I love the amount of research available into how the brain works and the effects thoughts have on the body. Did you know that for every thought that you have, there is a huge chain of chemical reactions that occur in the body to give you your emotional experience? It is helpful to understand how this works because this leads you to be able to consciously direct your thoughts and feelings.
Happy people are not happy by luck. They have a particular way of practicing life that allows feelings of love, joy, excitement, appreciation, enthusiasm, interest etc to be a part of their lives. The research to date shows that regardless of your history, it is possible to retrain yourself into these happier states of being.
So here is a brief lesson in biology and the chemistry of emotions. When a thought occurs in the brain, this causes the hypothalamus to create what is called a peptide. This is a chemical that goes into the blood stream and activates the cells to react. For example if you have a stressful thought, your body will get tense and may make you want to run, fight, or freeze.
The very interesting aspect to all of this is that the cells of the body get addicted to any peptide it gets regularly. If you live everyday in a state of stress, then the cells of the body change themselves so they can manage all the peptides related to stress. Once these cells have a large number of receptor cites for this peptide, it begins to shoot messages up to the brain to release more of this. This is one of the reasons why changing the habit of who we are and how we feel can be a challenge. Your body will give you some resistance day you decide to live a calm and relaxed life instead of the stress you are accustomed to. It is going to remind you of all the things that could go wrong and how you need to get yourself braced for them. It will get you into fight or flight mode ready for the imminent attack.
The other contributing factor to this is that the hypothalamus is the part of the brain that measures all the peptide levels and makes sure they are all at usual levels. It will also release more of a peptide if it notices this is dropping. This is all great when we choose the feelings we want to have on a daily basis.
The good news is that the body is very adaptable. You are the boss of the trillions of cells in the body. When you hold firm in your decision and you create new thoughts and feelings, your body realizes that it is now required to change its cellular structure. This takes focused practice. It requires to use your imagination and decide how you would like to feel and think about yourself. What I statements would you like to believe? I am loveable, I am kind, I am caring. The practice comes in with you then spent time bringing up the feeling of care for example. Memorising that feeling and noticing throughout the day when you are being critical and saying stop to yourself and bring up the thoughts and feelings of care. When you do this over and over, your nervous system will addicted to whatever new thoughts and feelings you are practicing. It only takes 21 days to form a new habit. It isn’t long before the old urges stop. The key is not allowing a thought go by reflects the old habit. Because all these thoughts and feelings are all based on past experiences, one great strategy it to come into the present moment. This moment is fresh and new. It can assist to look around you and connect with the environment in the present moment. Have a statement you say to yourself and while you are saying this statement consciously and remember to pull up a different feeling. Find something you can appreciate in the situation you are in. Focus on that J …
The key is an internal shift, which changes the emotional habits, and thought paths of the brain. When we make the internal shift, we notice that our world around us begins to change. We start to notice all the aspects of our world that reflect our new state of being. We become the difference we are hoping for.
Marianne Love