The secret of 'I am....'

Who am I?

I am someone who has the power to be anything they want to be.
I have a mind capable of achieving any thought I give to it.
I am someone whose thoughts power their reality.

So who am I?

You of course!

We are very powerful beings with the ability to create anything we want. Yes! What your mind can believe, you can achieve. True 'scientific' story.

The secret of I am? So what does this mean and what is the secret?

The words 'I am' are very powerful. Anything you place after those words can literally become your reality.

As discussed in a previous post, when you think a new thought your mind changes in so many ways. You create new exciting neural pathways. And when you think the same thought over and over again, those pathways become stronger and eventually those thoughts create who you are.

These are my 'I am' statements:

I am a writer. I am a compassionate person who will make a difference in this life. I am an innovator and influencer. I am happy.

Just typing those words helps to create my reality.

What are your 'I am ' statements?

Before you do that, think about who it is you want to be. Your mind creates your reality so make sure those 'I am' statements are worthwhile. They need to be positive.

It takes a lifetime to create ourselves. Every now and then, we need to reflect on our experiences and remind ourselves of who we are. Are we on the right path? Are we who we want to be?

Our thoughts create our reality so why not make yourself brilliant!

Have fun..

Veronica

Just do it!

New post at www.everydayhero.com.au/veronica-wood

Thoughts will power your success...

As I prepare for my little adventure to the 14th Australian Master Games, I know that one of the very first things I need to do is to get my mind in the right place. Sometimes little thoughts of 'What the hell am I doing?' creep in and although I am happy to have that little chat with myself, I know that those thoughts are not helpful and that I must move on from them quickly.

Thoughts are very powerful and can really either make you or break you. You have the choice as to which way they take you.

Thoughts have such an impact on us. Get this:

"Triggered by your most recent thought, did you know that suddenly, your pancreas and your adrenal glands are already busy secreting a few new hormones? Like a sudden lightning storm, different areas of your brain just surged with increased electrical current, releasing a mob of neurochemicals that are too numerous to name. Your spleen and your thymus gland send out a mass e-mail to your immune system to make a few modifications. Several different gastric juices started flowing. Your liver began processing enzymes that were not present moments before. Your heart rate fluctuated, your lungs altered their stroke volume, and blood flow to the capillaries in your hands and feet changed. All from just thinking one thought."*

Don't ever underestimate the power of your thoughts. Ever wonder why when we are stressed we get sick? All that negativity really plays havoc with out bodies.


Positive thoughts have a much better effect on us.

When you think a new thought, your mind also changes in so many ways. You create new exciting neural pathways. And when you think the same thought over and over again, those pathways become stronger and eventually those thoughts create who you are.

Over the next 6 months I will become an 'athlete'. Something I have wanted for a while. I know how hard it will be to achieve and I must admit, I am already feeling a little nervous!

Now just so you know, I am not delusional. I am fully aware that I am 37 years old, have never competed in any sport and know that there is a damn good chance I will be up against the fastest '30 somethings' in the country. All that being said I will not dwell on those facts and I will not let my mind use them against me. Instead I will use this to motivate me.

Although the race is 6 months away, I am beginning to run that race over and over in my mind. Playing it out exactly how I want it (called visualisation which is a whole other blog or two). I am not entering the Masters Games for fun but to compete. To push my mind and body to it's limit.

My thoughts will power my success and I will begin this journey by getting my mind in the right place.

Self-belief can be difficult for some but just know that it is a matter of choice. Choose to believe in yourself. It is really that simple. The more you tell yourself you can do it, the stronger those neural connections become and the easier it is for you to believe it.


It is only a matter of time until you achieve what you believe!

Veronica Wood

*(Dispenza, J. 2007, Evolve your Brain: The science of changing your mind, Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida)

Please visit my fundraising page and help make a difference. www.everydayhero.com.au/veronica-wood

A change of pace...

I have titled this post 'A change of pace' because that is exactly what will be happening for me in the next 6 months as I take on the 14th Australian Masters Games in Geelong in October this year. I will be competing in the 100 meter sprint and I am planning to WIN!

