“New
evidence shows that the brain cannot distinguish between recall of our own past
and imagination of our future events.” --Lynn McTaggart
Researchers
in many fields are exploring “how” our brains change—mechanically, neurologically,
experientially, visually. For example, until about 15 years ago it was believed that neural connections in
the brain happen until age 3, and then stop. Scientists now understand that the
neural nets in our brains continually re-form and reconnect, allowing physically
injured brains to recover and traumatized brains to reorganize. This research
gives us support and hope for the possibility of changing our everyday thinking
habits and retraining our brains, cells, and bodies to be different.
What
interests me, as a human trying to live a life of integrity, is what we can do
to change our brains and how we can
be in the world
as a result. This is really my motivation in writing about shifting
consciousness.
How to
change our thoughts is a challenge. We believe what we think. We trap ourselves
in the stories we tell ourselves (and others), the justifications we create,
the unconscious habits learned from our families. It seems to take most of us
years to separate ourselves from our thoughts and understand that they are
simply perceptions—not real!—or what Buddhist psychology calls “illusion.” Once
we do that, it takes ongoing, daily awareness to identify the nuances, reframe
our inner dialogue, and change our habits of mind.Family
Gifts: Models for Consciousness Shifting
As a
child I learned experientially (and later, analytically) how differences in
attitude and perception played out in the lives of my mom and her sister. One was
a “glass half empty” person, the other a “glass half full.” As they aged, the
one with positive attitude responded to the broken hips, bypass surgery, and
memory loss with grace. When she needed to do physical therapy, she did it;
when she needed caregivers, she (after some years of resistance!) made her
peace with them. From her, I understood that the more I could learn to flow
with life and make the best of it, the easier my own life would be.
In
contrast, the one with a negative attitude resisted every change and decline,
sought doctors’ help yet refused prescribed therapies, insisting that they would
not help her. She suffered tremendously, in part because she focused on her
pain, her misery, and her hopelessness. Observing her, I vowed to change my own
habits of negative thinking, reorganize the way I process difficult events, and
learn to live, respond, and be with an open heart.
Once
we’ve
made a choice like this, there’s work to be done: observing all the ways old thoughts
manifest in our behavior, letting some thoughts go so others can enter, finding
and choosing different responses, and retraining our thinking patterns. What I
have noticed is the resonance and connection—rather than separation—that I feel
with all beings as I move towards my intention of living with open heart.
Identifying
Toxic Thoughts
