What If?!

I am told that we make around 34 000 decisions every day. How do we make these decisions? Can we make better ones to drive the trajectory of our lives?

To make so many decisions, we need some automation - imagine keeping track of them all!

Our brains are designed to automate as many processes as possible. Automation occurs as we practice. Do you remember learning to drive? First it was terrifying, but the more practice you got, the more unconsciously you could drive, until you could drive to work, and half an hour later, hardly remember which lights you had to stop at, and which were green.

This automation allows us to process most of our habitual day, and habits become highways in the brain. This automation brilliance is coordinated by the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which is a network of neurons in the brain that directs our attention and acts as a filter, determining what information reaches the conscious mind. The subconscious, however, is always busy.

We can therefore direct the RAS to seek out the information we want to confirm, by directing our thoughts.

Protection

We mostly use this system to protect ourselves - to determine what threats there are around us, and to keep us young and safe. These defensive pathways are set up when we are young. We watch our parents and siblings, and later, our classmates, to learn how to stay alive. Negative experiences, and emotions cause us to look out for similar scenarios, and be alert to the danger.

We are hardwired to seek safety, and, unfortunately, we learn more about what to fear to stay alive, than how to live to thrive.

Thriving

To stay alive, we think of so many 'What if' scenarios to prepare ourselves to face the worst of every situation. This can very easily put us into a state of perpetual concern, or anxiety. We learn "it is unsafe, I must protect myself". When we put up walls to defend ourselves, we can't look over them, and creativity is stifled.

In order to thrive, we need to see possibility, be open for new experience, and creative alternatives. Using our conscious mind, we can direct the RAS to seek possibilities of success. We need to decide what we want to see, in order to see it. To understand this, think of a day that you wake up worried, or unhappy. How often on such a day has something amazing happened? I didn't think so

If you want to experience opportunity, you need to seek it out. You need to divert off the highways in your brain, and make new paths. Thinking differently requires hard work, but over time, with practice, new wiring happens, and the brain will seek opportunity, rather than just keep you safe. To start the rewiring process, we need to start practicing thought processes that offer opportunity.

Join me during August on Instagram, or Facebook to follow the process...