As we begin a new and, hopefully, more positive year, ask yourself this question:
Are you the person you want to be?
If the answer is no, listen up. There are ways to fix that.
In his book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Dr. Joe Dispenza, renowned author, speaker, researcher, and chiropractor, explains how to untangle negative ways of thinking and create more positive, healthier thoughts and mental states that lead to becoming a new person — the one you want to be. Through his studies of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics, Dispenza explains how our thoughts get stuck, leading many of us to live in the negativity of the past rather than living in the here and now — or even better, living in the future of our choosing.
Our thoughts and emotions have the power to change our brain in a way that allows us to create new thought patterns and new ways of being in the world. If we can master the art of changing our way of thinking — and boost our emotional responses as a result — we can become a new and better person.
Our brains are organized to reflect everything we’ve experienced before in our lives. We create habits as we move throughout our day. We do the same thing every morning when we wake up. We take the same route to work every day. We come home the same way, do the same things in the evenings, and have the same bedtime routine we’ve had for years. On a typical day like this, do you think your brain changed at all? Probably not. You were on auto-pilot. Your brain had very little to do with it.
The same habitual behaviors apply to negative reactions and mindsets. If you get angry or frustrated over the same things again and again, it won’t be long before being an angry person becomes the norm. You think equal to what you know, and you create more of the same when you do the same thing repeatedly. To change, you have to think in ways that are greater than your environment.
Incidentally, the leaders of the past all knew this. Look at Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, William Wallace, and Joan of Arc. They all had a vision. They knew what they wanted to accomplish, and by living as if that reality was happening in the now, they achieved it.
So…do you believe in a future that you can’t see or experience yet?
Quantum physics says it’s possible. We draw to us that which we focus on. Your personality creates your personal reality, which is made up of how you think, act, and feel. To change your personality – your personal reality – your thoughts, behavior, and emotions all need to be in alignment.
There’s a saying in the world of neuroscience: Nerve cells that fire together wire together. So as you keep doing the same things, you keep getting the same things because your brain neurons fire in the same way every time. Nothing changes. Your thoughts impact your emotions, and your emotions respond to your thoughts. You’re stuck in a never-ending cycle.
To break out of this cycle and become the person you want to be, you have to change what you’re doing. Learn something new. Get up on the other side of the bed. Take a different route to the office and see what happens. Think happier, more positive thoughts, and let your emotions respond accordingly. Those emotions will encourage more positive thoughts. With enough practice, you’ll be able to rewire your neurons to fire differently, untangling the connections that held you to your old state of being.
You’ve just become the person you want to be.
Think about this as we embark on 2021. How much better would our lives be if we chose to live every day with a more positive mindset rather than falling prey to the negativity that so quickly surrounds us when we’re not watching?
You can become the person you want to be. Sure, it takes time and effort. You can’t just zone out in front of Netflix every night. But the rewards of rewiring your brain are immense. Who knows what you might be able to accomplish this year?