| I hated high school chemistry, although my teacher, Mr. Chu, was a brilliant teacher. I didn’t see the “why” behind it all – who cares, I wasn’t planning on spending my life in a lab …l wanted to become a New York Times bestselling author! What I missed was the CONNECTION of chemistry – how chemistry is the result of our thoughts and how we can LITERALLY change if we so hotly desire – simply by changing our thoughts and feelings. BECAUSE it’s all connected. – You change a thought, you change your chemistry. – You change a feeling, you change your chemistry. More precisely, you change your focus to the thing you want. When your focus shifts, perception follows. Perception leads to different thoughts, different thoughts lead to different emotions, and different emotions lead to different feelings. Thank you for attending my TED Talk — that is ALL THERE IS! 😄 What we’re ultimately talking about is the ability to orchestrate our bodies’ response. Your thoughts are SIGNALS that change your biology – regardless of whether they’re based on the truth or not. This is why so many of us believe the big lie that we’re not enough! As our brains signal, our bodies interpret these messages – for good, bad, or worse. It’s through analysis and evaluation (something we ALL have the power to do) that we can see the truth and non-truths of what we’re thinking and believing about ourselves. Psychologists tell us that this shift in thought and focus will AUTOMATICALLY create a different body chemistry. That body chemistry (hopefully, new and improved) will change your feelings, which are a direct expression of your emotions. Dr. Joe Dispenza reminds us that the body is the “objective mind.” It doesn’t know the difference between something ACTUALLY happening and a memory, if they both create emotion. Remember the brain scans on the concert pianist? There was no difference in the pianist’s brain scan whether he was playing or pretending to play, proving that our objective mind doesn’t understand what’s real and what’s not. If we’re emoting over it in real life or by memory, that’s all that matters to your brain. Now do you see why it’s important to straighten out our tangled emotions? We need to take the time to evaluate and analyze – is this thought serving me? We tend to live a Groundhog Day existence – the same day on repeat till our time on earth is done. A lot of us live in fight or flight with adrenaline constantly turned on – we aren’t running from a wild animal, we’re late picking up a child from soccer practice. When we live with that switch on all the time, we become adrenaline junkies and become hooked on living this way. Our thoughts create an overload of stress. This new balance of being wired all the time also creates being tired all the time. Simply because we’re not made to run like this – it’s like driving with your foot floored to the gas pedal. That’s because the MIND/BODY connection and those thoughts can literally have you getting sick over time. Dispenza hypothesized that if we can think thoughts that make us sick, we can also think thoughts that make us well. That’s pretty much what Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself is all about. So, how do we break this emotion + thought + chemical cycle to create a healthier life? 1. To start, realize it will feel weird and uncomfortable. Your amygdala is going to panic – this is 100% unfamiliar. It will take dedication and work (BUT SO worth it!) 2. Notice the feelings – see yourself changing this stuff. This is called metacognition, or “the awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes.” This is what I meant earlier by evaluate and analyze. 3. The process starts great – then it gets iffy. The amygdala is letting you know she hates what you’re up to! Remember, change to the amygdala = danger, risk, disaster, or fear of the unknown. The amygdala goes into overdrive to “get you back.” Stay on the couch, don’t work out! One little cookie won’t hurt. I don’t want to go to bed! Realize there is a new program, a new pattern, and new things to learn. Remember the concert pianist? He started by learning scales. Remember Jennie’s beautiful cross-stitch picture that she gave Mark and me? She started learning how to make such art with less adventurous projects. Demystify the process by understanding EVERYTHING has a starting place. 5. Think and Do in equal parts. – As you think, then go do. – As you do, high-five yourself to reinforce the new thought/feeling. Remember Michael Phelps seeing himself touch the edge of the pool? The emotions that went along with it? Phelps is the perfect illustration of the connection of thinking, doing, and feeling all at the same time to create the change he was looking for-and the result was a whole lot of Olympic gold! 6. Rely on your INNER world, not the outer one. Chances are, your spouse, family, or friends aren’t on board. *It’s not about problems going AWAY – don’t give your power away to circumstances! The only things that control you are: – your thoughts – your feelings The devil didn’t make you do it. (Remember Flip Wilson?) You did it, reacted, or decided to go with an old, worn-out, no longer serves you, thought pattern! If we continue to fight this good fight, we’ll align heart, mind, body, and soul. We’ll feel SAFE again. We’ll COPE and HOPE. Our hearts and minds will rejoice. |
