Dooley Noted: 12/26/2015
Neuroscience describes our thoughts as pathways, much like highway systems.
Having a positive thought about oneself can open off-ramps to positive memories, with plenty of pitstops at the Reward Center (I.e., nucleus accumbens).
Therefore, as your thoughts shift to positive things, you are handsomely fueled with dopamine. (This chemical pathway is also activated by drugs, hence the drug moniker, “dope.”)
But thoughts can go the other way.
Should you choose the negative highway system, you access the thoughts that can beat you down. You have limited access to the Reward Center, but the highway may feel very familiar in its agony. And for some people – choosing the familiar road is more comfortable than a road less traveled.
Yes – our misery and happiness are absolutely steeped in choice.
On this plane, I felt my own heaviness.
As I lost control of my breath, I could feel myself ride down those highways. I saw a woman who thought she wasn’t good enough, strong enough, smart enough – just not enough. And I found my negative reinforcements in my memories.
Then, I consciously put the thought pathway in reverse. I connected to my breathing.
I found a backroad to the Reward Center.
I thought of a friend, who sees me as I am to him – a reflection of my true self without judgment. He is the mirror of my true self.
I looked in that mirror, and I moved onto a different highway of thinking.
I felt myself lighten as I opened up doors of compliments and thanks, love and commitment, gratitude and forgiveness.
And I realized once again that my limbic system is a slave to where I choose it to go.
Those thought pathways need a driver.
You are more in charge than you realize.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
