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November 23rd, 2011

Have you noticed that as you move into the holiday season, old, familiar patterns emerge? For example, when you get together with family and friends, do you revert to a certain dynamic? Perhaps you feel sad and alone at the holidays, or maybe you often get sick or worry about money. There’s a reason that we have the same experiences over and over again, and with a little self-awareness, a little self-mastery and a little being-on-purpose, we can break those patterns.

Our brains are constantly searching for what to focus on. If we are not practicing self-awareness, then our brains choose the focus for us based on our past experiences. Then they put slides into our ViewMasters®–slides of our past experiences, the meaning we attached to these experiences, the emotions that went along with them and there we go! We end up re-acting our past.

Our brains look for, and focus on, things that are consistent with our past experience. Put another way, our brains perceive a reality that is consistent with our past. Then it stores this reality and inevitably reinforces the experience. So if our brains are  choosing a focus based on experience, and what we focus on is what we perceive to be reality, it’s no wonder that we fall into old, familiar patterns.

Even though that’s how are brains work, we are in control. We are in control of our thoughts. We are in control of our focus. We are in control of our brains. We all have the ability to pause and look AT the slides our brains present to us, as an observer of our thoughts and emotions. We also have the ability to choose to utilize or discard these slides and create new ones.

Today is a new and wonderful day! It’s time to stop re-acting and start creating! In every moment, with every thought, I have the opportunity to create who I aspire to be and what I truly want to create in this world.

Remember that your brain is a tool, just as a computer is a tool. Your brain’s job is to take in information, process it, store it and retrieve it. You can choose to utilize the information offered by your brain; to control and direct the focus of your mind, and see and experience  a reality that is very different from your old patterns.

This is a gentle reminder to choose your intentions for this holiday season. Have powerful thoughts ready for those moments when you are challenged by old patterns, and be thankful for the ability to choose your thoughts and, ultimately, how you feel and what you experience.

What old familiar patterns could you stop re-acting? What new, powerful patterns could you create?