Going Slow to Go Fast – Training Your Brain to Embrace Transformation

I have to admit to one of my guilty pleasures in order to give this blog post some context.  I love watching the TV show, “The Biggest Loser”.  I admit to enjoying the catharsis of watching bodies and lives transform right before our television eyes.  I know it is produced, formulaic with a slick intent to appeal to my sense of transformation, and yet, like a car accident on the highway, I slow down and watch.

I watched a segment of a show that kept tabs on previous contestants, and there were a good percentage that had gained a good portion, and in some cases, all of their weight back.  For all of the intense physical, mental and emotional support, many contestants returned to their previous ways, and perhaps only partially, but the goal weight was not kept off.

Real progress takes time.  As much as I am constantly looking for the quick fix to put things back together.  Rewiring our brains to practice new patterns takes time and the longer our patterns have been entrenched, the longer it will take to set new patterns.

In the article, “5 Ways To Rewire Your Brain For Meaningful Life Changes” Dr. Hilary explains that there are five neural pathways to connect any new learning, “One pathway alone is not enough to successfully rewire your brain. However, when you repeatedly align your beliefs, feelings, vision, and actions you will experience lasting changes in your brain” http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11762/5-ways-to-rewire-your-brain-for-meaningful-life-changes.html

The five pathways, can be summarized as follows:

1.     You are your beliefs.  Christiane Northrup, Candace Pert and many others wrote about this 15-20 years ago. Belief is essentially a neural pathway and you need to have it fired up in order to move towards your goal.  If you want to know what your “living” belief is, just look at your life.  If you believe in loving relationships but constantly find yourself in negative ones, take a look at your beliefs.  If you think you believe in abundance and ease but constantly find yourself in debt, take a look at your beliefs.

2.     Emotion, as Dr. Hilary points out, “is the power behind accomplishing your intention.”  As woo woo as this may sound, your ability to flood your body with the feeling and the positive emotion of your desired belief or intention will lead you to a positive outcome.  Your ability to put your body in a state of calm, joy, peace, or bliss, while imagining your desired outcome, is key.  This powerful feeling state is what supports your brain in moving towards your outcome.

3.     There are plenty of studies around the benefits of visualization, especially around sport performance. And the results are even better if you are in a calm, relaxed state. 

4.     Take Action. As the Nike saying goes, just do it.  Your body needs to have the practice of being in a state of success.  Especially in the beginning, it won’t be pretty and may very well be painful, but your body must have the experience of moving you towards your belief or wants.

5.     Repeat. You have to repeat the action over and over, and build the neural pathways until it will practice this new habit over all of your previous past practices.

Whether you are trying to stop something, like smoking or overeating, or whether you are trying to start something like learning a new language or training for a marathon, the message is the same.  It is also the same if you are trying to change a post traumatic stress response, or anxiety/panic attack, or finding a way to attract a loving partner.

Small steps lead to transformation. Photo by J. Philipchuk

 And what exactly does this have to do with energy medicine? Everything.  When I talk about energy medicine being a tool to help you get out of your “stuck” place, I am talking about helping your brain and body clear out old belief patterns, cell memory or stories that no longer serve you and at the same time, to introduce new belief patterns, new stories and new memories.  Working with the electrical body is comprehensive in that it supports healing and growth from all of these perspectives.  You have to be willing to believe your dream is possible, you have to feel it, see it in your minds eye, experience it and repeatedly practice it.  Energy medicine, can help with the clearing of the old and the beginning of the new, and from my point of you, it is comprehensive and successful. 

But it is normally, not fast.  It usually takes time, practice, some discomfort and more practice. You have to teach you body, mind and spirit your new belief. You have to feel it, see it, know it, anticipate it and you have to do it – Over and over and over again. So, that is why I say you have to go slow to go fast. I know this to be true.

We can train our brains, our beings, our electrical grid patterns to embrace our transformations and over time and practice the results are transformative.  Small incremental consistent changes lead to transformation.