We think we’re in control of our brain, right?
Well, check this out.
Lift your right foot up of the floor and move it in a clockwise direction.
Now with you hand draw a 6 in the air.
Did you notice what your foot just did?
For most people you’ll find that your foot began to move in an anticlockwise direction as soon as they draw the six.
This is a good example of the phenomenon of neuro plasticity; when we use a particular set of pathways together, the brain connects them up. As a result we very quickly become creatures of habit.
Imagine you’re stirring an imaginary cup of tea or coffee; notice which way you stirred it to start with? You may not be aware of this but you do this every time.
Imagine you are brushing your teeth; as you place the toothbrush in your mouth, you will find you brush the same teeth in the same order each time.
This is because your brain likes to take shortcuts, it doesn’t want to have to choose what you’re doing each time. But this shortcutting can cause problems, especially if we into get habits or consistently stimulate brain pathways that don’t get us good results in our lives.
There’s also plenty of evidence that one of the ways to prevent a decrease in brain function as people age is to do new things to stimulate new pathways.
Today consider what is that you do habitually, and do it a bit differently.
It may be that you take a slightly different route home, or that you do things in a different order, or use it in a different chair when you’re watching TV.
That is the effect of doing this you probably find that you feel a bit different bit more alive a bit more awake a bit more vital.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you changed and anything else that you would like me to cover in these blogs.
Phil
Lead Trainer NLP Coach Course
Intrigued? Then check out my NLP podcast which covers this subject in much more detail
Very interesting and inspiring reading!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, hopefully it’s doing something you don’t normally do 🙂
Phil x
It’s true. I’ll be watching myself more closely to change some things I do automatically. It’s fun to learn new things.
doing new things 🙂 i am now going to turn the tv on…..standing on my head 😉
seriously though…inspiring…create the patterns in the brain you want it to have 🙂
It is so heartening to hear of simple things we can do to make change. Thankyou!
I have done one or two changes to routines in the past as I felt I needed a change and interestingly , while reading this blog, I swapped my mouse to my left hand (I am right handed) to use the technique. Love your ideas of pushing the brain
Thanks Carol; it’s amazing to realise we have such a capacity for change:) have you been listening to the Essential NLP podcasts?
As I was reading this, I swapped my mouse to the left hand (I am right handed) as I loved the idea of pushing the brain to use other areas. And I also discovered a new way to walk into town recently. It is refreshing to try different things. Love your ideas.
Very inspirational need to change the way I do a few things
Thanks Steven, let me know how you get on, and any subjects you’d like me to blog/podcast about
Very inspirational will be changing the way I do a few things