“Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do… It matters that you don’t just give up.” – Stephen Hawking
Do you ever feel like your mind is wired a certain way and you can’t change it?
Bad habits.
Automatic emotional responses.
Persistent negative thoughts.
Constant worry and stress.
In your efforts to become the best version of yourself, you may at times have been tempted to say, “That’s just who I am.” Even if you dislike phrases like this, they may sometimes resonate when the rubber meets the road on your journey to improve yourself.
Maybe you’ve spent much of your life feeling stuck and powerless. It’s possible that you’ve repeated negative messages in your mind so much that they feel ingrained. My hope for this article is that it will shed some light on how our brains function and give you hope if you are struggling to change.
Repetition plays a powerful part in shaping how our brains operate. It’s the basis for how we learn and change the way we think over time. Here are some quotes about repetition from those who have learned to use it to their advantage:
“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” – Earl Nightingale
“Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.” – Napoleon Hill
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Will Durant
“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want to change or improve in any way, first identify activities that promote the change you want to see and then repeat them. This is a universal principle for growth.
It should give you hope to know that improving your emotional tendencies, automatic responses, and habitual thinking works the same way. Repetition is the key to change. In fact, repetition is how your mind got the way it is in the first place.
Let’s briefly dig into some brain science that can help us understand how our minds are wired.
Neuroplasticity: A Double-Edged Sword
In an article entitled, “The Neuroscience of Behavior Change”, Julie Hani gives a great description of neuroplasticity:
“Neural pathways, comprised of neurons connected by dendrites, are created in the brain based on our habits and behaviors. The number of dendrites increases with the frequency a behavior is performed. I picture these neural pathways as deep grooves…”
When we repeat something over and over again, there is an actual physical manifestation of that repetition in the brain via these dendrites. Water carving out rivers and canyons operates by the same principle. This comparison is helpful because before the river carved a canyon, it was much less restricted in its direction of flow. Our minds also have greater ease in picking various trains of thought before repetition makes one path ingrained.
“…when brain cells communicate frequently, the connection between them strengthens and the messages that travel the same pathway in the brain over and over begin to transmit faster and faster. With enough repetition, these behaviors become automatic.”
As the water flows more in the same direction, the path becomes more established. It seems that our brains are designed to change based on our choices over time.
But there is a cautionary side to the behavior of neurons and dendrites. Any thought that is repeated can become automatic. It’s important to understand the consequences of entertaining any thought repeatedly over time. These repeated thoughts and behaviors can become our automatic response, almost removing decision from the equation.
The great thing about neuroplasticity is that it’s there for us in all of the positive and productive ways too. If we identify undesirable thought patterns, we can change them. Just because previous patterns exist does not mean that new patterns can’t replace them.
How Journaling Can Help You Rewire Your Mind
Writing is uniquely capable of helping you focus on a train of thought. Because each idea you write is locked down in front of you, you are more likely to succeed in taking that train of thought through to completion. Writing regularly with the intention to focus on the good and confront unproductive thoughts can help you begin to think this way naturally.
Journaling is also one of the best ways to build a more clear mental view of yourself and reality. You write much more slowly than you can think or speak. It’s like pressing the brake pedal on your thoughts. When you slow down your mind, it’s able to pick up on more detail and context than it otherwise could, particularly when strong emotion is involved.
If you want to experiment using writing to change the way you think, start keeping a journal. Write about what you’re feeling and thinking each day. Be intentional in writing about the good things–like gratitude–as well as the difficult and uncomfortable things. If you have already identified something you’d like to change, write about it. Write about it every day.
Learn the power of asking yourself questions that redirect the flow of your thoughts in a more positive and productive direction. If you don’t have a clear idea of what you would like to work on, writing every day will help you identify patterns of thought and behavior that you can then focus on.
Finding writing exercises that provide questions for you to respond to is a great way to start creating this pattern of focused, intentional writing. By repeatedly redirecting your mind with powerful questions, you start making neuroplasticity work in your favor. Over time, you will find that these new ways of thinking will become more natural and automatic.
GoldMind Was Specifically Designed to Change Your Mind
Journaling with an intention to rewire the mind towards productive ways of thinking is at the heart of GoldMind’s features. The always-growing Exercise Library has writing prompts for many focus areas such as gratitude, forgiveness, anxiety, relationships, and many more. Users can schedule these exercises so that they can redirect their minds regularly in powerful and productive ways.
You can use GoldMind to help you be more thoughtful, grateful, and purposeful in your relationships. Reflective writing can also help you discover other areas in your life that need attention.
There are endless ways in which journaling can be used to help you unlock the potential of your mind and help you live your best life. Whether it’s with GoldMind or some other way, journaling can be the activity that makes all the difference in your creating the life you want. It all starts in your mind.
