How to Rewire Your Brain

For so long we thought our brains were fixed by a certain age and that we basically had to live with what we had. I remember when I started struggling with depression and anxiety, so many health professionals told me I would just have to learn how to manage.

But we now know that our brain actually never stops changing throughout our lifetime. We aren't doomed by genetics or mental health issues or trauma. Every time you think, feel, or do something, you are strengthening a neural pathway. 

Creating new pathways and new habits is challenging at first because you’re introducing something your brain isn’t familiar with.

For example, when I first started meditating every morning, I struggled a great deal, and I often had to force myself to do it. but as you practice & continue to travel down the same pathways, these new habits begin to run on autopilot. I now wake up & meditate literally without even thinking about it.

My therapist described it in a way that made a lot of sense to me: It's like a hiking trail. The more you hike down the same trail, the more that trail becomes flattened & embedded. The more you travel down the same pathway, (the more you do & think about your goals), the more you solidify that specific pathway.

What does this mean?

It means we’re not stuck or hardwired to be a certain way our entire lives.

It means hope for mental health issues, for changing unhealthy habits, & creating real, lasting happiness.

It means you can literally be just about anything you want.

Want to know the steps to rewire your brain? Here’s what worked for me.

1. Get clear on what you want:

Identify new thoughts and behaviors that you want to implement. Then determine the thoughts and behaviors that are keeping you from getting you where you want to be, and change them. Your thoughts and beliefs play a central role in creating and maintaining  new pathways and patterns of happiness.

2. Use positive emotion:

A thought without emotion or feeling doesn’t engage your neural pathways. you can think about something over & over again, but if there is no emotion attached to it, you won’t activate neurons to form new pathways. So feel all of the happy feels.

3. Visualization:

Visualizing is actually almost as powerful as it actually happening because your brain doesn’t know the difference between what's real and what isn't real. Just by visualizing yourself achieving your dreams, you are conditioning neural pathways.

4. Mindfulness 

Engaging in mindfulness practices like meditation and breathwork helps quiet your mind and stimulates the relaxation response, which weakens the stress response. if you are in a constant state of stress and anxiety, you won't be able to receive the benefits from neuroplasticity.