Mindful Rewrites - Change Your Mind, Change Your Chemistry

Old Stories

In his book, The Biology of Belief, cellular biologist Bruce Lipton notes that the moment you change your perception is the moment your rewrite the chemistry of your body. As a biologist, he studies the way our unconscious beliefs cause a cascade of chemicals at the cellular level.

Mindful Rewrite

Beginning in utero, our body reacts to its environment in such a way that if the mother is stressed during pregnancy, the fetus secretes more adrenalin and cortisol to prepare to fight, freeze, or flee--even before birth. Babies of stressed mothers have been shown to have a more rapid startle response and a lower threshold of anxiety. This becomes habitual. Fear of the environment is stored in our cells. 

The good news is that due to neuroplasticity, these reactions can change. We can change our habitual way of responding to the environment and learn to choose love instead of fear as our motivation.

Mindfulness practice can change chemistry--because when we are connected and peaceful, our body secretes dopamine and oxytocin, which promote a sense of safety and well-being.  Our brain calms down and we become less reactive. 

Practice

How do you change your chemistry with mindfulness practice? First, you need to become aware of your fear-based responses. Try thinking the word AND to remind yourself there is more to your reaction than meets the eye.

A refers to AWARENESS of fear responses in your body that no longer serve you. For example, you may fear changing jobs although your current job is not a good fit.

N refers to NOTICE.  Notice tension in your body and resistance to change, and step back and question if the fear helps you in your current circumstances.

D refers to DECIDING consciously to develop different habits. Ask yourself, when did you first learn this fear? When you go back and look at the story of the fear you can begin to rewrite. Since our brain always means to protect us, there is always an old story behind the fear. For example, you may have had a parent who was a substance abuser and would switch from kindness to verbal abuse when intoxicated. Your body and mind stored that fear in your unconscious and now generalizes it toward your job.