Last week we talked about what is required to live in abundance. We ended by saying that “Repeated habitual patterns actually form neurological connections and pathways in our brain. Your brain literally changes physically in response to things you have done over and over again, emotional patterns you have, and even your thoughts. This is called brain plasticity.” Admittedly this is stopping where it gets most interesting but we wanted to make sure we could cover this in detail.

Creating new neurological connections and changing old ones takes physical work and consistent action. Let’s take a look at how this process works. Start by consistently shifting your thoughts and actions. It takes practice to monitor our thoughts and shift them, but you can do it. Quickly, you’ll discover that it’s easy to “think” powerfully.

Next, it’s important to add action to the process. The neurological connections required to think in different ways are not the same neurological connections required to take action on that thought! In order to effect these connections, you must do things differently.

Before we get into the “how”, let’s explain how the brain works. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different actions; hence they involve different neural pathways. The pathways that are strictly thought-based do not correlate to the pathways that are responsible for action which consists of motion and activities of the body. To simplify, thinking something is not the same as doing something.

Imagine you had to give a speech. You write the speech, spend hours sitting and reading it over and over again, you virtually memorize it, and on the night of the speech, you take your notes up to the podium and begin. What happens (unless you have experience in public speaking)? Typically you are nervous but aside from that something else happens. You give the speech, word for word, yet the speech is dry, you do not connect with the audience, you are boring and monotone and your jokes don’t get that many laughs.

A good speech evokes emotions, connection with your audience, humor, and excitement. In order to provide this, you will want to activate different neurological pathways than you do when you are reading. It is a very different experience. You only become good at giving speeches when you practice out loud (involving the speech centers in the brain). Imagine your audience in front of you (involves the emotional pathways of the brain). Finally, move (involves specific motor pathways in the brain). If you practice in this way, you will find that when your nervousness subsides, you deliver a motivational speech.

Listening allows you to retain about 10 – 15% of what you’re hearing. Taking notes increases the retention for what you’re learning, but wanes with time. If you discuss the topic, the retention rate is even higher. However, if you put into action what you’ve learned, retention rates increase to 90%. Do you see a pattern? The more areas of your brain that get involved in a process, the more information you remember because you are activating more neurological pathways.

We have said before that we are not advocates of positive thinkingand this is a major reason why. Thinking to yourself, “I am rich. I am rich. I am rich” will never produce riches no matter how many times you say it. Thinking something isn’t going to attract to you what you desire. Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way. Action is required and as you start to act, the neurological pathways in your brain will develop.

When you begin this process you will face choices to reaffirm your thoughts and actions or not. This is a nice way to say that there will be plenty of opportunities to revert back to your old patterns. We see these as golden opportunities because reaffirming your thoughts and actions strengthens your resolve and your neurological pathways.

The good news is, once you create the neurological pathways you desire, it will actually be hard for you to not take action because as your brain forms new pathways, the old, less used ones become weaker. Have you ever known someone who talked about going to the gym for a while and was unable to get themselves to go? Then, they just got up and started going regularly. They might have felt some pain for a few days at first, but then they started to enjoy it. After a while, missing just a single day (which rarely happens) they actually begin to feel uncomfortable.

Their neurological pathways have been set to not only think about fitness but to take daily action. It is uncomfortable for them not to go, just as it was uncomfortable for them to get going in the first place. Herein lies the secret to great abundance. Often we look at certain individuals who live and act in abundance consistently. We think, “How do they do it, it must take so much effort.” The truth is it takes them no more effort than it takes you, they just have programmed their brains differently and it has adapted to meet their demands.

Choose one activity that will move you forward. For instance, if you want to lose weight, don’t take on diet, and exercise at once if that has failed in the past. Choose one. Choose one new diet habit you know will work for you. Just drink water, for instance. Do that repeatedly for a couple of weeks, and then add reducing fat. Then add sugary treats. Whatever your step is, take it. Adapt it, BE it, then move onto the next one. It doesn’t all have to take place at once if that doesn’t work for you. Form the pathways, and watch your life change.

Michael Bloxton

President & CEO

oneMYnd, LLC

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