As disturbing as it is to think about, we can actually change our neural pathways. I know that I have. I am not a scientist, merely a researcher of all sorts of things. A former teacher who is now on the path of teaching new things to new students. Yoga. As I have continued my inner studies, I have learned a great deal about my mind. For example, because of neuroplasticity, the brain's ever-changing potentials, anything is possible. I cry every time I watch Jill Bolte Taylor's My Stroke of Insight due to the vastness of possibilities she describes. The energy just plainly overwhelms me...and when I watched it again, I couldn't contain my tears.
I am capable of great things. Clearly I was designed to overcome this pain and do more with this life I was given. Combining that knowledge with my new, and difficult, meditation practice, I focus on the places where I feel no pain. Each time I practice this, I begin to realize I feel less pain. The moments where there is no pain do last for seconds longer, and that is improvement. When the thought of pain arises, I focus back on the breath. The yoga. The moment that I am in. I learned a new practice of counting in my head as I am breathing. Just simply imagining the numbers as I breathe in and out. I imagine them forming in my head and it takes my thoughts away from the ramblings.
The more we repeat good habits, the more we can change our brain. So tonight, I started with my quote, but I want you to try this. You really can do anything you put your mind to. Close your eyes, think of something you have been wanting to do. Now write it down. On the bathroom mirror in dry erase, on a list beside your bed, or a journal. You can do it.
