an adult. You see, your friends will assist you in creating your roadways. You will learn to think like your friends if you are not in constant control of your thought life.

Here's what we can do...

  1. Hang out with the people that we want to be like. When we are not consciously choosing to form thought habits, we will still be forming the good habits of our good friends.
  2. Decide to decide. Start today! Make conscious choices about the neural pathways that you are creating in your brain. The roadways are going to be formed whether you like it or not. Why not be in control?
  3. Don't worry about taking the right road. Be courageous and MAKE the right road for you and your life. You really can do it.

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