Recode Your Brain
Mar 15, 2021
"At any given moment, we have two options: step forward into growth or step back into safety."
Abraham Maslow
I was listening to a podcast by Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist at the University of Toronto. He was speaking in Sacramento, June 27, 2018, and I don't remember everything that he talked about, but this one thing stood out to me. In fact, it was so inspiring that I took notes on a receipt, because I didn't have anything else to write on while riding in the car.
Studies have been done that reveal that you can actually recode your brain. When you stress yourself by doing something new, new genes turn on. These new genes code for new proteins which create new neuropathways. These pathways, along which information travels through the neurons (nerve cells) of the brain, can be compared with the paths through a forest. As people keep taking the same route through a forest, they wear out a path in it...this is how habits are formed, be they good or bad. Every time you learn something new, neural circuits are altered in your brain.
Jordan said, "There is way more in you than you are manifesting right now. What would you be like if you turned on everything in you that could be turned on?" WOW, just wow! That is something to think about.
It makes total sense because nothing can be more scary or stressful than venturing outside our comfort zone. Our comfort zone is a psychological state in which a we feel familiar, at ease, in control and experience low anxiety and stress. I like it…and often, this is where I like to live. Experience has taught me that living in my comfort zone doesn’t produce the things in life for which I really yearn. I have found that the more time I spend there, the less I actually desire in my life.
There’s just something about stretching beyond my comfort zone that not only enhances my self-esteem, but it increases my creativity. I have found that seeking new ideas, learning new skills, trying new experiences educates me in a way that nothing else does. Once I expand my abilities, it opens up all sorts of possibilities for me. It can even cause me to challenge old beliefs and see them in new ways. It increases my faith in me. I am never the same after I venture out. Hmmm...could be that my brain's been recoded.
Faith and fear can’t exist at the same time. Go ahead, be brave, stick your foot out. My mentor once said that my comfort zone can almost become a prison if the dread of getting out there persists. Do one little thing daily that is new for you. When is the last time you tried something new? Take a new route to work. Change your radio station. Read a different type of book for you. Challenge a limiting belief. Forgive a person in your life. Dust off your dreams and ardently pursue them.
Imagine what you would be like if you turned on everything in you that could be turned on. The sky is the limit.
Bravely,
Jan
Jan McDonald
The John Maxwell Team
For more leadership hacks find me on facebook @janmariemcdonald
Studies have been done that reveal that you can actually recode your brain. When you stress yourself by doing something new, new genes turn on. These new genes code for new proteins which create new neuropathways. These pathways, along which information travels through the neurons (nerve cells) of the brain, can be compared with the paths through a forest. As people keep taking the same route through a forest, they wear out a path in it...this is how habits are formed, be they good or bad. Every time you learn something new, neural circuits are altered in your brain.
Jordan said, "There is way more in you than you are manifesting right now. What would you be like if you turned on everything in you that could be turned on?" WOW, just wow! That is something to think about.
It makes total sense because nothing can be more scary or stressful than venturing outside our comfort zone. Our comfort zone is a psychological state in which a we feel familiar, at ease, in control and experience low anxiety and stress. I like it…and often, this is where I like to live. Experience has taught me that living in my comfort zone doesn’t produce the things in life for which I really yearn. I have found that the more time I spend there, the less I actually desire in my life.
There’s just something about stretching beyond my comfort zone that not only enhances my self-esteem, but it increases my creativity. I have found that seeking new ideas, learning new skills, trying new experiences educates me in a way that nothing else does. Once I expand my abilities, it opens up all sorts of possibilities for me. It can even cause me to challenge old beliefs and see them in new ways. It increases my faith in me. I am never the same after I venture out. Hmmm...could be that my brain's been recoded.
Faith and fear can’t exist at the same time. Go ahead, be brave, stick your foot out. My mentor once said that my comfort zone can almost become a prison if the dread of getting out there persists. Do one little thing daily that is new for you. When is the last time you tried something new? Take a new route to work. Change your radio station. Read a different type of book for you. Challenge a limiting belief. Forgive a person in your life. Dust off your dreams and ardently pursue them.
Imagine what you would be like if you turned on everything in you that could be turned on. The sky is the limit.
Bravely,
Jan
Jan McDonald
The John Maxwell Team
For more leadership hacks find me on facebook @janmariemcdonald
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