Brain-Based Strategies for Harnessing Your Power

Anyone can access their deepest desires and manifest them. Overcome the brain-based challenges to accessing your power.
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In Rhonda Byrne's book The Power we learn how it is possible for anyone to access their deepest desires and manifest them. In my post on "Psychology Today," I have a brief description of what goes on in the brain when we are trying to do this. Based on that post, which I recommend you read first, the following strategies can help you overcome the brain-based challenges to accessing your power:

When you think about what you want, you are often bombarded by a million details. How can I try to find another job when I have to attend to my family? I will plan to go to a local bar to meet people, but I am shy. All of a sudden, a simple map of the path to your local bar requires you to cross the bridge of overcoming shyness and your brain's action center would rather go to sleep. To prevent stopping before you've started, here are some simple principles to remember:

1. Sometimes it helps to not worry about crossing the bridge until you come to it: While preparation can be helpful, sometimes it distracts you from your journey. When you get closer to what you want, you will often be surprised to see how your motivation increases. All of a sudden, when that bridge is in front of you, you are motivated to cross it -- shy or not.

2. Fuel your journey: To make it to your goal, you have to feed the brain. The brain's reward system lights up with money, food or social reward. While trying to make it to your goal, remember that a rewarded brain can be harnessed to perform for you. The nature of the reward matters, as short-term rewards on the way to longer-term rewards can help keep the motivation alive.

3. Your brain needs to read the motor maps in the light: If your brain is trying to read its motor maps under strobe lights, it makes the action more arduous. What are the strobe lights in your life? Have you decreased your distractions for at least part of the day? If you wait for peace of mind, you will be waiting for a lifetime. Instead, grant yourself peace of mind as your own personal gift. Wrap this gift up in a defined time ("I will use effort to be free of vexatious thoughts for two hours this evening.").

4. Learn to give your brain's navigator clear instructions: Be alert to the brain's "but" producer. When you notice that there is a "but" in your thought process, reframe the thought instantly. "But" should never be part of a motor map or the brain's instruction booklet. It can be part of the preparation, but distinguish this from the action plan.

5. Remember that worry always fills the space that can receive something you want: Worry is a sign that you want something, but it will fill your brain with worry instead. Again, worry may be necessary while planning, but almost never has a role in the action plan. The action plan may cause worry, but aside from meaning that your left and right brain are not working in concert, worry blocks what you want from coming to you because there is no space for it. Instead, I suggest that you have "worry vacations." When worry insists on staying, create the concept of "worry vacations" to send worry away so that you can make space for what you want.

6. Harness the energy of fear to give you power: In my book "Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons To Overcome Fear" I provide extensive details on how you can do this. Think of your conscious brain as the material you can use to build a dam around the water to harness the energy. Refocus your worry. Reframe your problem. For example: "My life is never going to be as exciting as I want it" can change to "Little by little, I will build up my life to be more exciting than it is." Your fears are what you want muddled up. Your brain's task is to look into the fear and deconstruct the fear with action. It is almost always the case that when you are not getting what you want, that your brain is receiving fear messages that you are unaware of. Make it a practice to write down the possible fear messages related to anything that you want so that you can take the unconscious power out of it. For example, if you want to make more money, it is almost always the case that you are afraid of not knowing how. Yet "not knowing" is a signal of knowledge that needs to be gained. If you then ask your brain "What do I need to know over the next few months" your brain will be more likely to seek a solution than if you expected to know or were afraid of not knowing.

This is a start to learning how to engage your brain. Once you have set these new efforts up, you can institute more complex interventions which we will cover the next time.

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