“In order to change your life, you have to literally become someone else […］
So that’s why you need to make your brain work differently.”
Dr Joe Dispenza
“We are what we think.” Have you ever heard this phrase?
We are the reflection of our most common thoughts, we are what we think about the most. And
from this, therefore, follows that everything around us is also a reflection of our thoughts.
“How so?!? How can our thoughts shape our reality?”
It's all about neuroscience and neuroplasticity, an astonishing relatively new science which is
overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable, and proving that it is
actually possible to change your brain. Only a few decades ago, the scientific world stated that the brain was ‘hardwired and set for life’, and considered most brain lesions or trauma to be incurable. However, it is now proven that the brain, far from being set, has remarkable powers of adaptation, and can even tackle the most difficult neurological cases.
Neuroplasticity is therefore the adaptive faculty of the brain to recover and restructure itself,
particularly after traumas, disorders, lesions such as in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc. But it is also the faculty of the brain to reduce the impact of phobias,
addictions or disorders such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome
(PTSD) etc.
In his two excellent books, Canadian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Norman Doidge presents
groundbreaking discoveries in neuroscience that challenge the traditional view of the brain as a
static organ with fixed capabilities:
The brain that changes itself, his 1st book, describes real cases collected on the one hand from the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and its healing powers; and on the other hand, from the people whose lives they've transformed -people whose mental limitations, neurological disorders and lesions, brain damage or brain injury were seen as unalterable. Norman Doidge puts forward a series of case studies which demonstrate the remarkable capacity for adaptation and regeneration of the brain after accidents, illnesses or trauma, or even in cases existing since birth!
The Brain's Way of Healing, his 2nd book, explores innovative approaches to healing neurological disorders and conditions such as chronic pain, traumatic brain injuries, Parkinson's disease and even autism, by harnessing the brain's natural capabilities. Norman Doidge highlights the stories of individuals who have experienced significant improvements in their symptoms and quality of life thanks to non-invasive and alternative treatments.
It is therefore now possible for anyone living with a neurological disease to have hope. These two
books underscore the importance of exploring innovative therapies that tap into the brain's innate ability to endlessly adapt and regenerate to promote healing and recovery.
So… How do we use neuroplasticity, this plastic capacity of the brain, in hypnotherapy?
Imagine your brain as a network of roads. The more you travel a particular path, the more defined it
becomes. At first glance, it just looks like a side road, so narrow that you can barely tell. But over
time, this path, through repeated use, transforms into a country road, then a main road... and
eventually becomes a highway! A highway that takes you to what you think about most, very fast.
So… What are you constantly thinking about? What thoughts do you ruminate on all day long - and
night?
As Dr. Joe Dispenza* explains, “we think somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts in a day,
and 90% of those thoughts are exactly the same ones we had the day before. And we do it all over
again the following day. Thinking the same thoughts leads us to the same behaviours, the same
experiences, the same emotions. And these same emotions then drive the same thoughts!
You choose to define yourself by your past, as well as your own limitation, reaffirming
yourself to be that way. From a biological level, you have really been proclaiming that you were
altered physically, chemically, and emotionally from that event several years ago and… you haven’t
changed much since then.
You are enslaved by your body because it has now become the mind; you’re trapped by the
conditions in your environment because the experience of people and things are influencing how
you think, act and feel; and you’re lost in time, because you are living in the past and
anticipating the same future.”
As a result of this process, your body, your health and even your life remain the same, since the
same brain activity is generated, day after day. Your brain activates the same neural networks,
which become automatic programs that you use unconsciously every day.
So… If you want your life to finally change, you need to examine your thinking and become aware
of the unconscious behaviours you choose to demonstrate. The unconscious actually plays a crucial
role in your life. Your unconscious thoughts and beliefs, whether positive or negative, influence
your experiences.
By deciding to think new thoughts, create new experiences, and feel new feelings, and by
consciously directing your thoughts toward what you want most in the world right now, you will
reshape not only your unconscious patterns, but also your life.
We know now that our thoughts and emotions have physiological effects on the body, influencing
stress levels, immune function, and overall well-being. This highlights the interconnectedness of
mental and physical health, the mind-body connection. Therefore, changing one’s mindset and
emotions will lead to positive changes in health and well-being, if you are serious about it.
You have the power to create a new reality by breaking free from old thought patterns and beliefs.
This involves letting go of limiting beliefs and embracing a more positive and empowered mindset.
It also requires a strong determination to change.Therefore, in order to change your life, you have
to literally become someone else -inside your brain and body!”
How do we do this?
First, by deprogramming your brain and reprogramming it, using EMDR, NLP, EFT, and modern
hypnosis. And also, at home, thanks to meditation, if you can take the time to use this (free!)
fabulous tool, which is within everyone's reach.
When you think about something new, your brain creates new neural connections. And when you
consciously create new neural connections, you reprogram your brain to focus on what you want.
