How To Support The Brain Through Change

Has the pandemic been nudging you in the direction of change? 

Maybe there’s an aspect of life that won’t be able to proceed as usual? 

It’s time to support our brain through these changes and challenges. 

The practice of mental rehearsal combined with meditation may just be the tool you need in order to change with ease.

Mental Rehearsal and Meditation

Mental Rehearsal is the act of mentally planning and rehearsing behaviors. Meditation involves mindfulness, a trained attention to awareness, and a desire to have mental clarity.

When we think of change, mental rehearsal, and meditation...

Mental Rehearsal and Meditation is the perfect combination to smoothly transition through change. Take time to envision the greatest sense of self you can be.  Combine this ideal vision of self with an emotion, and begin to feel what life will actually be like as this new self! Give the body a taste of the future emotionally. 

If to change is to biologically unlearn and relearn, then old habits must be broken down and replaced with new habits. In Neuroscience, these actions are explained as the pruning of synaptic connections and sprouting of new connections. 

Neuroscientist, Dr. Joe Dispenza’s daily morning routine:

Every morning when Dr. Joe Dispenza wakes up, he asks himself-

“What is the greatest ideal of myself that I can be today?” 

• He then begins to meditate
• He takes notice of unconscious thoughts and behaviors
• He is no longer the old self because he’s now conscious
• He is aware of who he no longer wants to be
• He considers the thoughts he wants to fire and wire and the behaviors he wants to demonstrate
• He combines emotions with the greatest ideal self and doesn’t break the meditation until he feels like that ideal person

Is mental rehearsal something you can adopt into your morning routine?

In meditation, the mind becomes conscious of the “unconscious self”. There’s an opportunity to dive into the operating system of the subconscious and observe what’s actually going on. This allows people to have more control throughout the day.

Maintain a modified state of mind and sustain this modified state over a suspended period of time. Aim to be greater than the emotional habits the body has become accustomed to. The world around you will respond to your new state of being. 

So- We’re unconscious most of our waking day! 

With the newfound understanding that so much of who we are is based on the records of the past, we must use mindfulness to find the present moment. Only in the present moment can we recondition the brain for change. 

I challenge you to commit to a daily meditation practice every morning!

If life is asking you to make change, it’s time to level up and add new tools into your existing toolkit. In addition to getting adequate sleep, water, and proper nutrition, mental rehearsal and meditation are key habits to instill.  Support yourself through change with mental rehearsal during a daily meditation practice.

There are many meditation apps out there, take your pick. My meditation app of choice is: Headspace.There are also free guided meditations available on Youtube. Check out Dr. Joe Dispenza's Guided Meditation.