Sport Fitness & Physique

Can you truly change your mind?

Do you even have a mind to change?

Are you sure?

Neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, brain researchers and psychologists have long held that the “mind” is simply what the brain does -that there is no separate, independent ‘thinking substance’ that we call the “I” or “me” in which (or from where) we are ultimately in control.

Our actions, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs are nothing more than neuro-chemical reactions, electronic pulsing and neurons firing (or not firing) over and over and over again.

A look inside your "mind"

Our mind is not separate from our body.

Our brain is indeed very much connected to our body (we would really be in trouble if it were not) and the brain is all we have to think with.

But does that adequately explain our experience?

I don’t know…you tell me.

If your mind really is in control of your body…can you tell me why we make some of the unhealthy choices we make?

Shouldn’t our minds ‘know better’ and do a better job of controlling our actions?

Isn’t it more likely that we eat that milk chocolate because we have come to expect and to crave the pleasurable sensations it provides?

Don’t we really eat that milk chocolate (or insert your guilty pleasure here) because of the chemical reactions that take place –namely the release of the  ‘feel good’ hormone serotonin?  I think it is.

We could probably argue about this for hours….but that’s not my point.

My point is….that real and lasting change is more about repetitive effort than it is about having some sort of magical thing called “Will Power.”

Ask anyone who has ever succeeded…at anything…and you will find that the decision to succeed was just the beginning. The work, the trial, the error, the tiny successes and the huge failures  that occur after the decision to succeed….that’s the secret to real success.

‘Changing your mind’ and changing your life -really is a change -a physical, neurological change.  And that kind of thing just doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a multiplicity of efforts to re-wire your brain and your psychology in order to succeed.

So….you’ve heard it before, but it still bears repeating:

If at first you don’t succeed -Try -Try -Again!

To your good health!