Re-Wiring the Brain to Manifest

Re-Wiring the Brain

 

This material is based upon the book, Rewire Your Brain for Love, by Dr. Marsha Lucas (Hay House, 2011).

The book refers to this process as “The best do it yourself project you’ll ever do

The way our brain is wired makes a difference in how we relate. Most relationship wiring is completed by age 2

These re-wiring techniques are not new- some of them go back 2,500 years.

Ten years ago, science thought that once you grew up, you couldn’t grow new brain cells, and old connections in the brain couldn’t be replaced. It was thought that all brain development was completed at the age of 25.

However, studies at Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and UCLA have found that mindfulness practices change one’s brain relative to relationships.

Re-wiring the brain can improve the following aspects of our thinking:

            Regulation of fear response

            Emotional resilience

            Response flexibility

            Insight

            Empathy and attunement

            “Me” to “We” shift

It is estimated that 55% of the population have healthy relationship patterns, and that the other 45% are insecure in relationships.

As babies, we take in a lot of information. Old, deeply wired memories re-surface as adults and some people want to avoid relationships because of early unhealthy patterns of thinking. The brain is constantly observing for danger and early ideas play a role.

Neuroplasticity is the capacity throughout our lifetime to change the structure and pathways of communication. Scientific studies are affirming that we can use this capacity to change the way we think. This is necessary in order to manifest what we want in life. We have to change to “empowered”, “can do” thinking before we can begin to create our lives anew. I will discuss specific exercises in the next few posts.

How Belief Works

Manifestation, or the act of bringing things into being by changing one’s thoughts and beliefs, has been much discussed.  It has been the topic of numerous books and the subject of many workshops. Some of these self-help programs advocate the use of affirmations.  These affirmations are to be repeated at frequent intervals every day, meditated upon, and written on slips of paper to be placed where they can be seen frequently.  The new physics, however, is showing that in order for us to change our world, we must develop a special feeling within ourselves called “belief”.   This means belief which is so strong that the end results can never be doubted.  Experiments are showing that what we think of as miracles occur where feelings and beliefs permeate the heart to the point that we have no doubt that what we desire has already happened. Knowing this and feeling a deep sense of peace, joy, and gratitude actually causes the Universal Consciousness to reflect this back to us and bring about what we have “asked” for.

 

Conventional religion has also taught us to pray and make entreaties and pleas to God to give us what we want and what we think we need.  However, experiments are increasingly showing that this conventional method of prayer does nothing more than acknowledge the lack of what we are asking for.  By feeling the need to plead for something, we are focusing upon the fact that we do not have it.  When we really feel in our hearts that we already have what we desire, that becomes our reality.

 

A number of experiments showing the nature of thought, belief, and physical matter support Seth Lloyd’s view of the universe as a consciousness computer.  The following revolutionary concepts have already been proven by a number of scientific experiments:

 

• A minimum number of persons practicing Transcendental Meditation can influence such things as the crime rate, suicide rate, war, fires and the general level of violence in a certain area
• Physical changes in the body can occur due to one’s beliefs, independent of any medical treatment
• Experiments are influenced by the belief systems of those conducting them
• Samples of DNA taken from the same individual respond the same even when physically separated
• Our thoughts change our DNA
• Quantum particles appear to not be bound by the strictures of time

My next post will cover ways to re-tool and re-wire your brain so that it is possible to manifest.

 

More Proof That the Universe is a Consciousness Computer

 

I will briefly discuss several paradigm-shattering experiments which support the theory of the universe as a consciousness computer. This will further support the journey into knowledge that I undertook prior to absolutely knowing  without a doubt that this is how things work. This is the first step in manifesting anything you want. The second step is to “re-wire” your brain, which I will talk about in a new blog post, and the third step is individual exercises which you can use to change situations in your life into what you want them to be. I will also write about these exercises and how they impacted my life.

 

The International Peace Project in the Middle East took place in August and September of 1988. Researchers in Israel selected a number of participants who were willing to use Transcendental Meditation(TM) to see if there was any effect upon several indicators of violence, including the level of crime, level of armed conflict in Lebanon, number of fires, and number of car accidents.  In addition, measures of improvement included increases in the national stock market and improvements in the national mood.  The participants met at a central location twice a day to practice TM.  During the time that they were meditating, all of the indicators of violence went down.  The crime levels dropped to an unprecedented low and armed conflict in Lebanon was all but at a standstill.  As soon as the participants stopped their meditation at the conclusion of the experiment, violence went back to the pre-experiment levels.

