NEURONS THAT FIRE TOGETHER WIRE TOGETHER

We are creatures of habit.  The more we have thought, felt and acted a certain way, the more we are likely to again.

When we think of or visualize someone we know, we can think of how they “are”: how they tend to talk, think, or rub their nose.

That is because neurons that fire together  wire together, creating a tendency to fire together again, thus forming a habit.

We also know that presented with anything new, a person automatically tries to make sense of it based on what they already “know”, with the left brain quickly coming up with explanations or “stories” to make things fit with prior experience, whether these are true or not.

The research that has been done around this phenomenon is fascinating: For a transient period of time after an electrical impulse has been transmitted along the axon of a neuron, the electrical charge along the axon is altered such that another electrical impulse is more likely to take that same route.  In the movie “What The Bleep Do We Know”, pictures taken through an electron microscope, which has huge magnification, showed how the way that neurons were organized in relation to each other actually changed as a person changed their way of thinking.

Other research looked at a PET scan, which looks at brain activity and blood flow, prior to then just following a therapy session where a trauma was cleared.  The PET scan was very different comparing the before and after scans.

This is because, fortunately, we have something called neuroplasticity. In other words, we and our brains are capable of change.  Whereas, our brains are most plastic in infancy and become less plastic the older we get, we are still capable of significant change at an advanced age.  I recently said good-bye to a lady in her eighties who reported to me that never in her life had she ever experienced less worry, less guilt, and more self-worth as she was enjoying, and that she was looking forward to having more enjoyment in the rest of her life than she ever had before!

Here is a helpful metaphor: If someone has a strong habit of judging himself and experiencing guilt, that habit can be thought of as an 8 lane highway.  The first time he experiences understanding and compassion towards himself, trusting that he is a good person and is doing his best, that very unfamiliar feeling can be thought of someone having walked along a new way through the trees and bushes.  As he  keeps experiencing this new way of being, there gradually becomes a distinct path through the trees, which gradually becomes wider and wider, til eventually there is an 8 lane highway there, and where the old highway of guilt was there is now a narrow path through the trees.  By inviting himself to experience self-compassion again and again, he is literally transforming himself, or “reprogramming the computer”, so that he gradually experiences guilt less and less readily, and when it does come up, it is easy to replace it quickly with compassion.

I have had many people tell me:  “That’s just the way I am” or “I will always be that way”.  Because a habit can be so strong, sometimes people cannot imagine being any other way, and mistake it for their identity.  It is NOT their identity.  It is just a very strong familiar habit.  These people have been happy to discover that they were wrong, and it was possible for them to feel loveable etc.

This is why it is so important  to invite yourself to experience positive feelings and truths in your BODY, where transformation happens, over and over. The negative harmful habits did not appear overnight, so unlearning them and replacing them with preferable ones is a process.

It only goes so far to say positive things without believing them. Two effective and powerful ways of INSTALLING truths in your body are outlined in:

-CREATING A POWERFUL INNER RESOURCE, and

-EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE

A list of important truths to install is found in:

-IMPORTANT TRUTHS TO INSTALL

All of these articles can be found on this website. 

I love this interpretation of this popular story depicted in Ancient Egyptian art. It is a

lovely depiction of the ongoing transformation we undergo as we journey through life. I

love the powerful imagery, and love that it is such ancient wisdom from that source that

is relevant today.

The depiction is entitled “The Evolution Of The Soul”.

On the far left is “ka” , which is our soul, and represents our perception of ourselves. Ka

is holding hands with Anubis, who has a jackal’s head. The jackal, of course, is a

scavenger.

As we move to the right, we come to a weighscale, with a heart on one side and a feather

on the other. Underneath the scale lies waiting the vicious creature Ammut with Anubis.

To the right is Thoth, a scribe who is just noting everything. As life unfolds with its

challenges and stresses, negativity gets triggered and negative perceptions of ourselves

arise. While the mindful part of us just calmly notices everything, each perception of

ourselves is weighed to see if it makes our heart feel any heavier than a feather. If it

does, it is known to be false and is devoured by Ammut. If it makes our heart feel as

light as a feather, then we know that it is true, and so is retained. We undergo this

process of ongoing transformation or healing throughout life.

To the right Thoth, we again have “ka”,our soul and self-perception, but now holding

hands with Horus, who has the head of a hawk. The hawk soars above, thereby enjoying

freedom and seeing the broad perspective, the truth of things as they are, and the

immortality of the soul. That is the ultimate in the evolution of the soul: to reach this

divine perspective, where there is freedom from judgement. Horus is appropriately

holding in his hand the key of life.

In the panel to the right are Osiris, the god of resurrection, and Isis, his wife, the goddess

of rebirth. Seth, the jealous brother of Osiris, murdered him, cut his body up into

fourteen pieces, and hid them throughout the land. Isis, who loved and missed Osiris so

much, searched throughout the land, and found thirteen of the fourteen pieces. She put

the pieces together, and without a penis, breathed life into him, was impregnated by him,

and gave birth to their son Horus. So even though she thought that something was

missing, in fact there was wholeness. This reminds us that we are wrong when we think

that something is missing from us. She “re-membered” him, putting his body parts, or

“members” together. We, too, need only remember the truth of who we really are.

Osiris is holding in front of his heart a hook and a flail. These are used by a shepherd:

the flail to beat back the wolves, and the hook to bring in the sheep. We too need to beat

back the judgemental beliefs about ourselves, and nurture compassion and self-love in

order to guard our heart.

So when life is hard, remember that it is not meaningless suffering, which is so much

worse, but rather that it is in service of your journey of growth, or the evolution of your

soul. A life without any challenges does not induce any growth of our character. Our

hardships matter a lot, but the evolution of our souls matters even more. We are all on a

journey of ongoing transformation, becoming constantly new.

So use your calm nonjudgemental attention to observe yourself, letting the false

judgements fall away, and embracing the self-honoring and compassion.

Celebrate your meaningful journey of constant rebirth!