Hi, you! Before we start, I wanted to express how incredibly grateful I am that since my last post I’ve now reached 10,000 subscribers. Funny enough for a platform centered around writing, I just can’t put into words how much it measures to me, so thank you for reading these posts and being a part of Crystal Clear - you’re all so wonderful!!! I’m planning a fun giveaway to celebrate, coming soon. Now let’s get into today’s topic:
I’ve written before about my deep belief that optimism is one of the best ways to operate in life. The gist is that while I grew up being very cynical, one of the things I now value the most is the ability to always think optimistically and rely on that because I see how often it turns out to serve me well. To quote one of my earliest posts here: I’m realistic; I know things are very often not good. But they also very often are.
Writing today’s post was inspired by this neuroscientist creator you might have seen on social media, Emily McDonald. She creates content about how to rewire your brain using neuroscience to serve you better and help you reach your goals in life, and overall live happily. One assumption I’m making here is that everyone wants to reach their goals, and everyone wants to be happy - so naturally, we should be inclined to care about things that are somehow proven to help us get to that. But we very often don’t. Why’s that?
Emily made a video where she says:
“Science shows that being delusional or unrealistic is actually a pro-level brain hack, for three reasons:
The first is that being realistic or limiting yourself in any way disrupts your dopamine system, leading to a subconscious lack of motivation and action towards pursuing your goals - but believing in the possibility of your delusional dreams causes your brain to anticipate reward, which boosts dopamine and motivates you into action.
Being delusional about your goals normalizes them to your brain, which is extremely important. Your brain is wired to help you survive, not to thrive - it wants to keep you safe and comfortable. When you normalize your big goals as safe, comfortable and familiar, your nervous system shifts, and in turn, your reality shifts.
Your reality is like social media, where your beliefs determine the algorithm. Your brain constructs your reality based upon your mindset, your conditioning, and your beliefs.”
Research proves time and time again that thinking positively (being optimistic, or manifesting, if you will) has very real effects on the outcomes of our life. I think many people disqualify this - I’m not sure if it’s because manifestation is popular among women online and the internet just loves invalidating whatever women are into, or because people see it as too easy to be true or effective. But of course, it’s not easy. Rewiring your brain to be optimistic is a process that takes years and a whole lot of effort, commitment and strength. But it pays off. To me, it’s paid off more than any other thing I can identify.
One of the most popular practices neuroscientists recommend to rewire your brain is visualization. Sitting down for a few minutes, closing your eyes, and visualizing the scenarios you want to bring to life with enough focus until you actually feel the feelings you would have if it was real. You can’t just think your way into manifesting your goals and dreams into reality - you have to feel it. The area where this has been studied the most is in sports. In 20 studies that looked at 835 athletes in 12 sports, the real-world effects of visualization were examined, and the results were so clear that you’d wonder why this isn’t taught in schools.
In these studies, athletes regularly visualized themselves practicing and achieving something difficult in their sport - winning a game, finishing a marathon, coming first, etc. What’s stuck with me the most is that when looking at their brain activity, the same neural pathways were activated through visualization as through physical performance, resulting in 90% of trials reporting measurable performance boosts, with longer programs delivering even larger results. Having this information, how can we not take training our mind as seriously as we do our body? I grew up developing negative thinking patterns with constant negative visualizations, and it had such a real effect on my life and my feelings, until at 17 I first read about manifestation, visualization, and mindfulness.
We’ve got enough information and neuroscience research today to not need any more convincing.
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