But did you know that you can also go directly from thinking to being—
and it’s likely that you’ve already experienced this in your life? Through the
meditation that is at the heart of this book (this chapter will give you a
prelude), you can go from thinking about the ideal self you want to become,
straight to being that new self. That is the key to quantum creating.
Change all begins with thinking: we can immediately form new
neurological connections and circuits that reflect our new thoughts. And
nothing gets the brain more excited than when it’s learning—assimilating
knowledge and experiences. These are aphrodisiacs for the brain; it
“fondles” every signal it receives from our five senses. Every second, it
processes billions of bits of data; it analyzes, examines, identifies,
extrapolates, classifies, and files information, which it can retrieve for us on
an “as needed” basis. Truly, the human brain is this planet’s ultimate
supercomputer.
As you’ll recall, the basis for understanding how you can actually change
your mind is the concept of hardwiring—how neurons engage in long-term,
habitual relationships. I’ve talked about Hebbian learning, which states:
“Nerve cells that fire together, wire together.” (Neuroscientists used to think
that after childhood, brain structure was relatively immutable. But new
findings reveal that many aspects of the brain and nervous system can
change structurally and functionally—including learning, memory, and
recovery from brain damage—throughout adulthood.)
But the opposite is also true: “Nerve cells that no longer fire together, no
longer wire together.” If you don’t use it, you lose it. You can even focus
conscious thought to disconnect or unwire unwanted connections. Thus, it
is possible to let go of some of the “stuff” you’ve been holding on to that
colors the way you think, act, and feel. The rewired brain will no longer fire
according to the circuitry of the past.
The gift of neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to rewire and create new
circuits at any age as a result of input from the environment and our
conscious intentions) is that we can create a new level of mind. There’s a
sort of neurological “out with the old, in with the new,” a process that
neuroscientists call pruning and sprouting. It’s what I call unlearning and
learning, and it creates the opportunity for us to rise above our current
limitations and to be greater than our conditioning or circumstances.
stevenselfio
(Stevenselfio)
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