Our thoughts fly!  They fly so fast we can’t comprehend it!

And those thoughts create pathways.  Neural pathways that then become conditioned responses.  In other words, if you have the same response over and over, pretty soon, you don’t even think about how to respond, you just automatically respond with feeling a certain way.

And that’s great, for responses that make you happy or help you to feel good about yourself.

But how about all of the painful kinds of responses that we have become conditioned to?

Here’s an example.

I’ve been working on rewiring a pain/fear response.

That is, I have had nerve pain that is so intense that when it hits, I automatically find myself in a state of fear, which then creates more tension and leads to more pain.

So, I am practicing interrupting my conditioned response, so that I can break the cycle. When I feel pain, I tell myself that I am well and whole, over and over.  And quickly, almost every time, the pain stops.  Changing my thoughts simply keeps me from launching into a feedback loop of fear which leads to getting tied in knots with the terrorizing thoughts of more pain. My new mantra also serves simply as a distraction to keep me from sliding into worry about the future.  And I believe that this tactic is changing the future!

Is there something in your life that you have become conditioned to think about in a negative way?  Are you dreading things you need to do or need to face?

I challenge you to interrupt the cycle of pain and fear (whatever yours might be) by thinking new thoughts, and by saying new phrases to yourself to create a different, more productive response.

Catch yourself when you realize you are feeling fearful.  Think backward to what thoughts you were just having.  Change those to something positive.  Repeat it.  Then do it again the next time.  And the next time.  And the next time, until the pattern begins to change.

I wish you all the best, today and everyday!

Love,

Jacque