Just WHO is in charge of our thoughts?

Change can be very challenging, it requires stepping into unknown and uncertain territory, yet all of us have been doing it from birth. Change is fundamental to our human development, both personally and as a species. As an 'older' person I now tend to see change as more of an opportunity to keep developing as opposed to something which should be feared. The bigger the change the bigger the potential for growth. My life has been a whirlwind of change since my adolescent years and to survive it I have had to find new ways to look at things. I was pleased to recently discover that science can now give us more understanding into the reasons why change is so hard, and it lies in our brain circuitry. Our environment causes us to think in certain ways, which then makes us feel certain feelings, and how we feel re-affirms our thinking and round it goes. In other words, we feel exactly the way we are thinking and vice versa. Lets hope that our perceptions are accurate because they will set our conditioning, which can also change us on a cellular level. That's why stress is so important to identify and reduce as early as possible before the body manifests stress related illness or disease. Those of us who want our lives to be different need to think bigger than our environment – we need to resist our very selves at times. Nerve cells that fire together – wire together, so thinking differently will create new brain circuitry. No longer is this pie in the sky stuff, this is science, and we can create different thinking given the opportunity, the time, effort and most importantly the personal desire to change our conditioning. Most people arnt interested in the mechanics so I describe this to my clients as turning the good stuff up until the destructive stuff loses it's power over us. It takes practise and requires certain strategies which are targeted for specific reasons. Gone are the days of new agey wishful thinking and unrealistic affirmations, alone they are not enough, they need to be coupled with practicalities. When wanting change, identifying the problem and barriers is important, however constantly dwelling on the problem in itself becomes a barrier. Sometimes support groups, although with good intention, can keep people stuck in their thinking and feeling cycle. Opening up to new ways of thinking and behaving can expose hidden strengths and qualities which may be lying dormant just waiting for an opportunity to shine!..We only know ourselves up to our current stage of development but rest assured there is much more that lies within, we just need help sometimes to discover what that may be, and we can only find these qualities through change.
Carla www.carlascoachingforhealh.com