 

This experiment was based upon previous research which uncovered what is called the Maharishi Effect, named after Maharishi Mahish Yogi. Maharishi had postulated that when a critical mass of individuals stimulated pure consciousness by feeling the peace that occurs during Transcendental Meditation, the quality of life in that area would improve.  Maharishi predicted that 1% of the population in a given area would be needed to produce this effect of coherence in the society around them.  Later experiments refined this number down to the square root of 1% when TM was supplemented with another technique called Yogic Flying.  A 21% reduction in the most violent crime categories was reported when over 4000 people from 62 countries gathered in Washington, D.C. in July of 1993 to practice Transcendental Meditation.

 

In May of 2004, a study conducted at the Turin, ItalyMedicalSchool showed that patients’ beliefs determined medical outcomes.  A number of patients, all of whom had Parkinson’s Disease, underwent surgery believing that they would receive a drug which would restore their brain chemistry to normal levels.  In reality, they were given a placebo which should have had no effect whatsoever on their medical condition.  However, electronic scans showed that the cells in the patients’ brains responded as if they were actually given the medication.

 

Another study showed that we affect reality just by watching it.  This work was done by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovat, Israel.  It is discussed in detail in the February 27, 1998 issue of Science Daily.  This article states that the…”Weizmann Institute researchers built a tiny device measuring less than 1 micron in size, which had a barrier and two openings.  They then sent a current of electrons toward the barrier.  The ‘observer’ in this experiment was not human.  Institute scientists used for this purpose a tiny but sophisticated electronic detector that can spot passing electrons.  The quantum ‘observer’s’ capacity to detect electrons could be altered by changing its electrical conductivity or the strength of the current passing through it.  Apart from ‘observing’, or detecting the electrons, the detector had no effect on the current.  Yet the scientists found that the very presence of the detector – ‘observer’ near one of the openings caused changes in the interference pattern of the electron waves passing through the openings of the barrier. In fact, this effect was dependent on the observation.

These are just a few of the books and studies I have read. More to come later.

How Miracles Started to Happen

For the next few weeks, I will be posting two or three times a week to tell the story of my personal journey in learning how to manifest things into my life. This journey is just beginning. However, it has caused a profound change in how I see the world and my place in it. I finally been able to make things happen and use the field of energy to make certain events go as I wish them to go. At this point, this is a work in progress. Miracles have happened as I have been able to resolve some long-standing issues seemingly overnight. Other issues I am addressing are being resolved slowly but steadily. I am now being asked to speak in public regarding my experiences so that others may learn how to accomplish the same things. I feel very humble about the whole process and very grateful for the loving universal energy which allows me to grow and flourish.

 

The very first thing which enabled me to begin this journey was an absolute belief in the fact that this is exactly the way the universe works. Seth Lloyd, the designer of the first quantum computer, makes the simple but unequivocal statement that “The universe is a quantum computer.  As the computation proceeds, reality unfolds”. His book, Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos, posits the exciting premise that we, in the most literal sense of the word, actually do create our reality.  The universe mirrors back to us our beliefs in the most precise way.

 

I had been reading this same theory as explained by any number of authors since I started on my spiritual journey in 2000. The ones which have made the most impression on me have been Deepak Chopra, Gregg Braden, and Dr. Bruce Lipton. They all are saying the same thing — that our thoughts actually create the situations in which we find ourselves. Each of these authors explains it in a slightly different way, but it is evident that their view of the universe is one in which “the observer influences the outcome of the experiment”. Intellectually, I knew that this made sense. I guess I also wanted to believe it because that implied that I was totally in control of my own life. However, I now see that I was holding back on really knowing in my heart that this is how things work.

 

I guess that repetition of a theory over and over, perhaps in slightly different forms, will eventually produce a solid belief. This is exactly what happened to me. I was reading a book by Dr. Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, called Spontaneous Evolution-Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There. This fascinating book presents arguments which left me in no doubt that I create literally everything in my life. I remember reading one particular passage, no different from any other part of the book, when I said to myself, “Okay, I believe this, I really believe it, I know this is what happens. There is no doubt in my mind”.

 

From that point on, I had to learn how to work at rewiring my brain in order to begin to consciously manifest. In my next two blog posts I will discuss how this happened and all of the miracles which happened after that.

Deepak Chopra on the “Super Brain”

“New brain cells are being formed throughout life; trillions of connections between neurons are developed; and the genetic activity inside each neuron is dynamic, responding to every experience and every stimulus from the outside world.

Human beings reinvent the brain as we go along, day by day. It’s not a matter of eons.”

