Rewire your brain

Have you ever heard the term ‘neuroplasticity’ and wondered what it actually means? In short, it’s the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience.

Every day of our lives our brains are being shaped by our experiences, good and bad. We create and strengthen neural pathways based on whatever we focus our thoughts and feelings on, and we can harness this ability to our advantage - or disadvantage.

You can think of neural pathways as a little bit like the pathways in a forest. Some are well-trodden familiar routes. Others are overgrown and may seem impossible to go down at first - but you know they lead to a really beautiful place. There may be brambles, branches or logs across the path - but the more you focus on your destination and push through, the easier the route becomes. The branches and brambles move out of the way and you clear the logs from the path. Soon you have easy access to that beautiful place whenever you want it.

Here are some simple ways you can strengthen your neural pathways and move closer to your goals:

Repetition

Just as you have to keep going down that overgrown path in the forest to make it passable, your neural pathways can be strengthened through repetition and practice. Think about how habits are created - you do them over and over until they become an automatic behaviour. To achieve your goals you must take consistent and repeated actions.

Visualisation

Spend some time each day visualising your goals, and when you do so, engage ALL your senses - what you will see, hear and feel when that goal becomes a reality. Your brain can't tell the difference between something real and something imagined, so by vividly focusing on what you want you strengthen those pathways and your mind automatically moves you closer to it. Focus on the pitfalls, worries and fears, and guess what? You'll strengthen those pathways and experience more negativity,

Positive Emotion

Emotion is the driving force behind all our thoughts, and intense emotion is a sure-fire way to speed up the creation of new pathways. Think about a trauma response - the brain instantly creates new pathways in response to what has happened. The same applies equally to positive emotions, so when you are engaged in an activity that you really enjoy it's the perfect time to start focusing on your goals.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis (and self-hypnosis) offers a really simple way of both visualising AND generating positive emotions - and when you practice it repeatedly you can fast-track the creation of new neural pathways that will benefit your life and move you closer to your goals.