Now this could be an absolute pipe dream but for me, I understand the power of the mind and will use this to push hard and to give myself my best chance. Goals are there to challenge us, to push our boundaries and to take us beyond our comfort zones.

This is how I am choosing to Colour my Canvas this year.

I will be using my blog for this period to write about what I go through to become competitive ready - from my training, my emotional journey and how I mentally rehearse my race. I will go through every part of my preparation and will hopefully use it as a guide to help others become ready for their next challenge in life!

I hope you stay tuned. I am sure it will be a wild ride!

Please also visit https://give.everydayhero.com/au/veronica-wood

Veronica Wood

Belief creates your reality...

The Ant and the Ferrari was borrowed to me and has provided me with inspiration for this post. Thanks Leslie xx.

 

It was written by Dr Kerry Spackman, a neuroscientist whose style of writing is so approachable that you can really relate to the words on the page. He puts a different spin on life and the meaning of it all.

 

There is one chapter in particular that really grabbed me called 'The Psychology of Belief'. It is an eye opener to say the least!

 

Dr Spackman discusses the self-fulfilling prophecy and I would like to try and explain this to you without writing word for word from his book.

 

The self-fulfilling prophecy is an outcome of belief. It comes about when we create something  because of our own belief in it. We make it happen because we believe it is going to happen. 

 

I will use an example given in the book because it brilliantly demonstrates this self-fulfilling prophecy theory.

 

One day you decide to go and visit a clairvoyant. You really want to get married but you are not sure you are looking in the right places. So you go to a clairvoyant and they tell you that you are going to marry a someone in uniform. As far as the self-fulfilling prophecy goes "the instant she says this, your chances of actually marrying someone in uniform increases by 1000-fold.."

 

Wow really? Ok how? Well firstly, you are keen to find your soul mate and get married and secondly you want to believe in your clairvoyant (otherwise why else would you have gone). When you leave the clairvoyant, people in uniform are now on your radar! Now that you are on the look out for someone in uniform you notice more and more people in uniform! You never really noticed all these people before. Your chances of meeting someone in uniform has just .. well... increased by 1000-fold!  You are paying way more attention to those nurses who catch your bus, or the police officers on the side of the road. You even start to notice every single type of uniform there is!

 

Our mind looks for patterns in our everyday life and as soon as you start to focus on something like people in uniform, that is what you will see. A bit like when you buy a new car, you start seeing that same model everywhere!

 

Now that you believe that you will marry someone in uniform, you will be more receptive to those who are wearing one. That flight attendant you never thought you would have a chance with will now seem ok to approach, because hey.. they might just be that one in uniform your clairvoyant was talking about! You believe that you are starting to open up your chances of meeting that 'one'.

 

What also happens is that you will be more inclined to close off an opportunity to meeting someone without a uniform as you don't believe they are the person you are looking for. This reduces your chances of marrying someone without a uniform and therefore increases your chances of marrying someone in uniform.

 

Incredible isn't it! It seems we make things happen when we believe in them. When we believe in something, our actions become more in tune with making that belief come true! Our persistence increases which in turn creates more opportunities and in the end we succeed because of our belief in it.

 

My advice to you, believe in something worthwhile. Believe in the positive, believe in happiness and believe you can achieve anything you want!

 

Belief creates your reality.

 

What a wonderful life we have.

 

Veronica Wood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change: a necessary evil

Why do I call it a necessary evil? Well that is because it is.

 

We all know that change is necessary but it is sometimes one of the hardest things to do. Change can sometimes feel very evil and there is plenty of reason for that.

What is change? Change is the process of becoming different. And that is not as easy as we like to think it is.

 

Here is one example of how difficult it must be:

 

"Roughly 600,000 people have bypasses a year in America. These people are told...that they must change their lifestyle. The heart bypass is a temporary fix. They must change their diet. They must quit smoking and drinking. They must exercise and reduce stress. In essence, the doctors say, "Change or die." You would think that a near-death experience would forever grab the attention of the patients...You would think the argument for change is so compelling that the patients would make the appropriate lifestyle alterations...Ninety percent of the heart patients do not change...Change is that difficult."**

Mind blowing isn't it.

