When you set up negative thought patterns early on and continue to feed them your attention, your brain begins to quickly ingrain these pathways into your automatic mindset. Imagine an experience in the brain like a roadway; for example, the experience of frustration is one roadway, the experience of joy is another roadway. The more you fix your attention on one experience in favor of another one, the deeper and more ingrained that roadway becomes.
Depending on how frequently you feed that experience your mind will make that sensation more and more automatic for you. Think of a time recently when an event triggered that old familiar feeling of worry or general negativity. Remember how quickly it happened? It happens in the blink of an eye for anyone, this is because your brain learned that emotional/experiential response as a result of that particular circumstance.
Let’s talk about unlearning this response and rewiring your brain to have a different experience when that same circumstance arises.
This takes mastery and it takes repetition. First, you want to be aware of what the trigger is for you, and what is the automatic reaction that you are trying to change. The circumstance is the trigger, so, for example, you work with someone who makes you feel insecure or triggers low self-esteem.
Revisit a memory of this happening in your life, and through the senses make this experience real. Once you have triggered that feeling of insecurity you want to choose the more desirable experience which might be one of self-confidence. When you pair confidence with insecurity in a powerful way, making the experience of confidence bigger and stronger than insecurity, this becomes your new experience. Once you have gone through this process enough times, your brain will automatically pair the trigger with the experience of confidence.
If you found this article helpful reach out anytime with questions about this process.
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