What Gives a Thought Its Power?
How your brain turns passing thoughts into something that feels real
I can’t do it!
It’s a common thought we all have at some point in time. The weight of those words can keep us from moving forward even if we know it is better for us.
How can a simple thought hold us back?
Our thoughts can influence us more than we realize.
Thoughts can lift us up or keep us down effectively controling how we feel about ourselves, how we interact with others, and how we show up in the world.
That’s strange when you think about it because a thought doesn’t have a physical form yet it can stop you in your tracks.
A thought can’t hold you down physically but it can become a seemingly solid barrier for you in moving forward.
So what is a thought?
At the most basic, biological level, a thought is a pattern of electrical and chemical activity in our brains caused by networks of neurons firing off together.
But, how can a thought have so much power over us?
If we zoom out a level, once we have a thought, our brains turn that mental activity into both chemical and physical reactions.
When the brain interprets a thought as meaningful, it triggers chemical signals like dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, or adrenaline. These shift the state of the body. The body then feeds that state back to the brain as a feeling.
In other words, a thought doesn’t just stay in the mind. It becomes something you feel in your body, biologically shaping your hormones, heart rythym, and muscles.
And once you feel it, it starts to feel true, it physically feels real.
At that critical moment we can either believe the thought as a fact and let it decide what we do or we can create distance from it and see the thought for what it is, an electrical event that has no objective truth and not confuse it with reality.
By understanding what a thought is at a biological level, we can remove the mystery behind the process which helps to loosen its grip on us, we stop listening and following them blindly, and most importantly we stop mistaking our thoughts for reality.
The next time you thing, “I can’t do it!”, pause to make space between your thought and the action you take and ask yourself, is this a fact or just a thought feels true?
May curiosity be your guide!
Till next time,
Rizwan ✌🏽
The power of words is increasingly impressive.