We become the adults we are for two reasons. The first is that we are born into a societal and family “tribe” so to speak.  The latter create experiences for us, expectations and rules of how we think the world around us is, as well as how it should be. An example of this would be a belief that “I am not good enough to ….” The latter belief has been a recurrent theme in my own life since childhood. I had to really put the effort in to change this.

We can thus say that in general our parents and their respective families determine how we should think, feel and behave in the world. Of course, this is often incorrect, hovering on dysfunctionality. This happened to me too and so it happened to my children too.

According to the latest research on the brain, it has become clear that these ways of thinking, feeling and acting literally “wire” our brain’s neural pathways. An even more groundbreaking and exciting discovery has also been that we as individuals can discover faulty patterns and literally “rewire” destructive pathways right up to a very old age. The brain is flexible, malleable and similar to plastic. Hence the new academic word “neuroplasticity.” The bottom line is that we as humans can change our brain through the way we think and the experiences we expose ourselves to.

The above means that by thinking differently, I can heal myself from the typical psychological problems human beings suffer from such as stress, depression, anxiety, resentment etc.  I CAN acquire skills to fulfill my greatest potential and become exactly the person I was born and destined to be. I did exactly this during the last few years in my life and if I could, you can too. There is a specific recipe for this and as with everything that is worthwhile in life, this needs to be practiced with relentless dedication.

You can start this process by exercising the following steps:

  • Accept that because you can think and do this all the time, you are not necessarily thinking in healthy and empowering ways. Remember that your thinking is the product of how you were taught to think through your experiences of the past, negative and positive. Your parents, school, and society were most likely not experts at the game of thinking in appropriate ways. Keep in mind that thinking is an art. It is an art well worth learning as everything we do depends on it.
  • Buy an A5 hardcover book and use this as your ‘thinking journal.” In it write down what difficulties you experience in life. You can also write down how you deal with these every day. Ask yourself whether your results are to your benefit or not.
  • Continue to write in your journal every day for 15 minutes. Just jot down what you think and feel; freely, randomly.
  • Once you have done the above for one month, you can consider attending a mentoring session at thinkingfit Pty. Ltd. to help you interpret the above and assist you in moving forward.