Читать книгу Mindwalking - Nancy Eubel - Страница 35

Science helps us understand how our thoughts actually do create changes in the brain. In layman’s terms, when we think a thought for the first time a new neural pathway in the brain is formed consisting of a string of neurons (nerve cells that transmit electrical, chemical, and hormonal information) connected together. Although the pathway is weak at first, every time we think or hear this thought it gets stronger as more neurons are added; it gets more and more entrenched in our personality, our emotions, our thoughts, and our reality. It becomes more robust and is activated more quickly each time the thought is repeated. The pathway starts connecting to corollary pathways forming a wider net which affects a greater range of our responses when activated. On the other hand, if we stop using a neural pathway because we no longer think that thought, it gets weak and fades away.

These pathways can become almost hardwired so that the response happens quickly and automatically often without our being aware of what we are doing. Nonetheless, it is possible for us to “shut off the power” to undesirable mental pathways, even those created eons ago, and replace them with new, more positive ones. These, in turn, will become automatic through repetition. So, with desire and determination we can assert control over our brain instead of having it control us.