Change your Brain with your Mind
Most people can mentally strategize a successful life, but many humans make poor choices anyway. For instance, tailgating at high speed can lead to a wreck or staying in an unhealthy relationship can be miserable. Rationally, these consequences are obvious, yet maladaptive choices and behaviors continue. Changing our behavioral patterns often comes down to learning from mistakes and accurately foreseeing the price of our decisions. We typically recognize patterns of cause and effect; however, we often need guidance to translate those recognitions into behaviors. Emotional pain is a barrier to accessing our logical reasoning abilities. We do not think well when we are emotionally hurting and this is why many individuals find the support of psychotherapy to be useful.
Did you know that it is normal to talk to yourself? People experience a private internal dialogue all the time. What you elect to think affects feelings, which in turn influences your behaviors. Choosing to reflect negatively on matters by focusing on fears can create pessimistic reactions that result in undesirable outcomes. For example, telling yourself you will be unsuccessful at your new job may produce a sense of worthlessness. When we believe our value is low, it can create an apathetic mood. Lack of effort may very well result in a poor job performance. The internal dialogue might be, “I will fail anyway, so why should I even try?” At a subconscious level, our beliefs and expectations influence our actions. So when we tell ourselves that we will fail, it often results in a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Neurobiology informs us about the importance of our inner voice. Consider the part of the brain responsible for processing threatening stimuli. The amygdala is activated when exposed to tangible threats, but also surprisingly and powerfully during our negative self-talk. When our pessimistic self-talk scares us into being apprehensive about a matter, the reasoning ability of the prefrontal cortex is even more difficult to access. Inhibition in this area makes it difficult to engage in successful problem solving. Therefore, identifying fears and changing our inner conversational tone away from inaccurate or self-defeating ideas can be helpful in calming the amygdala. In a composed state, we can then gain access to the rational analytical functioning of the prefrontal cortex. If one sincerely makes up their mind to practice changing maladaptive thinking, they will be able to activate a valuable source of reasoning to manage life more successfully.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a useful technique for changing your brain with your mind. Check in on next month’s blog to learn how you can use CBT skills to manage your own wellbeing.