Many of us have been fooled by this notion that we become “set” in our ways. We shrug our shoulders and proclaim, “that is just the way that I am.” We become convinced that certain behaviour patterns are set in stone and that there is nothing we can do once the pattern has been established. This could not be further from the truth, in fact, we are actually making a statement that is completely the opposite of the truth. The fact is that the human brain is one of the most malleable and every changing components of living species. Recent science has began to prove this very point.
For example, people that lose their sense of balance granted to them by their inner ear, can regain that sense of balance through other receptors. It is a matter of simply retraining the brain to receive other impulses or signals from the world around them. The blind person being able to function in the world with an acute sense of hearing, is another example of this. It is quite possible to retrain the brain to do some of the most basic primal things in different manners. So if we can relearn a primal instinct that has been around for millennia, then we can certainly retrain our brain to tackle a short term behavioral pattern.
So no you do not REQUIRE that cup of coffee when you wake up, you do not have to eat that pack of donuts every morning. You are not hopelessly addicted to nicotine, or any other substance. You are not an eternal procrastinator. Whatever the behavioral vice that you have, you can reprogram the brain. You can carve a new path. It will not happen in one day, it usually takes around 90 days. So effectively you are about 90 days away from programming your brain to adopt any new behavior. You just have to have enough desire, and willingness to pay attention to this for about 3 months.
Guy Reams
I often find myself repeating those same lies. Thanks for the informative blog!