Have you ever considered the true power of the mind? It believes everything you tell it. I'm sharing insights from my book, The Power of Emotion, about how to harness this power to improve your emotional intelligence and what makes this power essential to your self-care and well-being.
THE POWER OF EMOTION | CHAPTER 18 | SELF-MANAGEMENT
Harnessing the Power of the Mind
Our subconscious mind receives what we say as factual. As we live and breathe, our brain works continually to process everything it discovers. Many of us don't comprehend the inherent power of our thoughts and feelings.
Our environment plays a significant role in both our positive and negative thoughts. Social influence from the media, community, peers, and family shapes our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes and may negatively impact us. When we are repeatedly exposed to the same falsehoods, our brains absorb them. Then, we perceive them as accurate.
This phenomenon is known as the "illusionary truth effect," which can be very harmful, especially if we don't take time to verify everything we see, hear, and read.
The only way to combat this?
Fact-checking and questioning what we think we know and trust in our feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
Remember: The more we tell ourselves something, the stronger the belief becomes. So be sure the things you're telling yourself are helpful and accurate.
How powerful is your 2022 mindset? Take a look at this post to find out!
Our Brain is Like Plastic
Neuroplasticity, otherwise known as brain plasticity, is a term that describes our brain's capacity to change. Our brain is malleable and can modify its synaptic connections to rewrite itself. This is good news!
With the power of the mind, we can train our brain to become more emotionally intelligent, positively affecting our well-being and self-care, among other things.
We Can Train Our Brain
Essentially, the idiom "practice makes perfect" describes how we can train our brains. When we repeat an activity regularly, we become good at it. We must practise emotional intelligence skills and strategies to become more emotionally intelligent, learn new habits, or change our behaviour.
Over time, we strengthen our new behaviours, and the old behaviours disappear as we reduce their use.
Forming New Beliefs
As for how this process works? Psychologist, Gloria Waite shares how beliefs are formed as follows:
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The thoughts that come from your experiences and your perceptions of those experiences…determine what you believe.
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What you believe determines your feelings and behaviours.
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Your behaviour (how you act and react) then reinforces your beliefs.
Calming Down Mind Chatter
With so many thoughts regularly passing quickly in and out of our minds, it's not surprising we're bombarded with mental noise–or mind chatter–when we're also trying to deal with bigger issues. This can be especially true in the workplace.
Is your mindset providing you with optimal results? Find out here.
Many progressive employers work hard to create a culture that promotes balance, understanding that employees face many competing responsibilities that can distract them. Training our minds to focus on work can reduce the mind chatter, but it requires a conscious decision to keep our minds from wandering.
If we can regain the ability to focus, we'll save time and energy and have a more productive day. This practice will improve our emotional intelligence and foster better self-care, impacting our well-being.
Do you want to dive deeper into the power of the mind? You will find some interesting information regarding this topic in my book, The Power of Emotion. Get your copy today.
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