Why are habits so important? Can they actually change the neurology of our brains?
Pat elaborates on his previous conversation with Rebecca Malooly titled "Why We Do What We Do and How to Change." Rebecca explained that we can rewire our brains and create new neuropathways.
In this segment of "Chats with Pat," Pat offers practical ways to develop new habits that can positively change our thinking, and ultimately our lives.
Be sure to tune in to Pat's full conversation with Rebecca by clicking the link below.
https://link.chtbl.com/Pq6fQKeW
Want to submit your questions to ask Pat? Connect with us on social media and message us!
To learn more about the story behind No Grey Areas, check out the link below!
https://www.nogreyareas.com
Transcripts
00;00;00;06 - 00;00;15;13
Speaker 1
Welcome to the No Gray Areas podcast. You're tuning into a segment called Chat with Pat. In these sessions, Pat will answer questions submitted by you while elaborating on previous conversations with our podcast guests. Let's dive in.
00;00;16;04 - 00;00;43;00
Speaker 2
What you think may be more important, what you do. Because what you do is eventually based on what you think. Today we want to talk about the power of ideas and the power of habits and how it's not far fetched to say that your destiny and my destiny is much based on our habits and our thinking. So recently we had Rebecca Mullally, a special guest on our No Gray Areas podcast, and she unpacked the complexity of human choice.
00;00;43;04 - 00;01;02;14
Speaker 2
She actually has years of experience, thousands of hours of experience as a counselor. And we talked about the fact that it's not as simple for us as humans to say, I want to change because our brain, the neurology of our brains, is wired in such a way that is always trying to fall back on the easiest path. Old habits, routines, and thinking.
00;01;02;15 - 00;01;23;05
Speaker 2
But here's the good news. Rebecca shared with us that you can change the neurology of your brain, the pathways of your brain. Science is proving this that it doesn't matter if you're 60, 70, 80 years old, 20 years old, 30 years old, 40 years old, and you have these bad habits and this bad thinking, you can change. You can change the neurology of your brain.
00;01;23;21 - 00;01;41;19
Speaker 2
So we had some great questions come in about the power of habits and the power of thinking along the line of habit. These were some of the questions. Why are habits so important? Another question was Can habits change? The neurology of our brains. This is such a great question, and of course I just answered it from the podcast.
00;01;41;19 - 00;02;10;26
Speaker 2
as given by a psychologist in:
00;02;11;12 - 00;02;34;24
Speaker 2
Modern scientific studies have proven how true that is. Modern studies display that over half of the things that you and I do every day in our life that we actually think that we're thinking about or processing, we're not. It's just subconscious. Why? Because our our brains are always trying to fall back to the easiest pathway. Old habits, old routines, old thinking.
00;02;35;16 - 00;03;02;03
Speaker 2
So let me share with you five principles of habits. You might want to write these down because this is critical. I promise you, change your habits. You're going to change your life. Five Principles of Habits. Principle number one We don't drift toward better habits. You know, that's true. I know that's true. It doesn't accidentally happen. Principle number two, it's really the reverse of principle Number one, bad habits are like a comfortable bed.
00;03;02;11 - 00;03;30;23
Speaker 2
They are easy to get into, but hard to get out of. Oh, how true that is, right? Bad habits are like a comfortable bed. Easy to slide into, easy to stay in, but so hard to get out of. Principle Number three. The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Now, we've probably all heard that quote before, but it's interesting that so many individuals and organizations keep doing the same thing and think that they're going to get different results.
00;03;31;02 - 00;03;59;29
Speaker 2
er and theologian from almost:
00;04;00;04 - 00;04;21;09
Speaker 2
He wrote two thirds of the New Testament in our Bible. He actually wrote it this way in Galatians chapter six, verse seven. He said, Don't be misled. God is not mocked. You reap what you sow. What does he mean by that? It's it's farming language. It's ranching language. You reap what you sow. What you plant is what you're going to harvest.
00;04;21;10 - 00;04;40;10
Speaker 2
Now, I grew up in rural Montana. We had gardens and I never, ever saw us plant potatoes and get beans. I never saw a plant peas and get tomatoes. I never saw us plant strawberries and get raspberries. You plant potatoes, you get potatoes, you plant beans, you get beans, you plant peas, you get peas in the same way.
00;04;40;10 - 00;05;06;22
Speaker 2
This is what Paul was saying. If you and I plant through habits and routine unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, I guess what? We're going to harvest unforgiveness, anger and bitterness. The reverse side, though, is if if we plant to our our rhythms and routines and habits of life, if we plant kindness and generosity and love, what are we going to harvest?
00;05;07;09 - 00;05;38;13
Speaker 2
Those things? Principle number five. This is good news. Everything we change changes everything. Like Rebecca Mullaly said on our podcast, even though it's hard to change the neurology of our brains, even though our brains are always trying to go back to old habits and routines, it has been proven through science that we can change the pathways of our brains, change your habits, and you change your life.
00;05;39;07 - 00;06;05;22
Speaker 2
But what about this thinking, thinking and habits? Oh, there are two sides of the same coin. Some of the questions that came in about thinking how important are our thoughts or how important is our internal conversation? That is such a great question because you and I have a conversation going on all the time. Every day there's an internal conversation, internal dialog, internal debate going on.
00;06;06;01 - 00;06;30;08
Speaker 2
Sometimes you don't even realize it. Sometimes we don't even recognize it. But it's a debate going on based on routines, habits and old thinking. Some of it lies. Some of it's truth, and some of it we don't even realize we're doing because some coach or parent or aunt or uncle or teacher or someone, some somewhere in our past said, You're too dumb, you're too slow, you're not pretty enough.
00;06;30;29 - 00;06;53;22
Speaker 2
You failed at this five times. What makes you think you're going to succeed now? And those internal dialogs are constantly going on, and sometimes we don't even recognize it. I gave a message once years ago, and I titled it Don't Believe Everything You think. Don't believe everything you think. Now, that's not blowing any of your minds. That's not some deep theological or psychological or philosophical truth.
00;06;53;29 - 00;07;21;05
Speaker 2
logian, that philosopher from:
00;07;21;29 - 00;07;45;18
Speaker 2
That's battle language. That's war language. Why would Paul use battle language, war language to talk about our thinking? Because one of the most important battles grounds one of the most important battlegrounds is taking place in your life. In my life, every single day is right here in our minds, in our heads. Which is why Paul said, Don't just let every thought drift through.
00;07;46;06 - 00;08;15;27
Speaker 2
s this philosopher theologian:
00;08;16;10 - 00;08;33;21
Speaker 2
You've failed at that five times. What makes you think you're going to succeed this time? Take that thought captive and then speak truth to it. Renew your mind. Maybe I did fail. Five times, but maybe it's the sixth time where I'm going to succeed. You're too dumb. I don't know who told you that? Some time in your life, you're.
00;08;33;21 - 00;08;59;25
Speaker 2
You're not pretty enough. I don't know who told you that sometime in your life. But take captive that thought and speak truth to it. Renew your mind. That's where transformation comes from. Don't believe everything you think. Let me leave you with this thought. Wrong thinking becomes wrong living. One of the greatest dangers for us is that we tend to accept thoughts and beliefs while ignoring their effect.
00;09;00;23 - 00;09;08;14
Speaker 2
My friends, you can change. Change your habits. Change your thinking, and you change your life.
00;09;10;12 - 00;09;34;11
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning in to this session of Chat with Pat. Want to submit your questions? Connect with us on our social media platforms. Links are listed in the show notes. Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more inspiring and motivating content. Thanks for listening.
