Be Only You

It is hard to imagine your mind without any thoughts, right? It is your constant, internal dialogue that you have with yourself. What to eat, what to wear, what to say and what to do. Would it shock you if I told you that you can have anywhere between 60,000-80,000 thoughts per day? This is like the equivalent to 76GB and to put that into more context, these days most mobile phones require 64GB of storage because the average app requires anywhere up to 1GB of space! So imagine that amount of information flowing through your brain everyday, no wonder we can feel mentally exhausted and drained, especially when our thoughts are particularly worrisome. 

Would it also shock you to learn that up to 80% of these thoughts are considered negative and on a repeat loop!

Is There Any Science?

I’ve been practising yoga, meditation and mindfulness to varying degrees for the last 10+ years. Throughout this time, I have experienced all different teachers, formats and teachings (some good, some bad and some quite frankly pretty weird lol). Despite this, I began to learn and trust that a lot of the techniques I was learning and experiencing, actually helped me feel better and freer not only physically within my body (releasing tension) but I would also find my mind much clearer and less noisy, even if just for a short time.  So in this way, I would say I had already proven to myself about the power of mind calming techniques before I had even realised what I was doing!

In recent years, thankfully there has been more and more scientific studies on the human mind which I certainly appreciate given my scientific background. Dr Joe Dipenza and Dr Dave Rubin are a couple of the leading physicians that I have been listening to and learning from most recently.

The law of conservation of energy states that energy is neither created nor destroyed

Julius Robert Mayer

Don’t worry I won’t get too scientific but think about what the above quote actually means. That all the energy in this universe is with us here and now and forever. We can’t create anymore or lose any of it, as it will transform from one form to another. Like an open fire, we burn the logs, the heat is released into the air and the ashes are returned to the earth to fertilise another tree. So bringing this concept closer to your body, think of it when you rub your hands together to create heat, which is essentially  you generating your own energy that you release into the environment around you.

Your thoughts carry energy through neurons or nerve cells throughout your entire psyche. These thoughts inform your choices day to day and ultimately impact the emotions that you feel. Depending on the extent of which emotions you are feeling, these can have an impact on your genetics and ultimately overall health. Have you ever felt really nervous about an exam, or a first date etc and felt sick and needed the bathroom? That is your thoughts of worry affecting your body by turning on the stress response by just thinking alone! I often experienced times when I was not speaking my truth (either in work or in personal relationships) and I developed a sore throat. But it doesn’t have to be this intense. Imagine when you are lying in bed or on a yoga mat going through a body scan exercise, you focus your attention on releasing the tension in your leg, this again is the power of your thoughts. These messages travel along these neurons using roads or pathways in your body known as synapses or synaptic connections.

If your thoughts can make you sick, they can also make you well.

Dr Joe Dipenza

Can I Really Rewire My Brain?

Yes and it starts with something known as meta-cognition which is the ability to think about your thoughts. Where you become aware and create distance between you and your thoughts. Take a moment to realise just how amazing that ability actually is, the brilliance of you consciously observing. So with this, there is a real physiological capacity within everyone called neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to form and reorganise synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.

Oxford Languages

Your brain has the ability to change and re-organise the ways in which your thoughts travel around your brain and body. Our thoughts are what create the world around us, so when we are able to change our thoughts, our entire physical reality shifts and those new thought patterns create our future. In other words, your mind has the power to shift your whole vibrational energy.

Sounds easier said than done, right?

So Where Do You Start?

1. Reflect on your thoughts
   • Lean into your power of meta-cognition and become curious about what you are thinking about. What are the messages you are telling yourself that you know are making you feel stressed or worried? 
2. Interrupt yourself
   • Last night in bed, I found myself thinking about work and worrying about all the deadlines I have coming up, probably for a solid 10 minutes. Until I realised what I was doing and said to myself “what am I doing wasting my precious rest energy on worrying about the future”? This question was enough to get me to stop even for a few mintues.
3. Substitute for another thought
   • Continuing with my example, I told myself that I will deal with it in the morning because my thoughts were not going to fix my deadlines. This worry was creating a stress response which was affecting my ability to go asleep. So I repeated “I am asleep” in my head until I fell asleep.
4. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
   • I am not going to tell you that this technique is easy or that I can do it effectively all the time. Although I can tell you that with practice, I have noticed it gets slightly easier. I am human so I am not perfect however Olympic athletes spend years training for the 10 seconds to win that gold medal and some never get there at all. Do not fool yourself into thinking this is a one and done because to be honest it is a lifelong process.

Helpful Tips

This process can be incredibly challenging even to complete step 1 of reflecting on your thoughts. So here are some supporting activities that might help you along the way.

Protect the first & last thought of the day: these are can be the thoughts or affirmations you want to embody e.g. “I deserve the best and I accept the best” or “I am very healthy in my mind and body”. Write or print these and stick them in the bathroom, on your bedroom ceiling, on your desk or even the screensaver on your phone. Wherever you will see them so that you can start and finish the day with the thoughts you want to embody. 

Where focus goes, energy flows!

Tony Robbins

Come into the present (daily): it will be impossible for your brain to reflect effectively when there is too much noise. It is like being at a rave trying to listen to a voice note. So do yourself a favour and find a mindful or meditative practice that can help you calm your mind. This can be colouring, walking nature (no music), or sitting/lying listening to a guided meditation. Or it can simply be having a coffee looking out the window. Whatever practise you prefer, make time for it daily and stick to it.

Take note: I have recommended this technique in a lot of my previous blogs because I believe in the significant power of diffusing your thoughts into physical or digital form. There is a cathartic process of translating your thoughts into a word form. I have often found myself, re-reading something I wrote months ago and not even believing that it was me that wrote it.

A belief is only really a thought you keep thinking.

Abraham Hicks

Finally, be grateful: if you take nothing else from this article, start a gratitude practice. I believe it is the single most effective (and free) exercise that rewires your brain. I spoke that being grateful has been one of key lessons that I have learned so far. Get yourself a little journal or notebook that resonates with you (most bookstores will store gratitude journals with prompts). Take a few minutes each morning to write the 3 things (or people) that you are grateful for, no matter how big or small. Then before going to bed write down what you were most grateful for during the day or write down anything that made you smile. This may seem like nothing but it is rewiring your thoughts towards positive thoughts and creating new neural pathways!

Hopefully you are starting to believe (if not already) just how powerful your mind actually is. This doesn’t mean that knowing how to use it effectively is easy. Most of us have been conditioned to think (or not to think) in certain ways for most of our lives through societal pressures, family, social circles, education systems etc. Although I am here to remind you that you can take back your power!

Remember you are your own best friend. You have been since your first breath and you will be until your last. You have the power to continue punishing yourself mentally or take control and lift yourself up to raise your vibration. It will be a lifelong, ongoing process but awareness is the first key step.

If any of this content inspired you or you have any feedback I would love to hear in the comments below.

Much love ♥

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