There is an old adage, “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” But is this really true? A few years ago, the prevailing thought about the brain was, that by the time we reached adulthood, the wiring (neural connections) were fixed and that was that. This led to the belief that we couldn’t change or it was very difficult to change. That us humans couldn’t learn new behaviours or change our habits easily because the wiring in the brain was fixed.
Science has now shed new light on our brains. We now know that the above statement about the wiring of our brains being fixed is not true. We now know that the neural connections in the brain are plastic and that new neural connections are being made (and unmade) all the time. That we can change or rewire the brain up until we die.
But what does this mean for us in day to day life, and what has this to do with teaching dogs new tricks?
Well, the discovery that the neural connections in the brain are plastic means that we can teach “old dogs new tricks”. In other words, we can reprogram our Brains/Minds. We can change the way we think and what we believe and therefore to have better outcomes in our lives.
An example of how we can learn new skills are actors/actresses. Take when they are preparing for a new role that requires them to learn new skills and behaviours. Like one that requires new skills to be learnt, like fighting or dancing or playing an instrument they have never played before. The actor takes on a coach and works at learning the new skill until they have sufficient mastery that when we see them on the screen, they are are believable in their role. They apply focus and dedication to learning the required skills.
If we take this example and apply it to our own lives. If we apply enough effort and focus on acquiring new behaviours, beliefs and skills, we can be successful too.
The trick here is effort and focus….Both are required.
This is where self-hypnosis is such a powerful tool. It allows us to apply effortless focus to that which we want to develop in our lives. Self-hypnosis brings about change quicker than just saying affirmations. It puts the critical mind aside while we are developing the new way of thinking, acting and believing. It enables the embedding of the desired change in the subconscious more quickly.
The singular focus, that is the hypnotic process, creates new neural connections fast.
until next time
metta
Garth
