Day 20 & 21: You are not a victim of biology!
/Our brains can operate for us or against us! We have been given the ability to change the wiring of our brains by thinking and choosing to renew our minds. Choices become signals that change our brain and body; these changes are not dictated by our genes alone. Epigenetics (how our environment or circumstances, and our subsequent reactions to our environment or circumstances) also plays a role in changing our genetic makeup.
Day 20 and 21- You are not a victim of biology!
The way we interpret and manage our environment and/or circumstances controls our bodies and our lives. So if we change our perceptions, we can in response change our biology. Again, this is attributable to neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to change in response to thinking).
You are more than your circumstances
Choices not only affect your own spirit, soul, and body but also affect people you are in a relationship with. Your choices might even impact generations that follow. This phenomenon is called transgenerational trauma.
Transgenerational trauma is trauma that can leave a chemical mark on a person’s genes, which then can be passed down to multiple generations. One study found that the sons of Union Army soldiers of the Civil War who endured traumatic conditions as prisoners of war were more likely to die young than the sons of soldiers who were not prisoners. Even in animals, they have found this phenomenon to be true. In one study, they trained mice to associate fear with the smell of cherry. The children, and even grandchildren, of these mice, showed signs of anxiety when exposed to the smell of cherry even though they had never learned the painful association.
You are not destined to live out negative patterns of those who came before you
Negative traits and choices of your parents can create a predisposition, but they do not define your destiny. You are not responsible for something you are predisposed to because of the decisions your ancestors made. You are not a prisoner of your past; it all starts with choosing to take charge of your destiny by taking charge of your thoughts.
Change your thoughts, change your life
Our brain function is designed to allow us to be aware when we are thinking negative thoughts, to seize those thoughts, and to discipline those thoughts. Dr. Caroline Leaf in her book “Switch on Your Brain" writes,
“Purposefully catching your thoughts can control the brain’s sensory processing, the brain’s rewiring, neurotransmitters, genetic expression, and cellular activity in a positive or negative direction”.
Research shows that five to sixteen minutes a day of focused, meditative awareness of thoughts shift frontal brain states increasing the chances of a happier outlook on life. This is why we want to start off our day with a “Miracle Morning” - Writing in our gratitude journals, meditating, connecting with our Higher Power in prayer. Offer up those negative uncaptured rogue thoughts of anxiety, worry, and fear to your Higher Power and replace them with thanksgiving and gratitude.
When we change our destiny by capturing our negative thoughts before they turn toxic, we then become the masters of our life and not the victim of our circumstances!
Step #18 on our journey down a path to discover a new and beautiful us!
Be Mindful of your thoughts. In addition to your thankfulness and gratitude journal, keep a journal of your thoughts both positive and negative. Be real and transparent about how you feel, what your needs and concerns are, about your fears. Write down your thoughts (seizing them), then offer those thoughts up to your Higher Power (discipline those thoughts). It is important to fill that new empty thought space with thankfulness otherwise those thoughts will try to slip back in!
I literally write thoughts/fears/concerns down and place them into a file folder and leave them in the file folder for God to deal with. So much gets resolved when I let God take over! I don’t worry or fret anymore and I don’t negatively change my biology!
Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health - By Dr. Caroline Leaf
