Does Your Brain Have a Mind of Its Own?

Does your brain have a mind of its own? For example, have you ever experienced an upsetting situation, maybe a fight with someone, or maybe its even anticipating an upcoming stressful conversation? You’ve been replaying the interaction in your mind until you have worked yourself into a lather. But now it’s time to get some sleep. Ahhh! It feels so good to lie down and relax… However, your brain has other ideas. It is stuck in replay mode. Again and again you hear and feel the frustrating incident. How could they say those things! How could they be so thoughtless and accusing!

You realize what’s happening and yell “Stop!” inside your head. This isn’t helpful. You have to get up early so you need to get to sleep NOW! What can you do? The first step is to notice the repeating story; second is to choose a more positive thought – maybe something you are grateful for or some upcoming event you are excited about; third is to take several slow, deep breaths as you repeat the new positive thought in your mind. This helps to slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure and relax your muscles. If you are like me, your brain will quickly focus back on the upsetting thought pattern. Don’t give up! Repeat starting with step 1 as many times as necessary. It can take some time for our mind to change our brain.