Every time you think a thought, the thought creates a feeling which itself generates a matching
thought and so on. The brain changes when faced with specific thoughts, and these changes can be
positive but also negative. It can be a virtuous cycle or… a vicious cycle, depending on what you
focus on. So it’s truly our responsibility to monitor our thoughts and use our brains in the best
possible way!!
Let's take the example of a person who manages to finally get rid of their anxiety and panic attacks
thanks to the different techniques mentioned above: EMDR, NLP, modern hypnosis, EFT,
meditation... The neural patterns have been modified, even erased, and at the same time the person
focused on their goal that was anchored during the sessions, becoming a new person. They can
breathe and live again! However, after a few days, weeks, or months, for one reason or another, they
start having those thoughts again, those horrible anxiety thoughts. In turn, they start feeling those
horrible feelings again too. The last thing they want is to fall into that trap again, and yet, instead of
focusing on their well being and their positive goal, they plunge back into that black hole, strengthening the neural connections of a pattern that is the source of their suffering. It's like a ‘so-
called addiction’: An individual who manages to stop smoking, vaping, drinking or taking drugs for
several days, weeks, months or years proves to the entire planet that he or she does not physically
suffer from addiction, otherwise, the effects of withdrawal would manifest physically and he/she
would be in a bad way. So why is he/she going to relapse? Something probably triggered them, and
they begin to consciously think again about what they had forgotten. At first, it will be a fleeting
thought, very brief, “like a path across a field that you can barely see”, to use the metaphor given
previously. Then over time, the thought becomes more and more frequent, strengthening the neural
connections, and again creating anxiety, addiction, habit, phobia etc. So if we can create something
inside us, surely, we can ‘un-create’ it, can’t we?
New neural connections are created and strengthened every day until they become a habit - a
highway! The repetition of the cycle of thought-feeling, then feeling-thought, is the process of
conditioning the body and brain by the conscious mind. We appeal to the conscious to help the
subconscious! So it is extremely important indeed to monitor our thoughts. By now, you
understand, don’t you, how you control your health, your goals and your life, if you control your
thoughts?
Technique
You need to mentally practice this ‘new you’ over and over again, imagining that your goal has already come true. In doing so, you allow your brain to change physically – through the appearance
of new neural networks, which themselves will be reflected in your new life.
When you really focus on a concrete goal in the relatively near future, imagining very vividly what
you want to achieve, your brain is unable to differentiate reality from imagination, and therefore
takes what you show it at face value. Therefore, your body will experience what you are anchoring,
your concrete objective as if it had already happened. You will no longer live in the past. You will
live in a fantastic future… which is becoming your present.
This is possible thanks to the mental repetition, day and night, of a sentence, an image, a fantastic
sensation/emotion, a specific movement. Constantly remind yourself of who you want to be by
placing the image of ‘this new you’ in front of you.
By keeping your focus on this future event and not letting any other thoughts distract you, old
neural networks will begin to fade away. The process is reversed: They go from being a highway to
a main road, then to a country road, to become a narrow path. At the same time, you create new
neural networks thanks to your goal, ‘what you want most in the world today.’
Through neuroplasticity, the connections and networks in your brain begin to reorganise themselves
in order to reflect what you are mentally repeating to yourself. As you continue to associate your
new thoughts and mental images with a strong, positive emotion, your mind and body work
together and you now become the 'new you’.
Your brain and body are no longer a memory of the past. They become a memory of the future (!)
that you created in your mind, and it is manifesting in the present, now.
The moment you begin to define a clear intention for a new future (for example, wanting to live free
from all pain and illness) and associate it with a strong positive emotion (intense happiness,
gratitude, etc.) is the moment where your body no longer belongs to the past. It projects himself into
this new future, to modify itself in the present.
It is therefore extremely important that you focus not on avoiding negative emotions like fear,
anxiety and anger, because when you think of avoiding them, you think about them. On the
contrary, lean into positive and sincere emotions, such as gratitude, joy, excitement... If someone
tells you: “Don't think of a pink elephant”, in order not to think about it, you will have to think
about it. So think of a blue giraffe instead!
Conclusion
This seemingly magical approach is actually based on scientific facts.
Certainly, the use of EMDR, NLP, EFT and hypnosis accelerates the process of deprogramming and
re-programming but it is the creation of new neural connections that will create the life you desire.
Changing your life therefore begins with changing your thoughts.
Your brain is a remarkable tool: Use it to draw the path to the life you imagine.
But don’t think that it just happens waving a magic wand! This requires constant conscious work in
order to help your subconscious, as all the patients/clients who have been through this process can
testify. We must first work with the conscious in order to help the unconscious, by changing our
neural connections.
However, what incredible satisfaction you feel when you finally manage to change, to become who
you want to become, to obtain what you want to obtain!
Whatever we want, we can have.
*Dr. Joe Dispenza, Doctor of Chiropractic, is an international speaker, researcher, and author. Two
of his must-read books: You are the placebo. Becoming supernatural.
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