I’ve just driven a rapid 40 minute journey in my car – most of which I can’t remember. Despite this my mind has processed more in this short time than I am even consciously aware of.

The things that I have been able to identify on reflection sit in the categories of (1) planning for the rest of day (2) thinking about what I need to be prepared for for tomorrow (3) reflecting on my past week of mindfulness (4) anticipating what I will need to do to influence a person(s) / situation in the future (5) how I will install my latest music hardware (6) how I will respond to someone I had an emotional email from (7) …. to be honest I could go on and on – forget the categories – it’s just busy!

I know I’m no different to any other person on this little blue planet of ours who also posses an amazing 100 billion neurons in their brains. They too are constantly processes thoughts and being truely awesome (“awesome” a word used far too often to describe something which is rather mundane but in this case it’s true).

The human mind is phenomenal and what is even more reassuring is it’s plasticity complete with the ability to change and evolve new pathways over time. So this actually means we all have the ability to change our state of mind and thought patterns. The best way I think to bring this to life is to imagine a muscle. You exercise the muscle at the gym through weights and repetition and sure enough it grows. The same goes for our thoughts and brain.

Sometimes these thought patterns are helpful to us and sometimes they only serve to be negative but they all have the common them of being able to be altered. This leads me to the power of mindfulness and the power that we all possess that is choice. The choice to decide whether we start our day on a positive note, the choice to decide who we marry, where we work and what our beliefs are. And the choice to decide what we are NOT going to do.

So as I wrote last week on the trickeness of a moment where I wanted to consume the beautifully packaged poison – I now remind myself that change takes time and that is okay. It’s easier to put on weight than take it off. However with each repetition and exercise of the right thoughts I will continue to move in the right direction.

So this week I will continue to practice a quieter mind each day using headspace.com so I have more present (in the moment) journeys. And during the times when I might have a craving or feel negative I will little more reflection and acceptance of the moment.

I hope this has served you in some small way.

Sam