These words are just a small piece of this fascinating article by Deepak Chopra which explains how we can mentally be more than we ever imagined, no matter the circumstances. The full article can be accessed here:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/health/reinventing-brain-chopra/index.html?hpt=hp_c2#

 

 

Connecting With Something Bigger Than Yourself

Most of the students in my meditation classes are attracted there due to a desire to experience deep relaxation and a feeling of well-being. There is also the desire to connect with spiritual energy. Many of these people are yearning to experience something which encompasses more than just the physical body. For others, the value of the class is in connecting with others who are believers in holistic health practices. The fellowship value of meditating as a group in this type of situation is very powerful.

 

When you have a regular meditation practice, your life outside of meditation starts to change. This is a very exciting concept and one which is very empowering. It suggests that peace in your inner world is reflected back to you as greater stability, success, happiness and accomplishment in your outer world. Having this period of peace and stillness once or twice a day will create a peaceful frame of mind which will combat anxiety and stress. Having this peaceful frame of mind will enable one to present a calmer and more peaceful picture to the outside world. When that happens, you can expect to attract to you people and situations which will be more positive and lead to increased success in business, relationships, and the achievement of life goals.

 

I have seen this happen in my own life. However, the change has been very gradual and very subtle covering a span of 12 years. The interesting thing has been that, as I have devoted more time and attention to meditation, its effects have intensified, so that I can now relate particularly good meditation experiences with things that happen over the next day or two. I have successfully used meditation to relieve fear associated with travel, difficult meetings, and medical procedures and a whole host of other things I may consider to be challenging. The key here is to change your thinking about these things that might seem so intimidating and replace that original thinking with feelings of peace and calm. This is really easier than we think. Just on the other side of the divide and so close by are different, better ways to experience life. Try meditation. It will open new potentialities that you might not have thought possible. Your life really will change.

Meditation Changes Everything

The very idea behind meditation is to take us away from activity, both physically and mentally. Its purpose is to take us to a place of silence and stillness, where there are no thoughts. Davidji, formerly the lead educator at the Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California, and a leading authority on meditation, refers this as “the gap between thoughts”. It is thought that in this place of non-thinking, we can access parts of ourselves which we can identify by such names as our soul, our real essence, and our authentic being. It is said that we are so much more than we think we are, that there is a space within us that is timeless and eternal, that lives on long after our physical bodies have ceased to exist. This is who we really are at our core. We are not our bodies, we are our spirit. I have heard it said many times that we are all spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than human beings having occasional spiritual experiences.

 

One of the most frequent reasons I have heard cited for not having a regular meditation practice is lack of time. Certainly, in our increasingly busy world, this can have some validity at times. However, in order to not give low priority things our time, it would be well to consider the following benefits of meditation so that we can better evaluate whether it is worthwhile to incorporate meditation into our lives. These benefits, which have been recorded both in studies and anecdotally by individuals, are as follows:

less anxiety, the ability to sleep better, fewer illnesses, feelings of greater mental acuity, feeling of calm and peace, and greater confidence. Being able to bring about even one of these positive results would be enough to make a daily meditation practice more than worthwhile. However, I frequently see at least two or three of these benefits present in individuals I teach. In my meditation and Reiki classes, I am increasingly surprised by the high percentage of people who express that they feel anxiety frequently, in some cases nearly all the time. The number of individuals I encounter with sleep problems is also high.

 

It becomes obvious to me that it is worthwhile to make time for meditation in light of the tremendous benefits which can come about. Nearly everyone can think of some “busyness” in their lives which can either be eliminated or pared down.

How Meditation Can Change Your Brain Chemistry

 

Most experienced meditators would probably agree that a regular practice produces many positive, noticeable changes, such as a greater sense of well-being and happiness, greater feelings of relaxation, reduction in stress, and a generally more positive outlook on life. However, the reality is even more profound than we have thought until recently. There is an increasing body of evidence that meditation actually produces changes in our brain.This is a startling validation of meditation which can have a significant impact in convincing people to begin meditating and convincing occasional meditators to commit to a regular practice.

 

 

The implications are huge. This means that we can control the development of our brain through mental exercises and actually change its structure. For so long, we have been told by science that our brain development stops when we are in our teens or early twenties. The only change would be a deterioration as we age. However, we are now finding that mental functioning can be improved as we age through a concerted effort.

 

The 1/21/11 issue of the Harvard Gazette made reference to a study done at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2010. The article stated that “Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection.

Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased gray-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.”

 

A 2/21/11 article in the Huffpost Healthy Living by Deepak Chopra also noted that “Brain scans of Buddhist monks had already shown dramatic alteration of gamma waves in the prefrontal cortex, a region associated with higher cognitive responses as well as moral feelings like compassion.”