Why is it when we know that something needs to change, we continue the same old way. Stuck in  rut. Are we really that stupid. Well....of course not.

It is difficult to change and that is all there is to it. It is not easy, it hurts and makes us feel extremely uncomfortable. And here is why:

"For every known element in our life, we have an existing neural representation in the form of people, things, times, places and events, and each neural representation connects every person, place, thing, time  and event to a specific feeling."*

Therefore everything we do, everyone we interact with, those thoughts are connected to a feeling. A neural connection. Each time we make change to any of those elements, we are creating a physical chemical change in our brain and it makes us feel different, uncomfortable and leaves us with wanting to go back to the way we felt before.

If you allow yourself to reject those new feelings, then "you are headed for a release of a lot of chemicals that will reinforce who you have always been." You will not change. If however you want change then you need to be prepared to stop any automatic thoughts and  "feel very uncomfortable with not being your normal, habitually thinking self."* This uncomfortableness is what prevents us from change.

Being able to deal with a short period of being uncomfortable is all it takes to begin the process of change.

The big question is how do we overcome this overwhelming desire to stay in a comfortable state?

It takes an understanding of what is actually happening to us in that time of transition, what the end result may be and a knowing and trust in ourselves that we will make it happen.

I found this flow chart by Robinson which makes a lot of sense:

A lot of people do not move on from the first part of change. The knowing. If this is you, then focus on the next stage. Create a desire to change. Ask yourself what this change will give you. That will be enough to create that desire and will provide a boost in your motivation.

 

The next step is probably the hardest of them all. The self belief. The 'I can'. This is vital to any change as you are the only one that can make it happen. Set yourself small achievable goals and you will build that confidence to succeed.

As they say 'practice makes perfect'. You may not succeed the first time but commitment and persistence will get you there.

I believe the rest will follow.

Change is something that must happen for us to evolve. Life is too short to stay 'stuck in a rut'.

Change is the necessary evil.

 Veronica Wood

* (Dispenza, J. 2007, Evolve your Brain: The science of changing your mind, Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida)
** (from an article in UltraFit Magazine Accelerate)

Do you judge me? I would say you do...

Ok so you probably don't judge me as such but judgement of one another comes so naturally (and quickly) that we make up our minds about someone before realising the effects that our own thoughts have on us.

"Judgement appears much too early and impedes the freedom of thought..."

'Unlock your Creative Genius by Bernard Golden, PhD, Prometheus Books, Amherst NY'

I read this sentence (now this is not the full sentence and I have taken it out of context) and I just had to write about the subject. Why we judge one another fascinates me. Why does it come so naturally? Why does it happen so quickly and why do we think we know who someone is just by looking at them? Surely we can only be basing our judgement on our own experiences? If this is the case, then are we all so completely illiberal?

From what I have researched so far, it seems that our perceptions are to blame. Our perception of our environment, including those who are in it, are created by our experiences so far. The only way we can view a person is to match what we see with what we know. This happens instantaneously and before we know it, we have a picture in our minds of who that person is.

Isn't it so narrow minded to think our 'scenario database' has every possible situation in it that we can make these conclusions about people. We are convinced we know someone just by looking at them.

I judge people, just like you do. If you are honest with yourself you will also admit that.

When we see someone new, it will always trigger thoughts of curiosity. Instead of automatically judging someone I am teaching myself to 'wonder' about them instead. It allows me to still think about the person but in a non-judgemental way. Instead of making a conclusion about someones life, I like to wonder what life they have led, what challenges they have faced and success they have had. I wonder what makes them happy, what they are passionate about and what makes them tick. I also like to wonder what is going through their minds.

Having judgemental thoughts about someone does not only 'impede our freedom of thought', it also affect how we interact with people. If we automatically feel negatively about someone before they even get to speak, we limit our interactions and therefore our own experiences in life. Limiting our experiences will limit our perceptions. Perception is what we use everyday to create who we are, what we have around us and our finite path. Do we really want to limit that? I certainly don't.

More food for thought.

Veronica Wood