Experts have long used the definition of the mind and brain as interchangeable. Today science has matured and studies have illustrated that the mind has tremendous impact on the brain and how it responds to the body.
Why is this important? Because when you learn how to rewire your thoughts you can control your response and influence your body’s response. In turn, you can help manage chaotic thoughts which produce anxiety and filter different responses to your life. There are proven statistics from those suffering from TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) who have regained their functionality after working on their thoughts.
When we consider chaos, we have to think of two scenarios that occur; those that come up on a daily basis, and those which have longer implications.
Let’s start with the first one.
The Example: The babysitter has COVID and you are now unable to work for the day.
Your Response: Your brain is tussled immediately and you are quickly thrown into reactive mode. This scenario will disrupt your entire day unless you right-size your mind. Taking a quick moment to reframe your response will help you instantly reduce your stress and normalize an otherwise chaotic day ahead.
Here is how you start taking action to rewire chaos.
- Inventory your thoughts.
Often, they might look or sound like these:
- I will fail at work today because I am missing important meetings.
- I can’t be with my child when I am angry and frustrated. I am a bad parent.
- My stomach is in knots.
- I am hopeless.
- Write down how you feel. This helps to sort your reactions into categories and creates a wiring component to your logical brain not the reactive side. Writing them down actually solidifies these and helps determine if they are true feelings or a physical reaction.
- Assess and create an action plan.
After you have written down how you feel, you can access your critical thinking and begin to prioritize what is most important and see the patterns. If you see that your reactions are mostly physical, you may start with simple breathing exercise to slow your breath. You might also drink a glass of water to add more oxygen to your body.
If on the other hand, they are feelings, you can begin to navigate the most important ones and prioritize the action you will take to help ameliorate them. Example, if you are feeling hopeless you may need to lay down for a moment and reflect on that. It’s okay to feel hopeless. Everyone has moments when they feel out of control.
We are not trying to talk ourselves out of despair just let the thoughts tell you what you need. You cannot fool the brain but you can redirect it with a conscious approach to what you need. It’s also ok to savor the sadness and be depressed the key is to remember this in not the mindset you want to hold forever. Once you let your mind direct that repair plan to your brain you have created a new path to manage it.
These three steps will help you regain the divine gift of order and potential choices available to you to move forward. Think, feel and choose becomes the catalyst to assist you with the next steps.
Now let’s look at the more painful experiences which may have longer implications.
The Example: There is a sudden death in the family, a frightening experience, a loss of a job etc.
Your Response: In that moment, every part of your body is responding and your nervous system is in chaos. You are automatically in the feeling state which means your body is acting as the messenger.
Here is a personal example of how I navigated the sudden and painful discovery when my brother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer and told he would not live out the month.
Immediately upon receiving the news, I was astonished, saddened, frightened for him and frankly depressed. My mind was all over the map, my stomach was in knots, and my heart was racing.
When these types of experiences occur it’s important to note that it is completely normal to feel shattered. Taking a moment to right-size your immediate needs will be critical. Starting with what are you thinking about will help you shift into the system described above.
Here is how I responded to the chaos and rewired my emotions and brain.
First, I asked myself what I am thinking about in this moment. The answer… how do I get to my brother now? Who do I need to contact? How can I support him?
Just this act helped me immediately shift to assessment. Almost instantly, my anxiety and fear came down and I began to book flights, call my husband and other family members to let them know the circumstances. I reduced the total panic to organized process for clarity and next steps.
Then later in the day I thought about my feelings and realized that I was depressed and that it had triggered many deeper thoughts about life’s purpose and what was truly important. The reality is we will all face these moments in our lives.
The idea behind rewiring your thoughts is that it liberates you from the brain responding without a guidance system. I know I will feel sad, depressed and lonely for a long time but these are the messengers of chaos that help us build a healing path.
Your feelings are creating messages for your brain to interpret. There could be many triggers that will drive you down a different path but learning to listen to the thoughts and assess them helps us redefine what we want for ourselves.
I encourage you to take the time to slow down, redirect and breathe into the magic that you have been given by your thoughts. Help your amazing operating system [AKA the brain] partner with your new interpretation. Memories are in our brains and therefore it takes time to reframe them with new ones.
For larger more traumatic conditions, allow yourself to take time to rewire the pathways of our thoughts. It is possible and with consistent practice, your memories will be rewritten to illustrate your divine capabilities.