Brain Training

Do you believe what you are told? Although you may think not, science has established beyond a doubt that the brain really does believe what it is told. In fact, the whole body does. That means you are programmable. We all are. 

The real question is “Who is doing the telling?”

We are all challenged to become fully conscious, not only of what others tell us but of what we tell ourselves. It is a fundamental step that we each must take in the journey to become fully autonomous beings.

And it presents us with special opportunities. Especially when we have to deal with events that are uncomfortable, and perhaps traumatic.

The fact that the brain is a bit simple and malleable, means you can reprogram it so it “experiences” the  traumatic story differently. Then the discomfort it caused is no longer there in the same way. It can be that simple.

When her father died, my partner Shera travelled to South Dakota to attend the funeral. It was a disaster. Her father was a cowboy and cattle rancher once well-known as a bronco rider. Shera saw the opportunity to speak to all the old-timers who would be there and hear the stories that would never be told again. The minister however had his own idea of how the ceremony would proceed, and denied everything the family wished to have happen, from the hymn they wanted to sing, to the stories Shera was looking forward to hearing. He even used the wrong name when he called her to speak to the people gathered.

This was absolutely not how she wanted to remember his funeral. So she simply sat down and wrote a different story.  One that properly acknowledged the history and the context and all the family had wanted.  And it was titled after the “hymn” the family had wanted to sing: “Back in the Saddle Again.”  

She simply trained her brain to go to the new story instead of the “disaster” whenever the thought of her father’s passing came up.

Instead of encountering feelings of anger, frustration and disappointment, she found herself in the satisfaction of the feelings of love in honouring her dad as he deserved.

Knowing that your brain accepts whatever it is told means you can train it as easily as a pet dog, and that means it may be a good idea to become much more aware of what you are telling it. Then, at times when you would otherwise would have felt helpless, you might be able to empower yourself instead.