The human brain has much more powerful functionality than you think. You are able to train it and change the way your mind works. And the quality of your life is affected by how you make it work.
1. The Mind Does Not Recognize The Difference Between Reality And Imagination.
The brain is reacting to all the thoughts you have in mind. It doesn’t recognize the difference between objective reality and your imagination. That is why the so-called placebo effect may occur.
Science has shown that you can trick your mind with a “fake treatment.” If a doctor gives a patient a sugar pill saying it’s medication, it can improve a patient’s condition simply because the person is expecting that it will help. The more a person believes in feeling better after the treatment, the more likely it is that he or she will experience a benefit.
The same way the nocebo effect works but in the opposite way. If a hypochondriac watches TV news and hears about some new revealed disease, very soon the person may start physically feeling its symptoms.
2. You See What You Think Of The Most.
Whatever you have in your mind eventually becomes a base of your life experience. For instance, if you buy a new car, you will start noticing the brand of this car wherever you go. And the reason is you think of your new car more frequently than before you bought it.
Why is it so important to know? You can solve any stressful situation by simply changing the perspective of your mind and “re-programming” the way you think of it. On the other hand, when you try to analyze a political situation delivered by media from different perspectives, you will trust only the perspective that you believe in.
There’s another significant reason. Have you ever noticed that people hang out with those who have similar interests? Positive people usually have positive friends, and hypochondriacs hang out with other hypochondriacs, don’t they? It is not a coincidence. That’s why it’s very important to learn to control your mindset and the way of thinking if you want to change something in your life.
3. Your Brain Runs On Autopilot Most Of the Time.
The human brain on average generates 60 thousand thoughts per day. However, over 40 thousand of them are generated from the previous day. And this is exactly why it is so important to change the perspective of the negative thinking. This is another reason why people need to change the environment once in a while and spring-clean the mind.
Negative thinking is causing stress and anxiety on its own even if there’s no real reason for it. It is damaging the immune system that is forced to react accordingly (see fact #1.)
Train your mind. Load it with more positive thoughts. The more you try, the sooner you will learn to do it more effectively. Consciously manage the way you take life and take control of all the unconscious processes. The ultimate goal is to convert most of the thoughts that occurred “by default” into positive thinking.
4. It’s Vital to Periodically Shut Off Your Brain.
There are times when you literally sink in a thousand negative thoughts that are getting stuck in your mind throughout the day. So it’s vital to “shut off” your brain to give the immune system a break which will only make you healthier and happier.
The easiest way to switch off your mind is to meditate. Meditation transforms your consciousness into a practical and effective tool.
Another effective way is vacation. Activities like skiing, diving and hiking will help you concentrate on the excitement of a process and refresh the mind.
5. You Can Change Your Brain. Literally. Physically.
When you focus on one mental activity or another, your brain in the meantime is actively generating new neural connections. Biologists call such process neuroplasticity.
Here’s the way it works: if you think that you are not able to lose weight, very soon you will become firm in your mindset. However, if you replace this subconscious belief with a thought “I am in great shape,” your brain will be constantly creating new appropriate neural connections. You will start detecting more and more opportunities for this subconscious mindset to become a new reality.