This is where our suffering lives. This is why suicide is an epidemic. This is why depression and anxiety is on the rise in our youth. This is also why we need to have more conversations about it.
Shame and guilt create neural pathways in the brain just like everything else we experience.
Basically, we just don’t know what we DON'T KNOW. Our modern day life is set up to keep us busy, multitasking and working with all the hats we wear to make our world go round. Do we have time to learn new things? Yeah… Do we? Not always. It’s become far too easy to get into grooves that don’t actually support us.
Studies with rats have given us mind blowing clues into the reward systems our brain use to move us through the world.
I’ve heard that the meaning you have in life is what you make of it.
I’m reconsidering that phrase the more I learn about this.
I am coming to understand that meaning has more to do with pairing movement to reward. We need to take pride not only in the things we are doing, but in HOW we are doing them. Behavior is important to mental health. Who would have thought? Behavior is the habit formed lifestyle we create through our worldly movements.
We go to our jobs and we hate it.
We raise families and get stressed out, and complain.
We get rageful in traffic that we have no control over.
We seem to want things that we don’t have and blame others for US not having them.
There are too many places in our daily lives where our behavioral habits are killing us! Literally.
“Your brain will give you exactly what it thinks you want.” -Marissa Peers
You say: Oh, I wish I had a week off work so I could lay in bed all day and relax!
Your brain then makes decisions to make that happen for you by saying: You need time off! I’m brilliant at that. Here, let me give you the flu! Now you can stay home, lay in bed and relax and you don’t have to go to work because you hate it and don't want to be there.
That single example is a great way to see the difference in how we unconsciously think things which manifest themselves in ways that are detrimental to our wellbeing.
Who knew?
Let's flip that script shall we? We are going to change the narrative and see how the brain responds differently.
You say: I get to go to work today! I am so grateful that I can use my time in a fulfilling way that brings me the money I need to live well.
Your brain says: You love working? Wow, ok. I am going to make sure you have ample energy for that job to the best of your ability. You also said that it's fulfilling because you get money. I am going to put you in situations where you can work better for MORE money!
See, the brain wants (again) what it thinks is best for us. We can tell the brain exactly what is best for us by changing the internal script and opening up a dialog within that is creating the kind of grooves in our lives that truly support us.
So in a nutshell, our brains are amazing! We aren’t taught how they work, and how we can use them to create the best life we can have. If more children were taught this at an earlier age, just imagine how differently they could adapt to the environmental stresses that we all face. Perhaps they could overcome adversity in a way that we never thought was possible before. It could even have a greater impact on society as a whole, as these same children grow up to be more aware of their own thoughts, rather than the likes they get on Instagram and other social media accounts.
Who knows, we could possibly change the entire world for the better, just by thinking differently about how we move through it.
Kommentarer