by Tobi Mattingly

Created on: November 23, 2010

Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."

We talk to ourselves constantly throughout the day.  Many of the thoughts that rush through our minds, some of them repeated hundreds of times a day, seem innocent enough on the surface - we think nothing of them because we see them as truth.  Thoughts like, "My life is such a mess, I just can't see how it will ever get better," or, "The economy is so bad and I'm sure I'll lose my job, I just don't know how I'd make it if that happened," seem like innocent, factual assessments of where we are.  But is dwelling on these thoughts turning them into reality?

The human brain is immensely powerful.  Not only will it believe what it hears repeatedly (even the things it hears from its own self-talk), but it will also work to create a reality that matches what it believes.  It will look for evidence to support and further strengthen these beliefs.  In other words, if you allow yourself to think "I'm so fat, I just can't lose weight" several times every day, your brain will not only begin to believe this as fact, but it will also begin to affect your ability to lose weight - causing the mistaken belief to actually become fact.  The person who continually dwells on an idea such as "my boss is awful and unsupportive" will not only see evidence of this "fact" and miss evidence to the contrary, but will begin to see the boss's actions more and more through a filter that skews interpretation to match what is already believed.

Dr. Daniel Amen, a nationally recognized expert on the relationship between the brain and behavior, addresses the physical impact of negative thoughts in his book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life".  He looks at the deep lymbic system, a walnut-sized part of the brain that regulates emotion.  When the deep lymbic system is hyperactive, it causes the brain to interpret neutral or positive events through a negative filter.  Ironically, Dr. Amen's research has also shown that a pattern of negative thoughts will increase hyperactivity in the deep lymbic system - resulting in a self-perpetuating cycle of negativity.  

Getting control over these mistaken beliefs is a three step process.  First, we must recognize and identify the thoughts.  You can do this by jotting them down in a journal, your computer or even your smartphone, every single time they occur, and looking for patterns.  Once

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