Neurons, imagination and change
Imagination.
We all have it.
We all use it .
Maybe we aren't all as conscious of our use of imagination as others.
Worry? Imagination.
Fear? Can invoke imagination when we create stories of what might happen in the future.
Anxiety? Also a misuse of imagination.
Often our anxiety is an accumulation of thoughts about what might potentially happen at some point in the future... right?
How are you using your imagination?
To create the life you want to lead? To create situations you WANT to happen in your life?
Or do you use imagination to move away from what you want in your life?
Did you know...
Neurons that fire together, wire together.
(What's a neuron, you ask? A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. It's a cell that communicates. There are many neurons throughout the brain that all talk to each other.)
So when something happens in your life, say, neurons who are communicating together to transmit information 'wire together', meaning they create a pathway that becomes familiar to them.
This can be anything from exercise, habitual work patterns, habitual word choices, stories we tell, feelings and emotions.
When you repeat the activity, exercise, emotion -- your neurons sigh, 'aha, we know this one!'
According to scientists (if this kind of reading gets your goat, get your hands on a copy of Norman Doidge's 'The Brain That Changes Itself'), what we IMAGINE and what we SEE OTHERS DO lights up the same parts (or neural pathways) in our brains as if WE ARE participating in the activity.
This is terribly exciting news for our imagination and for those of us who desire to create change in our lives.
It's also the reason visualisation and guided meditations are so very powerful.
I also believe we can achieve the same state through WRITING.
Through using our imagination – imagining how we would like our lives to be, and then writing about it (while simultaneously FEELING the way we want to feel).
Try this;
1. Think of an area of your life you would like to change or improve in some way.
2. Get into a comfy position and listen to this meditation OR simply use any meditation form you use to get yourself relaxed and then bring to mind the situation as YOU WOULD LIKE IT TO BE. Really feel into this situation as you would like it to be. How do you feel? What is happening? What do you see? What do you smell? What do you taste? What do you see?
3. When you are ready, open your eyes, collect your pen and write about this situation in positive, active language as though it already exists.
Want to go deeper into creating personal change?