Write a Blog - Rewire your Neurons!

Why start a blog?

Initially it was just to track my happiness project, and I only gave access to a few people, as the days have gone on it has changed.

I now see it as a valuable, simple and inexpensive tool for exploring a passion, tracking achievements, leaving a legacy of life lessons for Master Q and maybe along the line inspiring other people.

It is already enhancing and redefining this personal project that I am working on:  Less Catastrophe Living - A year of less mindlessness in daily life and achieving goals without chasing them.

In 2009 the husband and I wrote goals for the year, we put them in a drawer and looked at them again in 2010, it was impressive we had met some of these goals and didnt even realise we were doing it. 

Growth, we were going in the right direction and that realisation was encouraging.  Our most fun achievement that year was buying our little caravan, bundling our wee family and dog in, simplifying life, and travelling to some of the most gorgeous places in Scotland.  In 2011 we managed to arrange for about 30 of our friends and family to meet at one of those places for a beach party.

Making a wish and putting it out there

  Moules Marinieres on an open fire



 

The beach with the Isle of Jura in the distance

It made me ask the question.  What could I achieve if I really payed attention to the things I would love have in my life?

It took a while though.  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rueben, recommended to me by a good friend, planted the seed of an action plan in December 2011 and this is the growth of that seed.


What have neurons got to do with writing a blog?

Neurons: A specialized cell transmitting nerve impulses; a nerve cell.

Neuroplasticity:  The capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections and behaviour in response to new information, sensory stimulation and training or practice.

The brain is amazing, the underlying machinery of the brain is hardwired, but the wiring on the top is flexible and controlled by behavioural input, it has been proven that neurons can rewire, this is what makes personal growth and development possible.  

There is a proven connection between meditation and neuroplasticity, but you dont have to be the Dalai Lama rewire your neurons.  You also do not need to sit on a meditation cushion every day to meditate. 

Be conscious of what you are doing, pay attention.  In positive psychology it is called 'the flow'. You will usually find you are in the flow when you are doing something that you enjoy...jigsaws, crosswords, writing, knitting.  Wouldn't it be nice to be in the flow when doing the dishes too! More on that in a future post.

Flow: is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.



Will I be able to rewire my brain as the result of this blog being a reminder of my new daily mindful behaviour.  Time will tell, but Im already feeling the difference.  Im more in the flow...im not impulse buying anymore and Im off to arrange that beach party!

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle