Written by: Adriana Bárbara Rodríguez, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Have you ever noticed how your words can become self-fulfilling prophecies? Often, what we say about ourselves manifests in our reality in surprising ways. For example, I knew someone who claimed, "If I don't sleep 8 hours, I get a headache." They experienced a headache the next day when they slept less than that. Another case is someone who repeatedly said, "No partner takes me seriously." Interestingly, this belief repeatedly came true in their relationships. Does this sound familiar?
If you've read my previous articles, I've discussed paradigms and their effects on our lives. Below, I'll explain this perspective so you can see how they dictate our destiny.
Paradigms are deeply rooted beliefs in our minds that influence our emotions, behaviors, and outlook on life. They are primarily formed in childhood and reinforced throughout life through our experiences and environment. These paradigms, whether good or bad, helpful or not, are our truth. For our minds, our paradigms are absolute truths, always seeking to prove what we think is true and justify our thoughts.
How does the mind do this? Simply put, it takes all available information, manipulates it, interprets it, and associates it in a way that confirms the paradigm. Moreover, it manipulates our physical symptoms (body), emotions, and behavior, doing everything possible to ultimately convince us that what we think is correct.
For example, taking one of the cases mentioned earlier, where a person thinks, "If I don't sleep 8 hours, I get a headache," the mind, upon detecting that they didn't sleep that time, is capable of sending a signal to the body and causing that headache. The person, aware of the lack of sleep and the headache, will receive a message from the mind saying, "See, I'm right, I get a headache if I don't sleep 8 hours."
Regarding the other example, where a person holds the paradigm of "No partner takes me seriously," the mind can orchestrate a series of behaviors and emotions to fulfill this paradigm. For example, unconsciously seeking partners with an abusive profile, having behavior and low self-esteem causing disrespect, or even if they are with a "good" person, finding any "justifiable" excuse to leave them. In the end, by ending up with abusive partners, the person will confirm that their paradigm is correct.
These results reinforce the paradigm, strengthening its structure both mentally and cerebrally, further influencing the thinking, emotions, and behavior of the person. This creates a vicious cycle where the paradigm conditions the thinking, emotions, and actions, generating a result that in turn confirms the paradigm, restarting the cycle again.
Unfortunately, we are rarely aware that our mind conspires and does everything in its power in this process, causing our results. Instead, we tend to consider ourselves victims of the environment. Even when we have positive paradigms that yield good results, the issue arises when we harbor toxic paradigms that negatively affect us and fail to take action to transform them at their core.
We can truly radically change our results if we decide to break this vicious cycle. As a first step towards transformation, it is necessary to become aware of toxic paradigms: those "truths" that we have adopted as certain and absolute and negatively affect us, then seriously question them and understand where they came from, then accept that they are not the truth and finally adopt a new healthy paradigm in their place as our truth.
This is possible through a process of Coaching in neuroscience, where targeted neuroplasticity strategies are applied to achieve a paradigm shift at the root, at a mental and cerebral level. As a Mind Coach, I guide my clients through this process to generate this change and transform their minds from the root, achieving decisive and lasting results. At the business level, I apply this to leadership teams, transforming entire organizations to achieve extraordinary results. (For more information about my neuroscience program in leadership, visit my page)
Don't miss my next article, where we will delve deeper into the workings of the mind and how we can manage it more effectively.
Adriana Bárbara Rodríguez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Adriana Barbara is a Mind specialized Coach that is focused on helping CEO's and high-level entrepreneurs to develop their leadership teams by assisting each member to transform their mindset from the root, achieve their full potential and improve their highest productivity in order to accomplish the organization’s goals in an effective and sustainable way, with her innovative NEUROSCIENCE METHOD IN LEADERSHIP.
