Why Change Is So Hard

A single human brain is estimated to have the switching capacity of the entire U.S. telephone. Throughout childhood, our brains is a frenzied construction site, where neural structures are assembled in response to events and thoughts, and countless circuits in the brain are rushed to completion. In the course of this construction, some connections are bolstered into massive conduits of habit. Others are systematically diminished and sometimes even dismantled. But if your brain's software has some glitches, if your universe doesn't reflect the harmony, beauty, love, and fulfillment that you deserve, then you might want to learn the 'art of consciousness,' the ability to become master of the self instead of its slave.

To truly know oneself is to explore the huge range of responses and creative acts that we can bring to life instead of the narrow repertoire of past habits we call the personality. At the heart of this lesson is a priceless insight: though you have a mind, you are not your mind. You are the one who administers the mind, becoming the CEO of yourself. Who you are is the one who can change your mind, change your programming.

Obviously, we aren't taught the art of consciousness in school. It is an oversight in a society that celebrates liberty, for without the ability to control the mind no one can ever be free, no matter the military might of one's country. The art of consciousness is a skill that has been singularly lacking throughout history, and this may help explain why history repeats itself. I certainly explains why most of us spend our lives making many of the same mistakes over and over. There is no question that a critical mass of people practicing the art of consciousness would change the course of history. There is no question that those who become conscious, who come into their right minds, do change their own lives in proportion to their self-awareness.

the ability of people to become truly self-aware, to learn continuously from experience, and to constantly choose from an infinite range of view-points and actions those that promise the best results, instead of those that are most familiar and require the least change, is the breakthrough upon which the future of humanity might well depend. Closer to home, it might mean the future of a job, a career, and important relationship, prosperity, health or an inner sense of gratification and serenity.

Learning is inherently rewarding. Research shows that the brain responds to learning much as muscle responds to exercise-that is, strong, new, life-supporting tissue is created. In the brain, the new tissue is actually the synaptic connecting matter between brain cells. Evidence suggests that a healthy network of these neural branches-they're called dendrites and they resemble a meandering river system-may, among other things, delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease and aid in recovery from strokes.

All this makes us ask: how will the human imagination be used in the learning process, how will the 'will' be focused, what values and new skills will sculpt our lives? None of us can control the world, of course, but each of us-alone-controls his or her response to it. Choice is a basic force in human affairs, a powerful force, and our choices form headwaters of their own. Of course the world shapes us; but we shape our world, too.

Change, then, is possible and could be smooth if and when we are willing to change, and we use God's gifts to enhance or abilities to affect the change we want to our personal or business life through raising your consciousness to the need to change. Change is and will remain 'the only constant' around us. We can integrate new perspectives through experience. What we see depends on where we stand. And where we stand-that is, the view of the world our senses present to us-is profoundly influenced by the biases of our family of origin and the hand fate dealt us. It is a bliss that we are not stuck with one world view. We can get a new one any time, merely by learning to integrate the perspectives of others. In this sense, the points of view of other people rank among life's most priceless gifts.



Why Change Is So Hard - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Fathi El-Nadi's Website.

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