The Art of Reframing Thoughts
The brain is incredibly powerful. The mind is so powerful it can physically change itself. The word for this ability is called neuroplasticity. This powerful documentary discusses the theory of neuroplasticity. You can watch it here: The Brain that Changes Itself. We are likely not aware of neuroplastic changes in our brains, but one way we can help our thoughts change is to modify how we talk to ourselves. When we allow negative, defeatist thoughts to float around our mind, then our mind begins to make those links stronger. What we need to do is to retrain our brains to think positively. We want the brain to start making positive thought connections stronger so that it becomes second nature to think positively. This is important because what we think is what we believe, and what we believe is what becomes our reality. If you want your life to be different perhaps you need to examine how you think about things and what you tell yourself. These thoughts may be so normal for you that you don’t even recognize it. Maybe it will take someone else pointing this tendency out to you. Maybe not. If you want to begin investigating this, reflect on how you respond to everyday events in your life. I have a tendency to catastrophize most things, especially things involving my children. When I started seeing this tendency it became easier to replace that tendency with deliberate optimistic thoughts. Many people unknowingly set themselves up for failure and they keep experiencing the same failure over and over. If this is true for you then this is a good time to examine what you are telling yourself. You can take a good look at what you are telling yourself but if you don’t change what you are thinking then you will always end up in the same place. Here is an example of positively reframing a thought: Mark is in a new relationship and his girlfriend is acting a little differently tonight. He can’t quite put his finger on it, but he is pretty sure she is upset and is going to leave him “because all the girls he has ever loved leave him.” That thought is powerful. It reveals a deep fear of rejection. Mark is telling himself that nobody will love him, nobody will stay with him. His brain responds by making this come true: Mark fulfills his prediction and the girl leaves. If Mark were to train his brain to believe that there is someone out there for him and that he deserves love, and will find it, then the outcome is positive. Mark could begin this thought reframing like this: “Gee, my new girlfriend seems different tonight. I will give it some time. Perhaps she had a bad day. “I deserve love, and I know I will find love with the right person.” Perhaps you need to begin some thought reframing exercises. Give it a try and don’t give up until you see the change!